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This is taken from the 'Of One Belief' sounding board and is posted for those who do not subscribe to the circular or visit http://www.ofonebelief.org/

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There are many, many reasons why we shouldn't touch the grants/awards/pay-for-play scheme with a barge pole. Here's twenty to start with:

    * It flies in the face of our Rule 11 which clearly states that "a player, team, official or member shall not accept payment in cash or in kind in conjunction with the playing of gaelic games". As such it represents an attempt at the most fundamental shift ever in GAA ethos and policy. And it shifts the entire focus within the GAA from "We" to "Me".

    * It is a policy which, if introduced, will never be reversed: once the principle of paying players is introduced, experience in every other sport in every other setting shows that the only issue for debate thereafter is: "How much more?"

    * The GAA is about giving, not taking. The GAA gives the money it earns back to the people of Ireland in the form of facilities; coaching; games development; and equipment. Only by retaining our amateur status can we ensure this reinvestment continues, generation after generation.
    * Playing for your County is a choice, not an obligation. Always, always, always in the GAA you do what you do because you want to. If you don't want to ... then don't do it. That brilliantly simple concept has served us so well for 124 years. This proposed arrangement totally undermines that understanding.

    * Paying this money establishes a dangerous precedent. The GAA will have to pick up the tab when the government, as it inevitably will, drops out

    * Inflation and claimed "increased-costs-of-playing-gaelic-games" will have to be factored in

    * There is no moral argument for not paying the same money to the inter-County back-room people who put in the same time and effort. Counties will have to come up with the money and the arrangements to do this.

    * Once we start paying back-room teams, there is no moral argument in turn for not paying other County Committee people: they put in as much (if not more) time and effort and without them there would be no County GAA to start with.

    * It is not at all clear who carries the legal liabilities (of which there will be many) in all this. The first case for "wrongful dismissal" or whatever from a County panel is inevitably on its way.

    * The "Bosman" and other EU rulings mean once money becomes involved and "restraint of trade" issues invariably follow, the GAA won't have a legal leg to stand on in terms of stopping players transferring to Counties where their financial prospects are better

    * There will be a financial incentive regime in place in the GAA which discourages elite players from putting themselves at risk in Club games

    * There'll be no incentive or justification to address the current poison of paid managers in the GAA ... which should be an absolute priority for the GAA

    * Some players will inevitably object because they have to play more matches than players from other Counties to reach the Championship Quarter-Finals and be awarded the money that comes with that. This will fatally undermine the structure of our Championships.

    * The first headline as follows is already on its way: "That refereeing decision cost us 'so-many-thousand' euros"

    * We will have a scenario where County A's players get the money on the basis of attending 80% of, say, 100 sessions whilst County B's players will get it on the basis of attending 80% of, say, 50 sessions

    * The scheme seriously expects people with full-time jobs to "visit schools and youth facilities" as part of their new "GAA contractual arrangements". The costs of those school and other visits will have to be picked up by someone: that someone will be the Counties.

    * The GPA has already claimed players should be entitled to a share of TV money ("HQ Warned to Share TV Money Around", Setanta, 23 October 2007). The GAA will have no moral (let alone legal) justification for opposing such a future GPA claim ... paid directly to them of course by a third party, the TV company. (No doubt it will be backed up by the threat of strike action - which in the new pay-for-play context it will actually be a strike)

    * The rest of the GAA is still expected to fundraise to provide elite facilities when the users of those facilities are going to have to be paid to use them

    * The new contractual requirements placed on players are the diametric opposite to the supposed concern with over-burdening players ... and on which we recently held a Special Congress

    * The GAA will be morally and legally unable to oppose a sponsor who offers a County panel a large, performance-based, sum of money to win a title

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Is Misé Le Méas.

Ahh, at last, the one every man,woman,child and dog in the street with a heartbeat has been waiting for. 'The old rivals', 'The great local derby' etc. etc.

I'm really lookin forward to this clash for many reasons. It's a good time for both sides as they're both playing reasonable football which should hopefully produce an interesting duel. I haven't seen Monaghan play under floodlight which I'm also looking forward to, and, it's Kingspan (Breffni) Park..

Could all good Cavan/Monaghan men/women/hermaphrodites throw in their 2cents worth on how they think this one is gonna go.. Would be interested in hearing from any Armagh folk also who have seen Cavan play already in the NFL.

  Cavan beat Monaghan in the McKenna cup but I'm not reading into this much, with all due respect Cavan folk.. Donal Keoghan was quoted as saying in a post-match interview 'any day's a good day you beat Monaghan'. I'm hoping he's ingesting a large portion of pie filled with humbleness on Sat night about 9pm...

McEnaney names Monaghan panel

The panel is: Shane Duffy, Padraig McBennett, Dessie Mone, John Paul Mone, Conor McManus, Paul McGuigan, Vincent Corey, Dermot McArdle, Ciaran Hanratty, Donal Morgan, Darren Hughes, Daniel McNally, Gary McQuaid, Raymond Ronaghan, Damien Freeman (capt.), Tomas Freeman, Eoin Lennon, Stephen Fitzpatrick, Owen Duffy, Colm Flanagan, Dick Clerkin, Shane Smith, Neil McAdam, Stephen Gollogly, Gary McEnaney, Rory Woods, Seamus Markey, Brendan McKenna, Shane Mulligan, Paul Finlay.


What does the Farnies (or indeed anyone else) think of this selection? No big surprises here really given the football I've seen this year. Looks to have a bit more strength and depth about it. If we're gonna challenge for the Ulster Championship however there's a few guys in there who'll need battle hardening..

Could someone post the article from Saturday's Irish News about Seamus McEnaney and Colm Coyle if they could. I never got a chance to buy the paper.

Thanks in advance.

Quote from todays Independent:

Meanwhile, Ulster Council president Tom Daly has stated that the current furore over the players' grants would never have materialised had the GAA been involved in the initial discussions on the issue

"If, from day one, the negotiations in this matter had been with the management of our Association nationally, and not with part of our membership, I don't think that we would have ended up in this terribly difficult, divisive situation," the Donegal man said.



Why on earth did the GAA not get involved sooner? It's not like them to sit quietly on the sidelines and let this turn into the mess that it is. I don't get it. I don't understand folk saying that it would not have happened etc etc yet no one done anything to get involved in it..

Confused!

By Martin Breheny
Friday November 09 2007


TYRONE will defy the strike action if the GPA calls on its players to withdraw their services at the start of the 2008 GAA season.

In a sensational development that will increase tensions on the day the GPA are expected to announce that a large majority of their membership favours strike in pursuit of the €5m Government grant package, Tyrone manager, Mickey Harte has given a commitment that the county will field a senior football team in all competitions next year.

He is also confident that many of the current team will make themselves available, even if strike action is called.

"Have no doubt about it -- Tyrone will have a team in whatever competitions are on. What's more some of the current players will definitely be involved. I also think that the same would apply in many other counties," he said.

Describing the GPA's strike threat as ill-advised, he said that while their frustration over the failure to find a mechanism to release the €5m grant to the players was understandable, it was not a strike issue.

"There has to be a way around this, rather than going on strike. I hope -- and I believe -- that it can be sorted out because, apart from anything else, going on strike would do enormous damage to the players. Whoever devised the strike tactic was badly advised," said Harte.

The GPA has called a press conference for 1.0 today, presumably to announce the result of a ballot of players on possible strike action. A large majority are likely to be in favour of giving the GPA leadership the right to call a strike for next January if the GAA and the Government fail to resolve the grants issue

"There are difficulties there but surely they can be resolved. All I know is that players want to play, not go on strike and when it comes to it, many of them will play next year even if a strike is called," said Harte.

He said that the public would be dismayed by the strike threat at a time when players are catered for better than ever before.

"People are well aware of the standard of provision made for county players nowadays. They stay in top quality hotels, have the best coaches, doctors, physios and medical back-up.

"This has happened over a period of time and it's right that it has because the players deserve it. However, it's there now so strike action should not enter the equation, irrespective of what disputes arise over grants.

"People will find it hard to understand why players would want to withdraw their services given that the much improved conditions do prevail," he said.

Harte believes that the GAA is a partnership between a number of parties and queries what impact it would have if administrators or, even more critically, referees called a strike.

"The referees have as much power as the players. If there are no referees, there are no games so what if they called a strike?"

Harte's comments will be seen as deeply significant, especially his confident assertion that even if a strike were called, Tyrone would still be in a position to field a team, including many top line stars because if that applied in other counties, it would render the strike action worthless.

- Martin Breheny

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This is bad situation for the players.. If they don't strike they're violating the GPA (if they have signed up to it that is) and if they do strike they run the risk of getting dropped as their manager doesn't agree in principal that the strike is a good idea! I think it's unfair also as not every county has the financial backing of the likes of 'Club Tyrone'. I can see this having an adverse effect across the GAA fraternity..

Might as well get this kicked off. Any word of a venue?

From today's Indo:

THE All-Ireland U-21 football championships may be in their last season as the GAA seeks to reduce the heavy workload on players as part of its battle against burnout.

Third-level college competitions could also face an overhaul with first-year students restricted to Freshers' activities, thereby rendering them ineligible for Sigerson Cup and possibly Fitzgibbon Cup competitions.

GAA President Nickey Brennan will next week announce the make-up of a special committee whose brief will be to draft proposals designed to assist players in the 16 to 21 age group, some of whom have incredibly punishing schedules.

The committee is certain to include newly-appointed Player Welfare Officer Paraic Duffy, who is a strong advocate of abolishing the All-Ireland U-21 football championship.

He also favours a system where first-year students in third-level colleges are restricted to Freshers' competitions only.

"We're placing far too many demands on our young players. Getting rid of the All-Ireland inter-county U-21 championships - certainly in football - would be a big help, as would a restriction on who can play in certain third-level competitions. We've simply got to draw the line somewhere," he said.

He was supported in his call for a review of the workload on some players by GPA chief Dessie Farrell, who said that the time had come to face up to the problem in a meaningful way.

Impossible

"Good young players who are involved with counties at senior and U-21 level, third-level colleges as well as their clubs are facing impossible pressures and that's without study and exams," he said.

"One of the major issues is the lack of liaison between various managers. If all team managers bought into the idea that the training schedule for these players is dictated by one programme and while everyone might need an input into that, the (senior) county team manager is probably the best man to implement it."

Duffy said the GAA had the research evidence to show that players were being burned out and would now set about addressing the problem.

"Best sports science says that players need a rest at the end of a season and that they also need a proper pre-season. However, because of the structures we have in the GAA they're getting neither, which is leading to more injuries and drop-out," he said.

While accepting that the All-Ireland U-21 championship is popular with players and the public he believes there's no time slot for the football competition any more.

It's currently played off in the spring at a time when players are involved in third-level and possibly senior activities while also busy with their studies. The U-21 hurling championship is played in late summer and early autumn and slots in much easier.

"There are fewer counties in the hurling championship so it's feasible to schedule it later on. That's not the case in football.

"It could be left up to individual counties if they wanted to play a club U-21 championship but I believe the inter-county one should go," he said.

Farrell agrees that the U-21 issue needs to be addressed and also believes that there needs to be more understanding of players' needs.

Situation

"You can have a situation where if a player opts out of a training session because of an injury niggle or sheer exhaustion, his commitment might be called into question.

"Also, a guy doesn't have to be on a gym programme for club, county and college. One programme will satisfy all these needs.

"Rest and recovery is every bit as important as training programmes but that's not always factored into schedules," he said.

It's expected that the special committee on players' needs will issue their recommendations sometime after this year's Congress in April. They may go before a Special Congress later in the year and, if passed, be implemented from 2008 on.

Martin Breheny

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A point occurred to me while reading this article. I take on board the congestion of fixtures for young players and understand the issues surrounding player burn-out and time-tabling study activities. Take for example though if some young lad is from a Junior or Intermediate club and does not attend University/College. Is he expected to move to senior inter-county championship football from minor? I know there are U21 leagues but does this not give the lad who attends Uni/College a completely unfair advantage by allowing him to play freshers/sigerson football while the club guy has to make the massive step from minor to senior? In saying all that, which is more important for a guy in transition from minor to senior, inter-county football or inter-college football?

My learned colleagues,
  While watchin the Tyrone v Cork game on Setanta today it struck me about the types of fouls and their categories. I know there's technical fouls, professional fouls but can someone enlighten me with a comprehensive list of fouls and their type. I'm sure they're just available in the rule book which raises another question, can this be downloaded (or this that way to advanced?) or where can it be purchased. Thanks in advance.

Lads/Lassies,
  Can anyone remember the name of the website that advertised on here last year selling GAA T-Shirts? Was interested in purchasing but can't find the URL.

Thanks in advance.

Well lads,
  Does anyone know where the last Monaghan thread went to? Have searched through the archives but can not locate it. Anyways, to slightly more pressing issues what about the team for Sunday v the Rossies? Is Dick around for this one does anyone know? I reckon it'll be a tough game, the Rossies have a few key players back from injury but if Monaghan are gonna aim for Div 2 next year they need to be winning this tie. Getting beaten but our neighbours at this stage last year was bad as I knew we'd rue the loss... Anyways, my new years resolution was to be more positive about it so I reckon we can do it Sunda!