Paul Geaney: Pay for play a long way away

Kerry All-Star Paul Geaney believes we are a long way from GAA players being paid or becoming fully professional.

“On professionalism, I don’t think I will see it in my lifetime, but eventually we will, because of the way the GAA is going,” Geaney said at the launch of the GAA Super Games Centre at Tralee CBS yesterday afternoon.

He said it would happen eventually, as “it’s going abroad and, once you go outside the island of Ireland and if the game takes off and they will be professional and Ireland will be the last amateur country left standing, but I am talking about maybe 50 to 100 years time, when it spreads to say the USA, where there will be big money and you will have pay for play there and the wheel starts turning then to professionalism.