Govt jobs boost for struggling GAA players

Managers sweating over the debilitating effects of emigration on their panels have been handed a ray of hope with agovernment initiative could deliver as many as 200 coaching jobs to out of work GAA players.

Minister for Social Protection Eamon Ó Cuiv met with officials from the GAA, FAI and other sporting bodies on Tuesday to appraise them of the ‘Tus Initiative’ which is attempting to return as many as 15,000 people to the workforce.

As part of that, Ó Cuiv is encouraging sporting bodies to take on unemployed players as coaches and the idea, which will be fully funded from the public purse, has met with a warm welcome from the GAA.

"We are talking in terms of maybe 100, 200 people, probably players, unemployed players," said GAA Director General Páraic Duffy. "They could be quickly upskilled in terms of coaching and the department will provide funding around that. We are going to look very closely at that.

"We do have a responsibility, but it’s not easy. I know people say to us that the GAA should be doing something but it’s not easy. It is something we will be looking at very early in the New Year to get off the ground as quick as possible."

The news will be welcomed in all counties amid growing anecdotal evidence that the twin scourges of unemployment and emigration are having a seriously detrimental effect on the GAA at all levels. The problem has spread to the highest echelons of the games with reports from counties that 2011 panels will be missing a sizeable chunk of names from the previous season purely because of economic reasons.

Peter Fitzpatrick’s Louth footballers are a prime example. The 2010 Leinster finalists will be missing midfielder Brian White and key defenders John O’Brien and Mick Fanning next season after all three left for foreign shores.

A recent GPA survey found that between 12-15% of inter-county players were unemployed. That translates into a figure of roughly 230 people and the numbers affected are likely to rise in the current climate.

The GPA has assisted more or less the same number of players — 233 — in the last calendar year with members requiring help in areas including education, careers, health as well as general wellbeing.

Meanwhile, Duffy has also confirmed that his much-anticipated paper on the illegal payment of managers has been presented to the GAA’s management committee, which has asked for time to consider the details.

The committee meets again in mid-January and, though it is now out of Duffy’s hands, the hope is that it will find its way to Central Council and into the public domain where it is hoped it will generate action on a long-standing problem.