Shields going to Carlton preseason training

[tayto]

Dunno whether to be glad or worried that they're not after any dubs ...

Good luck to the boys, it wony work out for all of them, as it's not everyone cup of tea living ont he far side of the planet, would be great if the clubs that lose the player got some compo but legally i cant see how it'd work ...

[the Deel Rover]

Schoolboy soccer clubs don't own their players either yet some of them see a tidy return as their players get signed to a club in England. I don't see what the problem is. Each player that signs on with an AFL club stipulates in the contract that x amount of dollars go to his local club. It wouldn't be taken out of his pocket. It would be a one off payment or even performance related, so that if someone goes on to be a superstar the club could get a nice few bob out of it. You have to understand that the place is going to be swarming with AFL scouts as it is a no-brainer to recruit Irish lads. They are outside the salary cap (they'll get paid f*ck all anyway) and they are outside the national draft so at the moment as far as the aussies are concerned, hunting season is well and truly open with no bag limit. There has to be some form of regulation.

I see what your saying Jinxy but i don't see why the club should get paid. For e.g a player plays with his home club and moves to Dublin he then transfers to a Dublin club, his own home club does not get compensated despite the fact that he has played with them all his life . The point is the Gaa is an amatuer organisation and the ethos of the organisation is that everything is done voluntary from coaching kids, to playing ect ect.I think that its hyprocritical of us to say that we want to remain amatuer organisation but yet expect the clubs to receive some sort of payment even though they have no rights to the players.

[Over the Bar]

You'll see more and more players from counties outside of the big 2 of Kerry & Tyrone accepting the lure of Aussie Rules.  If they have little or no chance of winning Sam during their playing career here, you can't really blame them.  

[Jinxy]

Schoolboy soccer clubs don't own their players either yet some of them see a tidy return as their players get signed to a club in England. I don't see what the problem is. Each player that signs on with an AFL club stipulates in the contract that x amount of dollars go to his local club. It wouldn't be taken out of his pocket. It would be a one off payment or even performance related, so that if someone goes on to be a superstar the club could get a nice few bob out of it. You have to understand that the place is going to be swarming with AFL scouts as it is a no-brainer to recruit Irish lads. They are outside the salary cap (they'll get paid f*ck all anyway) and they are outside the national draft so at the moment as far as the aussies are concerned, hunting season is well and truly open with no bag limit. There has to be some form of regulation.

I see what your saying Jinxy but i don't see why the club should get paid. For e.g a player plays with his home club and moves to Dublin he then transfers to a Dublin club, his own home club does not get compensated despite the fact that he has played with them all his life . The point is the Gaa is an amatuer organisation and the ethos of the organisation is that everything is done voluntary from coaching kids, to playing ect ect.I think that its hyprocritical of us to say that we want to remain amatuer organisation but yet expect the clubs to receive some sort of payment even though they have no rights to the players.

Think of it more as a charitable donation as opposed to a "payment." Clubs get money from various sources anyway. It's not like they are going to split the cash amongst the members. I don't see how this would be hypocritical to be honest. Might pay the utility bills for a year. Anyway, as with the schoolboy soccer team legal "rights" don't come into it. You establish a precedent and it eventually becomes the norm. It's not comparable with lads moving clubs. As far as I know AFL clubs give money to the juvenile clubs in Oz when they draft a player anyway. May be wrong on this.

[Gnevin]

You'll see more and more players from counties outside of the big 2 of Kerry & Tyrone accepting the lure of Aussie Rules.  If they have little or no chance of winning Sam during their playing career here, you can't really blame them.   

Big 2
Tyrone having a chance to win Sam
Best laugh i've seen here in a while


On the issue of these players 4 players in not a flood and they can't all be successes . So they'll have the advantage of 2 year training at a pro level and will be ready to slot into a senior team

[cavan4ever]

You'll see more and more players from counties outside of the big 2 of Kerry & Tyrone accepting the lure of Aussie Rules.  If they have little or no chance of winning Sam during their playing career here, you can't really blame them.   

Big 2
Tyrone having a chance to win Sam
Best laugh i've seen here in a while


On the issue of these players 4 players in not a flood and they can't all be successes . So they'll have the advantage of 2 year training at a pro level and will be ready to slot into a senior team

Nicholas Walsh forgot how to play Gaelic Football while he was away.  Was very promising before and probably is not good enough for Cavan Team which isn't a nice thing to say but is true.

[Jinxy]

You'll see more and more players from counties outside of the big 2 of Kerry & Tyrone accepting the lure of Aussie Rules.  If they have little or no chance of winning Sam during their playing career here, you can't really blame them.   

Big 2
Tyrone having a chance to win Sam
Best laugh i've seen here in a while


On the issue of these players 4 players in not a flood and they can't all be successes . So they'll have the advantage of 2 year training at a pro level and will be ready to slot into a senior team

Nicholas Walsh forgot how to play Gaelic Football while he was away.  Was very promising before and probably is not good enough for Cavan Team which isn't a nice thing to say but is true.

Just beat me to it! Although he did learn a few other "tricks" while he was away. I'll say no more lest this thread be hijacked by cranky Tyrone men.

[Gnevin]

You'll see more and more players from counties outside of the big 2 of Kerry & Tyrone accepting the lure of Aussie Rules.  If they have little or no chance of winning Sam during their playing career here, you can't really blame them.   

Big 2
Tyrone having a chance to win Sam
Best laugh i've seen here in a while


On the issue of these players 4 players in not a flood and they can't all be successes . So they'll have the advantage of 2 year training at a pro level and will be ready to slot into a senior team

Nicholas Walsh forgot how to play Gaelic Football while he was away.  Was very promising before and probably is not good enough for Cavan Team which isn't a nice thing to say but is true.

May the promise just never developed the O halpin lads and others seem to be able to pick it up fast enough while on holidays home

[thejuice]

Yes, but can the GAA do anything to make itself more attractive to get lads to stay?

On another note, whats Setanta's hurling skills like since he's been away. On the TV program he looked like he had lost his touch very quickly.

[rolloutking]

I could never understand how Setanta was picked out by yer man Sholly in the first place. Like it's not as if he was a star underage footballer like the players that are being offered contracts now?

[Over the Bar]

Big 2
Tyrone having a chance to win Sam
Best laugh i've seen here in a while

I'll wager as much as you are willing to lose that Tyrone win at least one more Sam during Mickey Harte's current stint as manager.

[muppet]

Schoolboy soccer clubs don't own their players either yet some of them see a tidy return as their players get signed to a club in England. I don't see what the problem is. Each player that signs on with an AFL club stipulates in the contract that x amount of dollars go to his local club. It wouldn't be taken out of his pocket. It would be a one off payment or even performance related, so that if someone goes on to be a superstar the club could get a nice few bob out of it. You have to understand that the place is going to be swarming with AFL scouts as it is a no-brainer to recruit Irish lads. They are outside the salary cap (they'll get paid f*ck all anyway) and they are outside the national draft so at the moment as far as the aussies are concerned, hunting season is well and truly open with no bag limit. There has to be some form of regulation.

Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.

Soccer is easily regulated as it is the same sport and it is regulated by an international body. If big clubs start misbehaving FIFA or UEFA can deal with it.

The problem here is two-fold:
1) The GAA & AFL are two entirely separate codes with only token contact;
2) One of those codes is entirely amateur;

There are two possible solutions as I see it and both involve bitter pills for large sections of the Gaa community.
1) Find a way of making it just as attractive for the players to stay. All things being equal the average young Irish lad would rather play Gah for his county over Aussie rules so if the packages available were comparable the problem would fizzle out.
2) Create a joint regulatory body with binding rules on registration and thus compensation to clubs who lose players to a professional outfit. There would have to be an incentive for the AFL to sign up to this, maybe in the way of the International Rules or whatever, but either way I suspect there would be some pain for us here.

Given that a majority of Gaa people are against pay for play and a significant number want to break off contact with the AFL it will be difficult to resolve the situation.

For what its worth here is my solution:

Proceed with the Government elite sportsman grant. (We have muppets that don't get out of their heats in major Championships getting thousands per annum so why not rewards those that thrill entire counties with the flick of a foot or a hurl?)
To qualify for the grant a player would have to sign up to certain guarantees.
e.g:
* No participation in any movement towards professionalism;
* A player remains with the club/county that got him to that level;
* Any transfer to another code to play professionally would trigger a compensation to a named club;
* If the deal was done under the auspices of the GPA then the GPA would guarantee not to persue pay for play or professionalism;

I know that idea of any money going to players, grant or otherwise, sticks in the throat of many Gaa people but I think at the moment it might be a small price to pay to protect us from bigger problems currently on the horizon.

[orangeman]

I hate these posters who come on and say that the GAA don't own the players etc etc etc - We all know the GAA don't own them but it's scandalous that the Aussies can walk in and take our best talent and pay the club nothing for their services - the GAA have invested huge amounts of time and effort and money into the whole organsiation - the Aussies haven't spent a bean - of course the clubs should be compensated and the quicker this is sorted out the better - start with £ 100k per player - that would put manners in them -

[muppet]

Orangeman, ranting aside how exactly do you propose to force the Aussies to pay £100,000 a man?

Amateur players are not contracted and therefore are free to move where they please unless they contravene the rules of the sport in question. The AFL have no rules on Irish players and why would they when they get them for free?

[zoyler]

Orangeman - wehat would be the strory with a young lad going off to play pro soccer who also played GAA?  Would you expect the GAA club to be compensated.  WE might not like the situation - all were doing is recognisimg the reality of the situation.