I'd love play senior county football for Cavan and win Ulster.
I would expect not be out of pocket if I travel to training.
I would hope that my employer would support me with time off etc.
If not, I'd have to think about it but bottom line is that I would be doing it for pride and enjoyment.
If I was playing IC for the last 3 years and the government said we now want to give you 2.5K for doing that, then yes I'd take it. If in 3 years time the government said sorry lads but we can't afford to give you the grant anymore then I'd say fine and continue playing for my county. So to sum up I'm not playing for the money but if the government is willing to pay me for doing something I already do then yes I'd take it.
I wouldn't.
You would need to have very very strong principles to say no
Mouse will always take the "more cheese" option and lets put it like this no one in their right mind in this day and age will turn away money, but rule 11 is in place to protect us from ourselves and has served us well to this point. We crossed that line on Saturday under pressure from the ultimate rump.
I wouldnt. Mind you I never had that opportunity but I would leave the GAA before holding it to ransom. Others differ.
I wouldnt take the money if offered it as a player.
Precedent has already been set, as I have already refused money in this country and in NY.
(prob could make a case for saying I was offered the money to NOT play )
Not a hope would I take it. I got a few pounds from the club for an injury 2 years ago and I donated it straight back because I wasn't out of work because of it.
would take it and give it to my club.
So whatever you work at - let's say you're a joiner getting £ 400 a week
And this was your rate for the past 3 years
In year 4, the boss says you're getting a cut to £ 250 a week / what would you do ?
Quote from: orangeman on December 10, 2007, 03:52:57 PM
So whatever you work at - let's say you're a joiner getting £ 400 a week
And this was your rate for the past 3 years
In year 4, the boss says you're getting a cut to £ 250 a week / what would you do ?
....start playing rugby....
actually I'd have emigrated to America after the end of year one!
change job OM. ;)
QuoteMind you I never had that opportunity but I would leave the GAA before holding it to ransom
Could you explain how taking a grant of €2500 from the govt can be considered holding the GAA to ransom??
And yes, I'd take it. It's a govt grant of a couple of grand, its not like the GAA are paying a wage to the players. If the GAA were paying it themselves, then I probably wouldn't take it.
Personally I think it's more damaging to the core GAA values when you have players getting paid to give up their day jobs so they can concentrate on football full time. Or the likes of Thomas Walsh moving from Carlow to Wicklow, and intercounty players moving to big Dublin clubs with questionable motives.
Quote from: Tubberman on December 10, 2007, 04:18:55 PM
QuoteMind you I never had that opportunity but I would leave the GAA before holding it to ransom
Could you explain how taking a grant of €2500 from the govt can be considered holding the GAA to ransom??
i think he's referring to the threat of a strike.
The grant came from the government
The GPA held the GAA to ransom by the threat of strike action.. yes or no!
The leadership of the GPA is reprehensible enough without forgetting its most recent history and threats.
I wouldnt mind hearing a few county players speaking their own mind?
I think the free holidays in Tyrone football are about to dry up.
Lerts get back to the clubs and rebuild the association through strenrgthening them.
Quote from: clarshack on December 10, 2007, 03:52:21 PM
would take it and give it to my club.
I have heard that several high profile players in Down are doing exactly that. Fair play to them.
BTW aren't these payments performance based?
In that case some clubs in Down will get close to fifty quid each if they have two county players ;) :P ;D
(I thought I'd say it before some of youse Armagh hoors did!!)
BTW, very few Senior intercounty players live the life of an elite athlete. Any that claim this, well their heads are squarely up their holes.
QuoteQuote
Mind you I never had that opportunity but I would leave the GAA before holding it to ransom
Could you explain how taking a grant of €2500 from the govt can be considered holding the GAA to ransom??
i think he's referring to the threat of a strike.
Fair enough, I misunderstood the point he was making. I was against the strike threat and I'm not a GPA supporter. Dessie Farrell, more than anyone else in the GPA makes my blood boil - an arrogant, greedy man.
But I don't have a problem with the principle of the govt giving a grant to the players.
If some players feel it goes against the GAA values, then donating the money to their clubs is an excellent idea.
But some of the reactions on this board have been way OTT in my opinion.
GPA and Principles don't really sit well together. ;)
TBH the thing that annoyed the hell out of me more than anything else was the threat of a STRIKE.
How the fcuk can the GPA hold everyone to ransom & expect any sort of support?
If the GPA dont get their way with the next demand will they threaten to strike again?
Quote from: Denn Forever on December 10, 2007, 03:27:35 PM
Would you take the grant if offered?
Possibly.
But I wouldn't demand to be paid for training/playing either.
Do you not have to be in a job to strike ?
I wouldnt take it,incidentally I have just counted 14 gpa/grants related threads on the first 2 pages :o
Quote from: full back on December 10, 2007, 03:47:43 PM
You would need to have very very strong principles to say no
Not at all.
If I took it and pocketed it there's several dozen in my club I wouldn't be fit to look in the eye.
You'd want to have some head on you to take it, as I've said before, how many of these county players come from club struggling to pay bills?
Quote from: Tubberman on December 10, 2007, 04:39:54 PM
QuoteQuote
Mind you I never had that opportunity but I would leave the GAA before holding it to ransom
Could you explain how taking a grant of €2500 from the govt can be considered holding the GAA to ransom??
i think he's referring to the threat of a strike.
Fair enough, I misunderstood the point he was making. I was against the strike threat and I'm not a GPA supporter. Dessie Farrell, more than anyone else in the GPA makes my blood boil - an arrogant, greedy man.
But I don't have a problem with the principle of the govt giving a grant to the players.
If some players feel it goes against the GAA values, then donating the money to their clubs is an excellent idea.
But some of the reactions on this board have been way OTT in my opinion.
Yea, agree with most of what you're saying. Terrible to fall out with one of my hero's but Dessie hasn't handled this well at all.
Quote from: darbyo on December 10, 2007, 03:43:29 PM
If I was playing IC for the last 3 years and the government said we now want to give you 2.5K for doing that, then yes I'd take it. If in 3 years time the government said sorry lads but we can't afford to give you the grant anymore then I'd say fine and continue playing for my county. So to sum up I'm not playing for the money but if the government is willing to pay me for doing something I already do then yes I'd take it.
I agree with you. But the problem is that its' a GAA body giving out the money. I'd listen to your side of the argument if the sports council were dealing with this whole situation, but they're not.
So, if, in 10 year time the GPA turn around and say "we want more!"
GAA say "But sure yer amateurs we can't give ye more than yer award from the sports council"
GPA "We want more coz the cost of living is gone up, we're missing out on overtime, i can't buy a house, the beemer needs a service, the missus needs new knickers and the young fella is gone crazy on the coco pops"
GAA "Tough titty we're not paying anymore"
GPA "Right so. We're going on strike!".............
By the way whose to say the above won't happen if the county boards now decide to take a hardline stance on all the freebies that were flying players way up to now. County boards would be well entitled to follow the guidlines on player welfare to the letter now, especially seeing as players are getting a furhter subsidy anyway.
As soon as i saw the name of this thread i thought to myself "there's gonna be a whole lot of easy posts on this one". it'd be far more pertinent at the end of the year to see how many of those who qualified for the grant turned it down.
A GOOD friend of mine has already been offered double his grant total if he will turn it down officially and say publicly its because he feels it's against the ethos of the GAA.
Obviously the nayesayers have PR all on their side already so i really don't see the reasoning. but desperate times and all that...
Quote from: DMarsden on December 10, 2007, 06:39:14 PM
A GOOD friend of mine has already been offered double his grant total if he will turn it down officially and say publicly its because he feels it's against the ethos of the GAA.
I'm sure (seeing as you seem to present yourself as the self-appointed adjudicator of post quality on here) you'll actually provide some verifiable evidence of this.
I wouldn't take a penny or cent of the 'grant'.
Quote from: rrhf on December 10, 2007, 04:35:56 PM
BTW, very few Senior intercounty players live the life of an elite athlete. Any that claim this, well their heads are squarely up their holes.
you are a begrudging asshole...and this to me has been at the core for many of the point scorers. Elite meaning within their sport..... perhaps might help eay your begrudery
This thread is just ridiculous and it goes back to my very first point a few weeks ago with Hardy. Some seem to think we, non-inter-county gaels are more moralistic than inter-county players, a different breed of human completely. I think some on here have lost all sense of reality.
That's up to county boards. Conor Gormley, Ryan McMenamin, Oisin McConville etc turned out for their clubs a lot more than a handful of times in 2007.
f**k me, I can't believe this thread.
The GAABoard has always been full of idealistic, moralistic twats... but this thread really will take some beating (although I'm, pretty sure sure I typed those exact words a few months back).
I object to the grants. I always have and I always will. But by f**k, if any friend or family of mine turned down a government grant they were entitled to, I'd feel like drawing blood from his head. You can shove you f**king morals up your holes fellas. If you don't take the grant, nobody loses except you. You lose. And for what? So you can say you didn't take a payment that all your peers took? So you can say you didn't take a payment you were entitled too? So that in 3 years time, when not even your own clubmates remember your 'good deed', your car repayments are still hurt every month?
Catch a grip you fooking loonies.
So wobbler you're against the grants unless you or a friend or family member was entitled to one.
Twat as right.
Don't bother replying.
Pints, the fact that you managed to interpret my statement as such says a lot about your personality. Twisting things to suit your needs does not add substance to your argument.
Quote from: 5iveTimes on December 10, 2007, 11:32:37 PM
I think before we condemn anyone, we should walk a mile in their shoes. If I was a county player, I would find it very hard to turn down that money. Remember for every Darragh O`Se and Sean Cavanagh there are 50 players who are unknown outside their own County, there are so many players who dont get to Croke Park or appear on adverts, but they were probably out training tonight after work while you were watching Eastenders.
5ive Times, for once I agree with you :o :P
One of the more sensible comments on this thread
You must have a very blinkered management and a very weak county board.
Quote from: DMarsden on December 11, 2007, 12:00:29 AM
You must have a very blinkered management and a very weak county board.
For God sake Armagh is as bad if not worse.
Quote from: pintsofguinness on December 11, 2007, 12:05:21 AM
Quote from: DMarsden on December 11, 2007, 12:00:29 AM
You must have a very blinkered management and a very weak county board.
For God sake Armagh is as bad if not worse.
Not quite as bad but would be that and worse if they could get away with it.
The GAA 'family' is not some sort of socialist utopia where all of us put thousands of pounds back in, so I wouldn't just start now. I'd definitely take the grant from the government as long as it lasts, and if and when it stops then so be it.
Quote from: DMarsden on December 10, 2007, 06:39:14 PM
A GOOD friend of mine has already been offered double his grant total if he will turn it down officially and say publicly its because he feels it's against the ethos of the GAA.
Dmarsden, I really think you need to either back that up with some facts or delete it.
Its not the sort of accusation you can throw at the anti grant camp with nothing to back it up.
Quote from: 5iveTimes on December 10, 2007, 11:18:55 PM
Realistically thewobbler is right. No one is going to turn down a few thousand if it is offered to them, that is no one in their right mind. If a player feels guilty about receiving the money, I think he should give it to his club, it is the club that suffers when its best players are missing because of county commitments.
The people at fault here are the GAA, who have allowed this situation to develop without consulting the grassroots.
I would turn it down, or I would take it and give it to my club as previously stated. I would not keep it, If i did I would be accepting pay for play and the thought of pay per play in the GAA sickens me so much I can't even describe it.
I was against the grants and appalled by the thought of the strike but I have to say I wouldn't blame any of these guys for taking the money now that its being offered to them.
We have 5 lads on the county panel all under the age of 24. 3 of them are self employed, one has a midlin job and the 5th fella is only out of college. They are probably not making a decent wage between them. One lad is bulilding a house and wasn't going to go in this year because he wanted to get it done before christmas but he was advised not to let building a house get in the way of his county career....for what, a county career in Longford. How many people on here could name half the Longford team. There's nobody from the county board helping him build his house. The lad is doing a lot of it himself. 2 weeks ago he was going to put a velux window in for me and he rang me on the Saturday morning to say he'd be over after he finished getting the concrete poured for his footpaths. The same lad was training the night before and the folowing morning. I told him not to worry about the window. He can do that when he's not as busy or maybe the GAA will send someone out to do it for him!!!
Another one of the county lads closed the shop he works in a half hour early one evening last year (probably risking his job) to get out for a league game we were playing. The bloody thing was called off after he got there.
Not one of our county lads ever miss a game, If the county are not trainnig at the exact same time then they are always at our training session. In fact on a couple of 10.30 Sunday morning sessions last year these guys came from an 8 o'clock county session and then trained with us.
The committment these lads give would put some of their club colleges to shame (not all I have to say but certainly they end up playing with lads who would be putting about half the time and effort in.)
Anyway I would never begrudge these lads a penny for what they are doing. For evey Dara o'Shea and Sean Kavanagh who are doing well out of the GAA there are 20 like the lads I have described. And knowing these lads they didn't hold anyone to ransom. If they were told they were getting no money it wouldn't make the slightest difference to them. BUt if they are being offered a few quid then I say take it lads. Ye deserve it. And just remember any club player can be a county player and more often than not its mote to do with dedication and commitment than ability alone. We have had 9 seperate lads in the last 3 years involved with the county senior panlel. 3 or 4 of those have no more talent than 5 or 6 lads who haven't been called in or for that mater than a couple of our subs but what they do have is serious dedication. We had a 6th guy called in his year but he just couln't be bothered, plain and simple but obviously he deserves exactly the same as the 5 guys who got the sum total of about 3 weeks off training this year.
A month ago I could never have envisaged taking this stance but the more I think about it no matter how sour a taste Dessie Farrell and his cohorts put in my mouth I just can't blame these lads for taking whats being offered to them.
Quote from: DMarsden on December 10, 2007, 06:39:14 PM
A GOOD friend of mine has already been offered double his grant total if he will turn it down officially and say publicly its because he feels it's against the ethos of the GAA.
Any chance of some more details on this accusation? ???
Well we have already established what he is its a case of haggling for the price
I am over the hill so it is moot. But I don't think I'd take it.
A question though. If you are awarded the grant, can you claim expenses as well?
Somebody is going to get double for turning it down ?
Jesus lads, this is getting out of hand and is quickly turning into a joke !!!!