GAA's Director General Paraic Duffy talks Sky deal and illegal manager payments

[macdanger2]

I thought it was very good although there was nothing new in it for me personally.

He struggled when the Premier Sports issue was put to him but he was quite firm in his point about County Boards managing themselves rather than Croke Park micro-managing them.

He also pointed out that the intercounty season is effectively only about five months long, which Molloy was telling him he should be moving towards.

He said that but it's simply not true though. County season runs 6 months (Jan-Jun) for all counties and at least 7 for ~ half the counties (incl hurling counties)

Overall though, I thought he came across well in the interview

[Lar Naparka]

Is that a Yes??
If so why do we need Co Boards or Provincial Councils?

For Chrissake, will you ever let poor Prenty alone.
I know that's what you are gettin'at.

[Rossfan]

I love the Árd Stiúrthóir designate😀

[Esmarelda]

definitely a pooled sponsorship/partnership deal for all counties should be examined

eg if a county gets a sponsor for 200,000 25% goes into a central pool to support counties with smaller population and smaller club base
all counties could wear the same sponsor on their sleeves or back for an agreed fee

Yes, I was disappointed he, nor the interviewer, brought this up.

I thought it was very good although there was nothing new in it for me personally.

He struggled when the Premier Sports issue was put to him but he was quite firm in his point about County Boards managing themselves rather than Croke Park micro-managing them.

He also pointed out that the intercounty season is effectively only about five months long, which Molloy was telling him he should be moving towards.

He said that but it's simply not true though. County season runs 6 months (Jan-Jun) for all counties and at least 7 for ~ half the counties (incl hurling counties)

Overall though, I thought he came across well in the interview

Well he likened the pre-season tournaments to that of pre-season in soccer and so excluded (you might say conveniently) the month of January. There aren't any clubs games in January so I guess it doesn't take away from the club scene.

So he was talking February, March, May, June, July. I think at that stage you're down to four teams. If you wanted to split hairs, possibly you could take out the two weeks in Feb and March where there are no league fixtures (in football) but it's close to five months for 28 counties at least.

[macdanger2]

January as pre-season though means it's not free for clubs (not that it would be much use to them anyway)

Possible solutions are finishing the county season by end July or for designated weekends during the season to be club championship weekends (like international weekends in soccer) although this would be difficult in practice

[Syferus]

Is that a Yes??
If so why do we need Co Boards or Provincial Councils?

For Chrissake, will you ever let poor Prenty alone.
I know that's what you are gettin'at.

Did you go to boarding school with Prenty or something Lar? You must be the man's only defender left.

[Seany]

I thought he was excellent. A real GAA man at heart.

[yellowcard]

He is saying all the right things now that he is leaving the job. However it's best to judge a man by his actions and he has done nothing to arrest the slide in decreasing playing numbers and general apathy at adult level. The elite have flourished and revenue has become king at the expense of everything else. Padraig Duffy is a decent man but he can't hide from the fact that he has presided over this era where the GAA has slipped further away from its core values and grass roots membership. No amount of blame shifting or passing the responsibility elsewhere can cover the fact that the correct leadership did not come from the top.

[stew]

He is saying all the right things now that he is leaving the job. However it's best to judge a man by his actions and he has done nothing to arrest the slide in decreasing playing numbers and general apathy at adult level. The elite have flourished and revenue has become king at the expense of everything else. Padraig Duffy is a decent man but he can't hide from the fact that he has presided over this era where the GAA has slipped further away from its core values and grass roots membership. No amount of blame shifting or passing the responsibility elsewhere can cover the fact that the correct leadership did not come from the top.

Well said.

[Owenmoresider]

He is saying all the right things now that he is leaving the job. However it's best to judge a man by his actions and he has done nothing to arrest the slide in decreasing playing numbers and general apathy at adult level. The elite have flourished and revenue has become king at the expense of everything else. Padraig Duffy is a decent man but he can't hide from the fact that he has presided over this era where the GAA has slipped further away from its core values and grass roots membership. No amount of blame shifting or passing the responsibility elsewhere can cover the fact that the correct leadership did not come from the top.

+1

[Seany]

Totally wrong.  You could not be more wrong. The GAA is run by county boards, then provincial councils and then Croke Park.  It is a bottom up organisation. The prizes for winning the All Ireland have remained the same for over 100 years.  Two silver cups.  Nothing else.  The GAA has honoured its responsibility nationally to get the best commercial opportunities for the association, 87% of which goes back to the counties who really need and value the revenue that they get from this source.  The GAA spends ALL of its coaching and games budget on enjoyment, participation for schoolchildren and clubs and NONE at elite county level.  It is proving virtually impossible to stem the rise in elitism in terms of training and fitness at county level.  This is driven by counties and county managers. In 2010, Paraic Duffy tried to change that, but the counties voted for it and then ignored it. They tried it with the closed season, but counties just ignored it too.  If anyone thinks the DG can change the GAA from an office in CP, then I wouldn't like to be going for his job.

[Rossfan]

An awful lot of clichés and generalisations in yellowcard post but no specifics.
For instance What are the "core values" of the GAA and how has it slipped farther away from them?
What are the figures for playing numbers compared to 10 years ago?
What is "correct leadership" from the top?

[TheGreatest]

Totally wrong.  You could not be more wrong. The GAA is run by county boards, then provincial councils and then Croke Park.  It is a bottom up organisation. The prizes for winning the All Ireland have remained the same for over 100 years.  Two silver cups.  Nothing else.  The GAA has honoured its responsibility nationally to get the best commercial opportunities for the association, 87% of which goes back to the counties who really need and value the revenue that they get from this source.  The GAA spends ALL of its coaching and games budget on enjoyment, participation for schoolchildren and clubs and NONE at elite county level.  It is proving virtually impossible to stem the rise in elitism in terms of training and fitness at county level.  This is driven by counties and county managers. In 2010, Paraic Duffy tried to change that, but the counties voted for it and then ignored it. They tried it with the closed season, but counties just ignored it too.  If anyone thinks the DG can change the GAA from an office in CP, then I wouldn't like to be going for his job.

Slow clap. Well said.

[Kickham csc]

Totally wrong.  You could not be more wrong. The GAA is run by county boards, then provincial councils and then Croke Park.  It is a bottom up organisation. The prizes for winning the All Ireland have remained the same for over 100 years.  Two silver cups.  Nothing else.  The GAA has honoured its responsibility nationally to get the best commercial opportunities for the association, 87% of which goes back to the counties who really need and value the revenue that they get from this source.  The GAA spends ALL of its coaching and games budget on enjoyment, participation for schoolchildren and clubs and NONE at elite county level.  It is proving virtually impossible to stem the rise in elitism in terms of training and fitness at county level.  This is driven by counties and county managers. In 2010, Paraic Duffy tried to change that, but the counties voted for it and then ignored it. They tried it with the closed season, but counties just ignored it too.  If anyone thinks the DG can change the GAA from an office in CP, then I wouldn't like to be going for his job.

Slow clap. Well said.

The only thing that is missing ( and which could be in place) are targets from CP to the provincial and county boards. For example, Expenditure 'v' income, Championships finished on time, No of summer camps etc. No of children engaged in coaching initiatives.

CP should be setting targets and then holding the relevant boards accountable. And there should be a penalty. e.g. if a county is running at a loss withhold / delay grants until they have a plan in place to bring the accounts into control.

I think that CP should set the deadline for club championship semi-finals and finals, and if the county is not meeting those commitments then they should be hit with a penalty. 

This is how real life and business works, it should be the same for the GAA

[johnneycool]

Totally wrong.  You could not be more wrong. The GAA is run by county boards, then provincial councils and then Croke Park.  It is a bottom up organisation. The prizes for winning the All Ireland have remained the same for over 100 years.  Two silver cups.  Nothing else.  The GAA has honoured its responsibility nationally to get the best commercial opportunities for the association, 87% of which goes back to the counties who really need and value the revenue that they get from this source.  The GAA spends ALL of its coaching and games budget on enjoyment, participation for schoolchildren and clubs and NONE at elite county level.  It is proving virtually impossible to stem the rise in elitism in terms of training and fitness at county level.  This is driven by counties and county managers. In 2010, Paraic Duffy tried to change that, but the counties voted for it and then ignored it. They tried it with the closed season, but counties just ignored it too.  If anyone thinks the DG can change the GAA from an office in CP, then I wouldn't like to be going for his job.

Slow clap. Well said.

The only thing that is missing ( and which could be in place) are targets from CP to the provincial and county boards. For example, Expenditure 'v' income, Championships finished on time, No of summer camps etc. No of children engaged in coaching initiatives.

CP should be setting targets and then holding the relevant boards accountable. And there should be a penalty. e.g. if a county is running at a loss withhold / delay grants until they have a plan in place to bring the accounts into control.

I think that CP should set the deadline for club championship semi-finals and finals, and if the county is not meeting those commitments then they should be hit with a penalty. 

This is how real life and business works, it should be the same for the GAA

CP set out the dates for Club AI semi-finals and finals. The Provincial councils know they need to have their representatives in place for that and work their fixtures accordingly. The counties then know when they need to have their clubs representatives in place and work from there.

Surely if a county is regularly having issues with this it's something for the clubs to sort out with the County board and nothing to do with Croke Park, although it does highlight poor governance on the County Boards side.