Inter-county demands forcing drop in retirement age, says Farrell

Gaelic Players’ Association chief executive Dessie Farrell has estimated that the demands on inter-county footballers and hurlers are such that the average retirement age has dropped significantly since his own playing days.

Recent off-seasons have been pockmarked with a slew of players announcing their decisions to walk away from inter-county careers and, though Farrell has his doubts about any increase in the rate, he does notice an alarming trend.

“There is more exposure of those retirements through social media than there would have been previously,” said the former Dublin captain.

“More players are engaging with the GPA to manage that process as well, so there has been a lot of exposure and publicity around the retirements.

“What’s a fact, though, is the age profile of the county players is getting younger and younger. I would imagine in my day, when I was playing, the average age was 26 or 27. Now the average age is 24 and it’s reducing all the time.

“Is it a good thing? Is it a bad thing? I don’t know. But it’s a significant challenge to the association. Because, at this rate, it could be an U23 competition. There is a lot of experience, a lot of talent and a lot of wisdom being lost to the games. Is that going to change? I don’t necessarily think so.”

Farrell also spoke of the need for players to find a balance between their GAA commitments and other facets of their lives and the players’ body has been to the fore in attempting to reach that middle ground.

Recent criticism from Colm O’Rourke that the GPA was too close to the GAA was dismissed as “ridiculous” by GAA director general Páraic Duffy, who was speaking at the launch of the Jim Madden Leadership Programme yesterday.

Madden, from Portroe in Tipperary, was a highly-regarded GAA and community activist prior to his passing last year and the programme has been set up in his honour by his son Mike and the rest of his family. Mike Madden is chairman of Teneo Capital, a global financial consulting and private equity firm based in the US, and it is believed the newly-established fund may stretch to up to $250,000 for the first year alone.

The programme will run for an initial three-year period and, through it, 100 or so selected inter-county hurling, football, camogie and ladies football players will receive training in leadership skills to improve themselves and, in turn, their communities.

The announcement comes on the back of GAA president Liam O’Neill’s recent suggestion that funds raised by GAA organisations in the States should be designated for use by the GAA community there rather than Ireland.

The GPA has been particularly proactive in engaging the Irish-American business community and the agreement with the Madden family, without which the programme was not viable, comes on the back of a year’s worth of talks and negotiations.