GPA or GAA?

[High Catch]

What is the general opinion on the board regarding this debate? Personally i'm undecided but swaying towards the GPA.

[Mayo4Sam]

By the GPA do u mean that money grabbing shower of bastards led by the dim witted Mr. Farrell?

[Hound]

Whatever you say about Farrell, you'd need to be dim-witted to call him a dim-wit!

[Mayo4Sam]

Whatever you say about Farrell, you'd need to be dim-witted to call him a dim-wit!

[Romeo]

Whatever you say about Farrell, you'd need to be dim-witted to call him a dim-wit!

Point proved Hound..............

[dublinfella]

What is the general opinion on the board regarding this debate? Personally i'm undecided but swaying towards the GPA.

why is it zero sum?

[Mayo4Sam]

Whatever you say about Farrell, you'd need to be dim-witted to call him a dim-wit!

Point proved Hound..............

I was asking why would i have to be dim witted to call farrell a dim wit?

From what i've seen of him as a rep for the GPA he comes across as an unintelligent man whose sole interest is getting pay-per-play for inter-county players.
I disagree with his ideals and i dislike him in his role for the GPA.

[DUBSFORSAM1]

My view is:

If the GAA had done their job by looking after the players properly there would be no need for a union at all....

Mayo4Sam

So where is all this evidence about pay for play??

[Hardy]

What is the general opinion on the board regarding this debate? Personally i'm undecided but swaying towards the GPA.

why is it zero sum?

So are you suggesting we can pay the players AND continue all current programmes and planned future ones from the same pot of money?

Maybe you're being influenced in your thinking by the economic theories of the tsars of Irish soccer, where monopoly money solves all problems. Until the bailiffs knock on the door. 

[Mayo4Sam]

My view is:

If the GAA had done their job by looking after the players properly there would be no need for a union at all....

Mayo4Sam

So where is all this evidence about pay for play??

Everything that comes out of farrell's mouth that isn't "We dont want pay for play" is suggesting that that is exactly where they are heading

[Mayo4Sam]

Oh and for the record


The establishing of the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) has had a direct impact on the GAA. Seán Potts, graduate of the Masters in Journalism 1991 and deputy sports editor with the Evening Herald meets with Dessie Farrell to discuss the role of the GPA and the effects it has on the GAA sporting body.


"I was on record some years previously as saying I believed players should be paid a fee on a per-match basis"

[Hound]

Dessie has never denied that his personal opinion is that he'd like to see match fees.

But the GPA membership have not put that as an objective. They had a vote in the last 12 months and the members of the GPA voted against it. The GPA have never asked for direct payment for players for playing GAA games.

But even when they do, so what? They'll simply be told no.

[The Bottom Brick]

I'd love to know how many members they actually have... I spoke to 2 lads, one who plays for Monaghan, one for Cavan, and they're answer was "I know nothing about it, I don't even know if I'm a member.."

What do they do for handball? or Leitrim hurling? Or Carlow football for example?

Joe Brolly's article in this week's Gaelic Life should be posted all over ireland - the Derry man hit the nail exactly on the head!!

[Pangurban]

The GPA should receive no recognition, official or otherwise from the G.A.A.  They fulfil no function that can not be better served by the present constituent bodies within the association. Yes there has been failures in the past and a slowness in recognising legitimate concerns of players, but,these are now being fairly and adequately addressed . By seeking to address the needs of a tiny group of elite players and failing to consider the needs of the whole association, the GPA can only be a divisive and baneful influence

[paddypastit]

From the Sindo - normal health warnings apply

GPA suggests that the GAA has 15 times more elite athletes than all other sports

Sunday February 25th 2007

MARK CHRISTIE is one of the most promising athletes produced by Ireland in the last 20 years. He was world ranked at 1500m as a junior, led the Irish cross country team to silver in the European Championships and broke John Treacy's long standing 3000m Irish junior record. He undoubtedly has the potential to win at least a European medal at senior level. He receives €4,000 a year under the Sports Council Elite Athlete Scheme.

€4,000 may seem a paltry sum but money is tight at the Sports Council. Derval O'Rourke might be the golden girl of Irish athletics but when she performed badly at the last Olympics her funding was slashed. Athletes are assessed from year to year and can be cut from the scheme if their performances fall below a certain level.

The total amount disbursed by the Sports Council to elite athletes in 2005 was €1.5m, which was divided among 150 people in 21 sports. It is in this context that the GPA's request, accepted in principle by Minister for Sport, Arts and Culture John O'Donoghue according to the Association, for Sports Council funding should be considered.

Dessie Farrell and his cohorts are looking for money for approximately 1,920 footballers and hurlers. This would cost a total of €3.35m according to the Association's own estimates. By this reckoning the GAA has roughly 15 times more elite athletes than all the other sports in Ireland put together and deserves over twice as much funding as those other sports. What colossal arrogance.

No doubt GPA members would dispute the notion that they are taking the bread out of the mouths of their fellow sportsmen and sportswomen. Yet there is not an infinite, or even an adequate, amount of money currently available to the Sports Council. If there was, someone like Mark Christie would not have to make do with a pitiful €4,000 a year and the Derval O'Rourkes of this world would not be financially penalised for momentary lapses of form.

If the government has €3.35m going spare it might be better spent preparing our sportsmen for the challenge of international competition against athletes who receive far greater state support. GAA players shouldn't be getting the same kind of funding as elite athletes because, well, they're not elite athletes. Someone like Seán Óg Ó hAilpín may be, while no one would begrudge the likes of Colm Cooper or Stevie McDonnell the kind of money which would enable them to concentrate more fully on developing their wonderful skills.

The problem is that the GPA insists on a blanket rate of, for example, €2,500 for anyone who is even a panellist on a county team competing in the Liam McCarthy Cup. €2,500 for a sub on, say, the Wexford hurling team just looks plain wrong when compared to €4,000 for Mark Christie. The argument might be made that the Wexford sub works just as hard as his more successful counterparts. But the fact remains that it takes more than work to make an elite athlete. There are many outstanding club athletes who work just as hard as international runners but don't get a red cent because they lack the same ability. Those athletes, by the way, work a lot harder than most inter-county hurlers or footballers.

A core GPA argument is that players deserve this money because of the vast attendances they draw to Croke Park. But this merely shows the senselessness of giving government funding to GAA players. In comparison to other sporting bodies the Association is awash with money. If GAA players are to be paid, it should be by their own Association. The GAA, unlike the cash starved competitors in other sports, can afford it.

Robbing Peter the sub-four-minute miler to pay Paul the sub goalie will make a joke out of sports funding in this country. Unfortunately, Dessie and his members will be the only ones laughing.