Jerry Kiernan has a shot at GAA players/fitness levels

[BEASTY]

120 miles a week running for a national standard runner is only 10 hours a week!

LAZY!   

Not even 1.5 hours a day....

He should train HARDER

[neilthemac]

Gerry has a moot point

He is correct to a certain extent that funding GAA is at the expense of Intermational Athletes in other sports

However, if you take into account that most county players train 5/6 times a week as well as most of them holding down full time jobs.
As well as that look at the revenue generated for cities and towns  (and the state) by big GAA games - tickets, food, drinks, transport, hotels.

What sort of revenue does Athletics generate for the country?? Sweet feck all.
Athletics Ireland have had numerous squabbles in recent years over CEOs, selecting athletes for national teams and other issues. Until they sort their own affairs then...

there are probably county players out there who would make Olympic standard in some track events if that was what they were training for.
but they're not.

[catchandkick]

I think I would agree to some extent with Kiernan, but not for the reasons he gave.

(He talked a lot of crap and too many of his arguments were subjective and nonsensical, 'I don't like Gah' 'Why do Carlow even bother playing football?' )

As Brolly pointed out previously, players may suffer to some extent financially in the short-term, but the GAA network means that in the long-term will get sorted out, often in positions they wouldn't have otherwise got. There's a couple of current and ex- Kerry players I can think of who wouldn't be in the jobs they're in were it not for their status as Kerry footballers.

Athletes don't enjoy this kind of status in Ireland (I'm sure Ronnie Delaney has spoken before about struggling financially for a few years when his running career was done.)

So for the lack of status and associated fringe benefits, I think the athletes are more deserving of the grant.

I have an issue too with the sliding scale of the grant, which means that the likes of Kerry footballers or Kilkenny hurlers get twice as much (I think) as someone like the Leitrim or Carlow footballers. Surely the smaller county players need it more?

At the same time, the demands of inter-county mean that players are gravitating towards a very narrow range of career in order to play football - teacher, sales rep, banker, public sector, guard.

A class of player which existed previously is being squeezed out. 

Don't think Gerry McEntee of Meath who was a doctor or indeed Brolly himself could now combine their careers and have played for Donegal under McGuinness say. Not a chance. McGuinness would have said - 'the job or Donegal'

This is a class of inter-county player I do have sympathy for.

So to summarise, I do agree with Kiernan, but not for the silly reasons he gave. 

[drici]

[catchandkick]

What's that got to do with the subject being debated?

[JHume]

McGuinness wouldn't say 'the job or Donegal'.

Lots of myths about Donegal training.

The train collectively once a week during the league, perhaps rising to twice during the summer, and twice at weekends when they have no matches. Double sessions on a Saturday are commonplace.

They also do their own gym work, 3-4 times a week, all year round.

When they have 3-5 day training camps (like the one in Kildare last year) players are expected to attend. Where necessary, they arrange cover at their work and that cover is paid for from county GAA resources.

No doubt it's a heavy enough training burden, but it can be fitted in around employment - even if one were a solicitor or a doctor.

[magpie seanie]

Jerry obviously has huge issues with the GAA but he is not completely wrong. The grants (for sacrifice/cultural blah de blah) or "additional expenses" (we are still amateur - really!!!!) given to intercounty players should never have been considered in the first place. Most senior club footballers train harder and are watched by more people than Sligo hurlers for example. The scheme is a farce and a lie. Intercounty players are well lpooked after. They get fed, gear, medical treatment etc and rightly so. Athletes like Joe Sweeney have no organisation behind them that pays for these things.

Jerry needs to understand in relation to fitness though that elite GAA players physical conditioning is tailored to the game they play. They're not training to run 30k. Joe Sweeney probably wouldn't have the pace or strength for intercounty football.

[JHume]

The reason the player grants were introduced in the first place was to provide a degree of parity between GAA players and professionals who get substantial tax breaks on their sports-related earnings for any 10-year period of their career.

Both of these schemes strike me as hare-brained, and a reflection of the Celtic Tiger induced lunacy that the country got caught up in.

Interestingly, despite the recession, I have heard no talk at all about revisiting tax breaks for golfers, jockeys, rugby players, soccer players, athletes, boxers etc. I have never seen an estimate of what this costs the Exchequer, although they probably don't know yet as it can be claimed retrospectively. So, for example, Padraig Harrington or Brian O'Driscoll or Ruby Walsh can seek to have it applied to earnings from any ten year period of his career. (I've often wondered where wee Rory McIlroy is domiciled for tax purposes?)

I had nearly forgotten about these tax breaks until I heard Eddie O'Sullivan and a few others talking on Newstalk about Johnny Sexton's move to France. Apparently he's young enough to return in 3 years time and still earn the full tax break available for professional sports people.

Nice work if you can get it.

[catchandkick]

The train collectively once a week during the league, perhaps rising to twice during the summer, and twice at weekends when they have no matches. Double sessions on a Saturday are commonplace.

Thanks, didn't realise this. Interesting, so they don't do much on the weekday nights collectively?

[catchandkick]

Interestingly, despite the recession, I have heard no talk at all about revisiting tax breaks for golfers, jockeys, rugby players, soccer players, athletes, boxers etc.

One step at a time with the current Government. A re-visit of this will, I'm sure, happen at some point.

[Hound]

I have an issue too with the sliding scale of the grant, which means that the likes of Kerry footballers or Kilkenny hurlers get twice as much (I think) as someone like the Leitrim or Carlow footballers. Surely the smaller county players need it more?

The grants are for elite sportspersons. When the negotiations happened for the grants initially, the Irish Sports Council wanted a much more tiered approach, with succeessful counties receiving more and the weaker counties receiving nothing. The GPA wanted every intercounty player to receive an equal amount. In the end a two tier system was agreed.

[orangeman]

Where's James Nolan when you need him?

You mean Stephen Nolan ?

[catchandkick]

I have an issue too with the sliding scale of the grant, which means that the likes of Kerry footballers or Kilkenny hurlers get twice as much (I think) as someone like the Leitrim or Carlow footballers. Surely the smaller county players need it more?

The grants are for elite sportspersons. When the negotiations happened for the grants initially, the Irish Sports Council wanted a much more tiered approach, with succeessful counties receiving more and the weaker counties receiving nothing. The GPA wanted every intercounty player to receive an equal amount. In the end a two tier system was agreed.

Goes against the GPA's socialist bent.

[deiseach]

Where's James Nolan when you need him?

You mean Stephen Nolan ?

No, I mean James Nolan. Although I'm sure Stephen Nolan loves athletes too, even if he couldn't eat a whole one.

[rosnarun]

Keirnans basic point is bollock though . his reasoning for debying GAA players grants is that they are not fit enough , So what?  its about football not about fitness,
anyway top atheletes get 40K a year, including all those who failed to get any where near a pb in the olympics which was almost all of them bar the boxers ad dodgy horses . where are GAA players get what €400 ? about the same as horsehoe pitchers and baton Twirlers