government grants to GAA players -- not getting into prefessionalism etc

[A Quinn Martin Production]

GPA ponders drug testing boycott

The Gaelic Players Association has asked its members to vote on whether they should boycott future drug tests.

This follows Kerry star Aidan O'Mahony's recent positive drugs test and the Irish Government's admission that player grants are under threat.

On Friday, the GAA lifted the provisional ban imposed on O'Mahony pending a full hearing of the case.

Irish Sports Minister Martin Cullen has said that the grants scheme is being threatened by the economic downturn.

O'Mahony's positive test was for adverse levels of Salbutamol in his urine on the day of the All-Ireland final against Tyrone.

A number of GAA players and commentators have claimed that the association's amateur players should not have to undergo drug testing although, it has been pointed out that the sport signed up to the Irish Sports Council's drug testing guidelines in 2001.

Like other sports, the GAA receives funding from the Irish Sports Council.

The GPA texted its members asking: "Due to the threat of grant withdrawal and recent positive drug test, players suggest we should boycott anti-doping code. Do you agree?"

Last week, GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell said he was hopeful that the scheme would continue despite the economic downturn.

He added that the players' body was prepared to accept an eight per cent reduction in funding next year.

Around 3.5 million Euro was provided to pay this year's grants but the Irish Sport Council's budget is certain to be reduced in 2009.

Last year, a deal was agreed between the Gaelic Players' Association, the GAA and the ISC to fund two schemes to meet costs for senior intercounty players.

Minister Cullen met with the GPA recently and spoke to them about the possibility of an eight per cent cut across the board in funding for the Irish Sports Council.

"We'd be prepared to work with that, but anything else would make it extremely difficult," said Farrell.

"What disappoints us is that after six years campaigning for the grants, they would come under threat so soon.

"They have become a central tenet of player welfare and will become even more so because GAA players are losing their jobs too.

"It's diappointing - this campaign was born after the 2002 Finance Bill when professional athletes got lucrative tax breaks - there was no reference to professional tax breaks today.

"That begs the question: why is it always the amateur, why is it always the GAA player?

"In light of what's gone on in Kerry, there are more and more professional standards players must adhere to.

"Players nowadays come under great media scrutiny on and off the field and we feel it's only fair the grant is provided and should be secure thereafter."

Meanwhile GAA president Nickey Brennan said it was his hope that the Government would continue to honour the terms of the agreement reached in November last year.

He added that he believed that the schemes as rolled out in 2008 had been an appropriate recognition of the contribution of senior intercounty players to the social, economic and cultural life of the nation.

He said the GAA would be talking to the GPA in the coming days in relation to the matter.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/gaelic_games/7745767.stm

Doesn't refusing to a give a urine sample or missing such a test you're asked to attend when requested lead to a suspension? I'm thinking of Rio Ferdinand and Mike Tyson here... If this route was taken, things would get very messy.

What f***ing planet is Farrell on??  An absolutely crazy proposal!

[antoinse]

I think the Eamon Sweeney piece was total off the wall when you consider what he wrote the previous week. He cannot make his mind up on what he wants or what side of the fence to stand on. One thing for sure the man sitting on the fence is wavering in the breeze.  Me thinks he is lliving in the wilderness too long.

[The GAA]

Sweeney is a bit of a header anyway. sure he could come up with anything

[Sligoper]

Was chattin to one of the lads on the Sligo panel in work the other day, apparantely the grants are coming in within the next week. Nice for some.

[orangeman]

No surprises here lads - what do you think ?


Conway would be happy to see grants go
28 November 2008


The most vocal critic of the grants scheme for inter-county players has expressed his hope that the Government will "pull the plug" on it.

Tyrone man Mark Conway was one of the leading figures in the Of One Belief group that campaigned against the grants scheme and challenged its introduction at Congress and with the Disputes Resolution Authority earlier this year.

"My view is the same as it was a year ago," he said. "It was wrong then and it is wrong now.

"It's a fundamental contradiction of what the GAA stands for that members get paid to play at a certain level. I wouldn't want to sound hateful, but if the Government pull the plug on it, it would be the right decision. It would be rectifying a wrong."

The GPA has threatened to boycott drug testing if the Government carries out its threat to scrap the grants scheme after just one year due to the economic downturn. But Conway feels this is a problem of their own making.

"You have to do certain things if you get the money. There are things tied into that, whether people like it or not.

"So you have to submit to the drug testing regime. I was never in favour of the testing of any of our players because they are amateurs.

"The GAA was different from any other organisation in that regard but anybody who signed up for the grants walked into it with their eyes wide open. They took the grant so they have to buy into that. They can't pick and choose. Maybe the chickens are coming home to roost now."

[heganboy]

Cavanagh fears AFL exodus over grants

Tyrone's Sean Cavanagh surges past a helpless Adrian Morrissey of Wexford in the All-Ireland SFC semi-final
21 November 2008


Footballer of the Year and GPA secretary Sean Cavanagh has warned that the GAA's best young players will turn their backs on the sport if the player grants scheme is scrapped.

And the Tyrone ace believes that many of them will be bound for Australian Rules.

"When you talk about the guys going to Australia, to have something small like that will attract Gaelic footballers to stay here and play the sport they should be playing rather than going to take part in a foreign game in Australia," said Cavanagh, who has twice turned down offers from AFL clubs.

"In most counties, the game is played to a professional standard nowadays and it is like a full-time job. Guys are going to be out of pocket and those grants do help. We would argue that we're being treated as almost professionals in most ways."

Cavanagh has also described the anti-doping regulations inter-county players must adhere to as "unrealistic".

Speaking in the wake of Aidan O'Mahony's failed drugs test, he admitted that he did not know whether everyday medicine was safe to take.

"Whenever you think about it, the guidelines that are places on Gaelic footballers are probably unrealistic.

"I know from the past whenever I have had a cold a few days before a game, I would take a Lempsip and you wouldn't know where it is legal," he added.

i think if I were in the position where I was undecided between going down under to play Aussie rules or staying here, a couple of hundred quid here and there would be every bit as important as the 1500 yoyos