‘Not an awful lot required’ to play GAA, says Irish Olympian Kiernan

By Peter O’ Dwyer

Former Irish Olympian Jerry Kiernan has claimed the standards athletes must reach to play Gaelic games are relatively low and that the GAA should not get any money from taxpayers.

Kiernan was commenting on the €600,000 grant the Irish government has pledged towards the redevelopment of Ruislip GAA grounds in London as part of the Emigrant Support Programme.

The two-time Dublin marathon winner claimed that the GAA, as the richest association in Ireland, can afford to fund their own activities.

Additionally, he claimed that there are standards that must be reached to secure funding as an international athlete whereas the only standard required for the GAA to get taxpayers’ money is the popularity of Gaelic games.

“It’s very difficult to be a top international sports person without help along the way…The GAA is largely a local organisation…the standards required to play in it; there’s not an awful lot required,” he told Newstalk Breakfast.

“If you wish to run the 1500m in the next Olympic Games you have to be able to run the equivalent of a 3.52 mile. That’s the standard that’s required at international level.

I’m sure it’s the same in swimming, I’m sure it’s the same in rowing and everything else. There are standards applied for getting money for international sport. There is no standard applied to the GAA getting money except their popularity,” claimed the Kerry native.

Kiernan illustrated his point that the money dedicated to the redevelopment of Ruislip could be better spent elsewhere in mentioning a young athlete from Athlone that “doesn’t have that much money to play around with” but who has to pay €15 to get to training with Kiernan each time.

Speculating as to whether the GAA lobbied the government for the funds, Kiernan said that would show “a lot of nerve” considering the amount of money the Association has. If however the government pledged the money “off their own bat”, such a decision would amount to “a version of stroke politics”, according to Kiernan.

The fitness of GAA players, including those at inter-county level, also came in for criticism from the Listowel native who admitted he had little time for Gaelic games saying: “I don’t actually think it’s a particularly skilful game.”

You can listen to the interview in full here.