GPA and Tyrone players respond to Tyrone County Board

[stephenite]

From RTE :


The GPA have released a statement in which they reacted angrily to an open letter by the Tyrone County committee urging GAA president Nicky Brennan not to grant the body official recognition.

The letter from the Tyrone board to GAA president Nickey Brennan was damning in its criticism of the GPA, insisting that they do not deserve official recognition from Croke Park.

However the GPA and several senior Tyrone players have hit back at the comments from the county board, with the GPA calling the letter 'misleading, ill-informed and malicious.'

In a statement, the GPA said: 'By posting the letter publicly on their website, the Tyrone County Committee has now deliberately decided to initiate a row while negotiations between the players' body and the GAA are reaching a critical juncture.

'Let there be no mistake on this issue. This is a scurrilous attempt by Tryone officials to regain and assert total control on players wearing the county jersey.

'The GPA wholly rejects all the assertions made in this document. We will be raising the issue at the highest levels of the GAA and will be seeking redress on this serious matter.'

Tyrone footballer Seán Cavanagh said: 'I totally reject the comments made by the Tyrone county board in this letter. They were not speaking for me or the Tyrone footballers or even, I would venture, the majority of GAA people in this county.

'The players have earned the right to be officially recognised through the GPA.'

Tyrone hurling captain Barry Winters also stood firm in his backing for the GPA, saying: 'The GPA has been hugely beneficial to the Tyrone hurling squad and was there for us when we needed support. This letter is a slight on all inter-county players.'
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I highlighted Sean Cavanagh's comments regarding his second guessing of the majority of Tyrone GAA people - maybe the Tyronies on here can give their own thoughts??

[theskull1]

I'm not from Tyrone, but I can say that they're speaking for me Sean. I don't buy this holier than thou image that the GPA are trying to portray.

It is true that the GAA need to sort out the players insurance scheme asap because it is no doubt a bit of a disater speaking to anybody who has had to use it. It is a disgrace that this scheme has not been given the right attention and that "a players representative association" has had to champion its cause rather than the GAA sort it out from within. But the GPA do not seem to realise that this is an issue for every player, not just the elite. If the GPA exists only to look after player welfare issues, why do they not canvas the wider club population for support in their endevours? Surely the wider membership would help bring about the changes quicker? I think we all know why they don't give two fiddlers about the club player and his opinions. They haven't got the money making potenial of the elite.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

From Tír Eoghain, and don't agree Seán. Yes, the GPA have been very important in improving things for players, but strictly as a ''ginger group', not a body to represent the elite only, a grouping of which Seán is an elevated member.

The players, sadly, have had real need for agitation on their behalf, but the line should be drawn somewhere, and the club players cannot be overlooked in all of this. Very conspicuous in their absence is any reference to the ordinary club players in the GPA press releases.