UNLIMITED HEARTBREAK ,,,,,,, Inside story on Limerick Hurling .

[deiseach]

Think he's partly right in that County Boards have to take responsibility but he has to point a finger at the players who left the fold too and them Cork boys who started all the nonsense in the first place. Between those on high in Croke Park and the elite players there's going to be little real input for your 'average' GAA member to contribute.
We're all going to be just 'volunteers' or 'supporters' if things keep going the way they are.

In fairness to the players, and Gold help me I include the Cork crew in this, a more militant spirit amongst them was inevitable once county squads went from being a couple of times a year get-togethers to ten months slogs up sand dunes. You may not approve of their behaviour in various situations - and I generally don't, not least the behaviour of the Waterford panel towards Justin McCarthy - to accept that circumstances have made them different

[dowling]

Valid argument deiseach and no doubt the demands on present day players can be used to give credence in turn to their demands. I believe managers have to take a lot of the blame for this in relation to how they set the bar for players and for county boards to meet their needs; different types of coaches, medical staff and even nutritionalist experts to name but a few. And a manager's demands can be endless and some county boards in pursuit of success will go along with anything, partly because of pressure from within the county but probably more so because players have it drilled into them that success wont come without the massive expenditure. Countys might get the businessmen to cough up a large proportion but why can't they get them to throw their money to the county board to do as they see fit? At so many levels now the vast majority of GAA members are being excluded from the decision making process. And it has already filtered into clubs who could be the worst hit in the long run.
You're standing watching a match and someone approaches asking for a few euro for the senior hurling team, largely financed by some bigwig who will only give his money for this and managed by an outsider because the 'boys' on the team didn't think there was anyone in the club up to the job and at their insistence the club committee concured; and you're watching your child giving it everything in an old jersey because the club can't afford new ones like the senior hurlers have, where's your part in all of this. When was your voice heard?   
Of course today's demands on the inter county players are different and if CBs want to address them fair enough but let's not kid ourselves  here that there's no element of greed involved. Those in Croke Park get their piece of the pie and some players see a piece too. The rest of us are getting marginalised when it comes to an input into decidion making and hit more frequently in the pocket.
A lot of things need tweaked in the GAA in this modern day but one thing that doesn't is the need for representation of and accountibility to the grassroots of the association, fully paid up members and by and large present and ex-players, not volunteers and supporters.
We don't all go into our club agms with profound proposals and or even become totally engrossed in all the business and mechanicisms of the day. But at the end of the day a CB is elected through clubs and faith is put in them to do what is right for the county, not for a group of players who have decided they need a different manager.
County Boards have to take control as they're expected to be in control  and if they cant decide who will be county manager what can they decide on their own?   
Demands on CBs are also greater these days as is the pressure on them and there's no point in Richie Bennis having a pop at them in isolation to everything else.
I think he would have been better applauding the Limerick county board for standing firm last year and urging them to keep responsibility and accountibility to the county membership.