Mike Quirke: I can see the CPA as a facilitator, not an agitator

Listening to some of the stories from other lads at that first meeting in Croke Park, it quickly became apparent that issues with club fixtures vary hugely from county to county, writes Mike Quirke.

Old-school rhetoric tells us the club is the cornerstone of the GAA, and the club player is its lifeblood. Without over-indulging in hyperbole, reality suggests that would no longer seem to be the case.

The first I heard of the Club Players Association was when I took a phone call from a guy called Declan Brennan. He asked me if I was willing to travel to Croke Park a few weeks later for a get-together to see if there was enough appetite to get a representative club players body off the ground.