Players finally get their Grants

[County Player]

There are already some in this thread if you read very carefully.

however, that is not an easy question to answer. there are county boards who do not meet the basic player welfare guidlines for gear and expenses set out by croke park. trainers for gym and running training, diet supplements, vitamins, proper food, a wolly hat for training, gloves, half days off work for match/training, who knows....

[orangeman]

County player :

Would you lie to be paid to play inter county football ?

Are you happy with the level of the "grant" at the minute ?


Would you play even without any expenses or a "grant" ?.

What do you believe is the ultimate goal of the GPA ?.

[Onion Bag]

To be honest CP

You arent selling it to me, all the players that i know from 2-3 different counties, get all their gear given (Including gloves, boots, wolly hats) to them by their county boards, gyms is sorted, any protein, travelling expenses etc.

In fact there was a lad from my own club and he got a call up to the Mc Kenna cup squad last year, holy f**k you want to see the amount of gear he got, boots, socks (2-3 pair) shorts (2-3 pair) Bottoms, tops, hats gloves etc. he didnt make the league squad,

the expenses you are talking about is wages for pulling on the jersey and playing

[bingobus]

Quantifiable and approved expenses above and beyond those paid by the county boards. These are expenses incurred through the year that cannot be claimed back and are inspected and signed off on by each individual county board. the government will then reimburse these expenses up to a particular ceiling depending on how far you progressed in the championship.

Fair play Dessie, great comeback. Why can't the county board pay them then?

I've had two problems with this "grant" from the start and have argued it with a couple of county players.

1 - If these are "Quantifiable and approved expenses above and beyond those paid by the county boards" why is it left to the GOV or the Irish Sports council to pay these expenses? Is it not an GAA issue and expenses that their members are choosing to incur? Call a spade a spade, it is play for pay. The GAA earns €000's on foot of these players but have completely passed the buck to the Gov for this. I don't think the GAA should be paying the money but can't for one reason see why the GOV are footing the bill for so-called expenses. It is totally Irish. I have no doubt that this is going to blow up in the faces of the GAA/Gov/GPA in a few years and thats when the bigger problem will arise. Waht happens if GOV pull the pin, GPA look for more etc.
The fact that many players are giving it to their clubs or taking their mates on the piss with it, says alot.

2 - The GPA should be pursuing more realistic targets and player welfare issues. As a club we have never received anything from them in relation to literature for players, check on facilities, welfare issues etc. These has never been done through a county player or GPA member. I know the Monaghan Hurlers had issues with the County board in relation to getting gear and the GPA washed their hands of it. At the same time, they arranged for a well known Intercounty player to attend a friends business launch and arranged for a bank to pay him €4,000 for the honour. Fair play to him for getting it but that to me is what the GPA are all about. They should be shouting from the roof tops about issues of Gumshields compulsory for all players, fixture congestion, injury funds etc. Rarely hear about these from them and that to me is what they should be about. Or they should change their name to Intercounty Players Ass.

[orangeman]

The sums spent on IC teams is phenomenal. The benefits they receive are fantastic and fair player to them. They are all well looked after.

The GPA does have a role but I'm not sure it is coming across well.

[tyrone86]

personally i think club members should get the same travel expenses. The foundation of the GAA is volunteerism and we should be proud of that. that said, i don't think any of our members should be out of pocket to keep our clubs an games going. that goes right from the phone bill allowance for the club secretary to the 30 cent a mile if a bus can't be organised for an away game.

Get away out of that. Travel expenses to a game? Jesus H Christ, I've heard it all now. I've no problems with lads getting expenses to come to training if they're traveling 50 or 100 miles, but going to a game, that you profess to enjoy/love, that's just ripping the piss out of the thing.

[County Player]

There's a few crossed wires here.

i'm not trying to "sell" anything. i was asked to explain the government's expenses scheme and i did so as i understood them. why that was necessary i don't know as they are transparent and in the public domain. i never said i supported or opposed them.

The individual examples that lads on here can cite of player welfare don't make a lie of the statement that a lot of county panels are still poorly looked after and i wish fellas would stop assuming that because tyrone footballers get something then so do wicklow footballers, or tyrone hurlers for that matter. top teams in each code are well catered for with gear, etc.

If these are "Quantifiable and approved expenses above and beyond those paid by the county boards" why is it left to the GOV or the Irish Sports council to pay these expenses?

a very good question. it's irrifutible that this is the case as county boards audit extensibly the expense claims submitted and sign off that they have not paid out for these already.

The benefits they receive are fantastic

what are they - without citing henry shefflin or sean cavanagh, etc

the expenses you are talking about is wages for pulling on the jersey and playing

if someone is going to make a statement like that it will require substantiation. otherwise its like stating that the moon is made of cheese.

[orangeman]

County player :

Would you lie to be paid to play inter county football ?

Are you happy with the level of the "grant" at the minute ?


Would you play even without any expenses or a "grant" ?.

What do you believe is the ultimate goal of the GPA ?.

Just curious about your postion on these points ?.

[County Player]

Would you lie to be paid to play inter county football ?

i'd like to be played to go to the cinema and eat popcorn but it's unrealistic and never gonna happen

Are you happy with the level of the "expenses" at the minute ?

absolutely. probably doesn' leave me entirely in credit but its a fair situation in my opinion

Would you play even without any expenses?.

of course

What do you believe is the ultimate goal of the GPA ?.

No idea. the end to which i joined the GPA was to improve the support and expense situation for players. i should say that this was primarily with a view to situations in other counties as my own wasn't too bad at the time.

[Rossfan]

May I say I'm delighted for the lads getting some small token for all the hours put in, lost overtime,lost social life etc abuse from so called fans, bad mouthing by backwoods officials etc etc

Speak for yourself
[/quote]

I always do oul' pal.

[ardal]

onion bag,

couldn't be bothered trawling through to find your exact quote, but you basically said something along the lines that county players bring millions into the GAA, and this thus justifies the "pay to play" grant. Fair enough about the money brought in, but don't the clubs nurture these players until the county steals them? Oh, by the way I'm selling a house without foundations, I'm reliably informed that you're gullible enough to buy it

[lfdown2]

county player, you say these are performance related, you then go on to talk about the tyrone hurlers etc, perhaps the lads that are getting them are not the one's in need?

[County Player]

county player, you say these are performance related, you then go on to talk about the tyrone hurlers etc, perhaps the lads that are getting them are not the one's in need?

quite possibly true

[County Player]

if you were out for a full season you wouldn't be part of the panel

[County Player]

then they'd get the same as everone else.