Burns keen to curb counties’ spending on preparing teams

CHANGES NEEDED: New GAA president Jarlath Burns, addressing delegates in Newry, is to propose the implementation of a licensing system in an attempt to curb counties’ excessive spends on teams. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

NEW GAA president Jarlath Burns is to propose the implementation of a licensing system in an attempt to curb counties’ excessive spends on preparing teams.

As a means of reducing the €40m-plus spend on squads so that the expenditure is more commensurate with the amateur ethos of the GAA, Burns is to apply a variation of a financial fair play policy.

Derry man David Hassan, who has chaired the GAA’s standing playing rules body the last six years, is to head up the amateur status committee. Burns has directed him to return with recommendations before the end of the year.

“We are the only sport in the world that doesn’t have a licencing system, which you need to adhere to in order to compete,” said Burns. “If you look even to the Premier League, you see Everton lost 10 points because they were beyond their financial ceiling.

“Chelsea are afraid to sack their manager because if they do, they will have to pay out his contract and then they’ll have to get someone else and they’ll have to pay out his contract. We don’t have that and we should more than any of those have a financial ceiling.

“If you look at listen to (Munster GAA CEO) Kieran Leddy’s report, (Connacht GAA CEO) John Prenty’s
report, they both talk about the importance of having some sort of financial ceiling.

“I think one of the things we have to do in terms of governance, audit and risk, we should have a certain amount of governance, principles which you adhere to within your county in terms of your accounting and modus operandi before you can get a licence to compete.”

Burns pointed out that GAA director of club, player and games administration Feargal McGill had worked on a document during John Horan’s time as presidency before covid struck.

“It’s almost over-ready, dare I say that, and that is something I am going to build on. We really do need a proper licencing system. So our counties make sure they are adhering to the best practice of governance and expenditure.

“And where we see there is out of control spending on anything, whether infrastructure or spending on county teams or other areas where they are spending that money, that will give power to us on Central Council to address that.”

In 1997, former GAA president Peter Quinn headed up a committee to review the association’s amateur status. Quinn famously admitted that “not only could we not find the payments (to managers), we couldn’t even find the tables under which the payments were being made”.

IRELAND’S transformation into a cashless society means that’s no longer as big an issue, insists Burns.

“I am not going to adhere to the ‘we couldn’t even find the table’. The table is a lot easier to find now, the world has changed significantly and I say that having been born and reared in a cash economy in south Armagh.

“People are finding it has changed, we are now cashless in most of our county grounds and most of our ticketing. Even the companies that are doing that and are doing it for all the good reasons, very soon they are going to be asked questions about where that money is going and the people to whom they are giving it are going to be asked questions.”

As well as Quinn, Burns’ mentor, former GAA director general Páraic Duffy, had attempted to distil the amateur status before only to be rebuked.

Burns is undaunted. “Is it best practice for us to know that this is happening and we are not doing something about it?

“The easiest thing for me to do is nothing but it’s not an option, we have to try this. I can assure you… if I fail, I will certainly fail with my boots on. I will give it my best shot but I can’t ignore this.”

Burns sees the Gaelic Players Association playing a vital role in ensuring compliance with future regulations around the amount of training sessions.

“They can be the key here because, like in amateur college sport in America where they have officers in every college making sure that the amateur status is being adhered to, we don’t have those oversight officers, and I think the GPA can do that for us.

“I think that the panels are too large, that there’s too much training going on and that would be a good start,
because we do have to step ourselves down as we prepare for integration.”

On the subject of Casement Park, Burns admitted surprise that the British government have yet to publish how much they will be contributing to the redevelopment after the Irish Government announced their €50m commitment last week.

“We are really in a race against time at this stage, and as we approach the situation where tenders have gone in, we need to know exactly how much these companies are tending for.

“Not us, but the strategic investment board that have taken over the tender process.

“I’m not going to say any more about that because it’s such a sensitive process, but all we can say is, we deserve to have that stadium. We have waited long enough for it and the Euros give us an enhanced opportunity to have one of the best stadiums in Europe in west Belfast.”

Meanwhile, Matt Shaw and Brian Rennick are set to swap roles as Central Hearings (CHC) and Appeals Committee (CAC) chairs. Shaw will head up the CHC in Burns’ presidency having done so previously between 2018 and ‘21, while Rennick moves to the CAC brief which he also filled in that period.