CPA survey shows disconnect between GAA hierarchy and playing members

The Club Players Association (CPA) have called on the GAA to create a National Fixtures Forum, as 96% of respondents to a survey conducted by the representative body believe there is a disconnect between the GAA hierarchy and its playing members.

A considerable 2,661 of 2,766 respondents don’t believe the leadership of the organisation are in tune with club players, while 63% would support the season split between a county phase and a club phase with county players.

In a press release, the CPA revealed they had met GAA president John Horan and director general Tom Ryan twice to discuss “the current club fixtures crisis that exists almost nationwide”, and they requested the forum be established so that all fixtures and games structures could be reviewed “from a blank sheet perspective”. In February, Horan announced plans for a national club forum, as well as a national club committee.

The CPA also met the Central Competitions Control Committee and said the latter were “very welcoming and acknowledged there is a crisis with club fixtures”.

Their statement continued: “The request for a national fixtures overhaul was echoed once again at all these meetings. It is long overdue and critical to the survival of our games and the future development of the Association.

“Our request is for the appointment of a select group consisting of experienced people from both inside and outside the GAA with the required skills sets to deal with the matter in hand. We recommend a maximum of 10 individuals with a strong independent chair. Their starting point would have to be a blank canvass. The primary objective would be to put an agreed strategic plan in place for the structure and management of the GAA’s National Games Programme that will bring regularity and certainty to games at all levels.”

The CPA want to see the forum established in September after the All-Ireland senior football final. CPA chairman Micheál Briody said: “Recently, we have had very productive and engaging meetings with GAA senior management and we have impressed upon them the need to approach the fixture issues in a fresh and innovative way that engages members, allows people to have their voices heard and from there makes evidence-based decisions for the good of all our players to safeguard our games.

We are arguing strongly for a Select Group to be formed to address these issues that will definitively take on board the views of stakeholders.

“We don’t think that setting up another committee or pushing forward Congress motions that haven’t been adequately consulted upon can solve the issue of fixtures.

“None of us can be complacent here, not the CPA, the GAA Management or the GPA. The decisions made in the next year or two on our competition structures and the calendar must get the balance right.”

The CPA have also confirmed Joan Kehoe has joined their national executive. Kehoe is highly regarded both in Croke Park and in Dublin GAA circles and is an administrator and coach in Kilmacud Crokes. She is the global head of Alternative Investment Services at JP Morgan.