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Once again it's not a rule change!! If nickey & co felt it was they wouldn't have rushed it through. They are not that stupid

I hear Joe Brolly were there last night. Did anyone think to ask Joe which charity or club he donates the money he makes off the back of his fellow players? RTÉ pundit, newspaper articles, speaker circuit etc. all this on top of his healthily salary cheque as a barrister which has no doubt halped his profile and client base!!! Sickening hypocrisy again. If Joe feels so strongly about anyone profiting from our games he would want to look in the mirror. (By the way I don't object to Joe doing well just the hypocracy)

According to the paper today Lasts night meeting claimed to respresent "the true gaels" and "grassroots" of ulster GAA yet the only ones there were those opposing it by the sounds of it. Red Hand Luke - Who did you invite to speak on behalf on other parties?

Before you all jump down my throat and say you are not invited to GPA meetings or grant negotiations meetings you might want to note the following:

GAA (who you elected to represent you) : motion on grants has been debated at length over the past 5 years and was passed by central council months back

Government : Again this debate has taken place over the last five years in the public domain - how many of you approached a government representative to object to this?

GPA: They respresent their members- Inter County player who sign up to them -  why would you be invited to a private members meeting?

By the way - One of your big issues here is that volunteers have to pay this. If the GPA took it out of the hands of GAA - would you be happy then?? I think not.


Again I ask what happened to stamping out the managers payments on the agenda?

ULSTER SAYS NO - UVA - emotive words lads, just a pity some common sense hasn't prevailed here


As far as I can see this is about a loss of control and people seeing an opportunity to make a name for themselves.

They were willing to go on strike over the principal not the amount involved. Everybody saying this is professionaism and pay for play etc. I hardly think that aprox £20 a week is what they were striking over do you honestly think it would be worth the grief?!  It's a pity people didn't see that it's not all about the money but the principle of recognising players for what they are and what they bring to the association rather than telling them to shut up and sit in the corner and be happy with what all the "benefits" that they "all" enjoy

Post it again full back.

Not sitting at computer all day to read every single comment

Believebelieve

When did GPA members vote against pay for play? I thought it was never on their agenda so how did they get the opportunity to vote against it??
It was posted here before ....as far as I know at an agm and reason they voted on it was to clarify it not what they about.

Also if this is just a grant to cover expenses why is it performance related? If it is truly to help preparation why are all players not allocated the same amount of money each week while they are in the championship longer youre in the championship for, the more expenses you incur I presume? Most sports council grants are performance related i.e. if boxer wins medal they get extra etc.

My definition of pay for play is that it is money recieved for playing GAA over and above legitimate expenses.
Again a practice going on throughout the GAA as reffered to in your own point below.

And with respect to managers being paid I think this is the single biggest problem within the association at the moment and the few years that my club agreed to pay more than expenses I objected strongly at the time and also at the AGM at the end of the year.
In a democracy sometimes decisions are reached that not everyone agrees with – that's a fact of life. Anyone who doesn't agree can only raise the issue again and again or leave the organization if they don't agree with their core principles or if they feel there's nothing they can do to change them.

Thanks behind the wire I'm delighted that you cleared it up. I must be thick as i find some views on here very confusing and frustrating as they are regularly hypocritical.

I understand now that you agree that all payments under or over the table are wrong and I'm looking forward to this debate being refocused back on all payments not just on the current grants payments to players or anti GPA stuff. All of this should be directed to Croke Park through clubs and county boards as all issues are. If enough people feel this way there shouldn't be any need for break -away groups. if you don't feel confident with people you have voted in to do their job....vote them out!!

PAY FOR PLAY IN ONE SENTENCE:

simple - getting money because you play gaelic football or hurling.

that includes the grant. players get the grant because they play football or hurling. this is pay for play.

STUDENTS GET THE GRANT FOR PLAYING HURLIGN AND FOOTBALL - PAY FOR PLAY IS ALREADY HERE THEN



the reason no meetings have been called against paying managers is because it is all being done under ground. although everyone knows about it it is not advertised in the public domain. it is, however, equally as bad as the paying of players and needs to be eradicated. if any good has come out of this argument it is that it has stood to highlight the problem with paid managers in the association. it is wrong and hopefully there will be a huge backlash against the practice now.

SO BECAUSE YOU DON'T SEE IT ITs Ok?!


it is the fact that amateur players came out and more or less demanded payment for taking part in what is simply a hobby that lead to the public outrage.

Sorry lads is this not what club agm's are for? 

ALL:

Please define PAY FOR PLAY in one sentence for me. - Just one sentence - what it means to you. It is thrown about here all the time along with "thin end of the wedge" and other cliches. I would just like you to explain them in very simple terms

The GPA and all of it's members voted AGAINST "PAY FOR PLAY" and any type of "PROFESSIONALISM" but that's not enough. This GRANT is not pay for play it is a GRANT to help with preparation to play a game to the highest level so that WE can enjoy it and more importantly so that they can generate the tens of millions of euros that fund this association and pay for administrators so that we can progress further as an organisation and grow as an organisation.

Also wrt managers payments/grants etc : You all seem to be opposed to them yet no meetings have been called, no organisation established to combat this !!!!!!!!!!!!! As far as I can see this is an anti -GPA political agenda that represents the view of a few. Even if you have 100 or 200 people at your meeting tonight are you honestly going to claim to represent all GRASSROOTS members? That's almost 1 MILLION members!!  

Just a quick note on the GAAs own grants scheme

Two lads:
1 - leaves school to go to college - gets grants from GAA and accomodation paid for my college among other benefits
2 - leaves school and begins an apprenticship - has to buy all own equipment, live off a pitance and work his ass off to impress the boss - same input as player 1 but with ZERO financial backing from anyone

Summary - Two tiered elite system - but that seems to be ok with everyone on here.

Player and manager  payments are also ok as long as they are not coming from county boards !!!!! What a farce !!

Well said Max...anyone going to tonight should consider motives of those organising this meeting. Sick of the hypocrisy on here about payments. Going on all over the GAA and nobody so much as raising an eyebrow. Get real lads.

Anyway in my opinion all the topics here have been debated over and over again and same points being made.

Best of luck to all those attending tonight.  I for one, won't be as I have training and I'm happy to be a member of the GAA and support decisions the association that we elect make. After all no rules are being changed here, which is why no need for debate. Rule 42 etc was a rule change which is why debate occurred. If people felt so strongly about this issue why didn't they object when it was approved by central council some months back?!?

Tyrone,

You say the last time Nickey Brennan received a letter about the GPA "I recall hysterical rantings from Herr Farrell and we had Sean Cavanagh telling us the Tyrone County Board didn't speak for the County"

Firstly; What were the hysterical rantings?

Secondly ; Were Sean Cavanagh and Tyrone players consulted on contents before the board spoke on their behalf?
Why are Sean and the rest of the inter county lads being slated for defending their own position! As I recall they sent out a statement saying their views were not reflected in the county board letter, as far as I'm awarer that's called FREE SPEECH and RIGHT TO REPLY.

Several people on this board in the past have emailed the GPA on different matters and most of them receive no reply" -
Again is this an actual FACT or just more of the same speculation that flies around here constantly. My point is why not as a group draft a collective letter that reflects your views - send it to the GPA and if you're not happy with the answers that's fair enough.

 don't have time now to read all of your post or the replies but this point I have to quickly comment on.

Say my club has no physio or doctor as a member - can you please tell me how we're going to get a physio or doctor?

The GAA are a voluntary organisation - they are  not a charity!

As already stated you have proved my point - it's ok for a physio or doctor to be paid. This is a new thing  - previously these roles were done by volunteers "FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME" - now it's ok for them to be paid.

In my experience, anyone who defines something as "real" as in "real music", "real Irishman" or "real GAA man" is really saying "it's exactly what I do or what I like. No doubt I'll get SHOUTED down and insulted over it.

IMHO this matter should be treated in the same way that the old Rules 21 & 42 should be dealt with where consolutation was taken at first to club levels, then county and then to central council. That way the democratic structures of the GAA, although they're not perfect they're what we have, can be fully implemented to allow all members a say. Both sides of this matter claim to have the support of "grassroots" and so should have nothing to fear from such an exercise.

Agreed. I just don't like the way the terms grassroots is refferred to all the time hear. i.e. the title of this thread "Meeting of Grassroots to discuss our Strategy re GPA" - What the hell is that about?  So some people have an issue with the GPA, why not address it to them directly? Call to their door and ask them to answer the questions they have? If I have an issue with my club i would address it to chairman not bitch about it, which a lot of people do. If I think GAA are out of order I will send Nickey Brennan a letter. It's really quite simple. Has anyone here actually done that yet???

That's a childish level of understanding of the difference between amateurism and professionalism when it comes to PLAYING the games.

When does amateur become professional.......when you start to get paid for.....the now full time professional position of county administrator was previously a hobby of the volunteer, whenever this position became a professional paid role, there was not as much a whimp about it. The full time professional coaches that each county has was the one that was previously occupied with the volunteer. what has happened is that the player has been the one thing that has underpinned the devlopment of the association, yet the player is the one person who has been treated the worst, the longest. This espisode is further evidence of members still willing to ensure the player is just another member where infact they are the single most important asset we have. many of the contributors seem scared and intraverted in their position, have no confidence in our officers to manage this correctly. Here we have an opportunity to ensure that our players are aforded the opportunity to be treated the same as the other sports men in this country by getting a grant from the GOVERNMENT, no the GAA. Why is that peoples lack of confidence allows them to paint a picture of players getting paid, when it is not payment. You have sat idolly by when universities players were  getting grants, is that because it was out of sight for the mass majority and therefore not in your face. No this stinks of begrudgment of the highest order. Again frommy point of view if it was the Gaa was paying, I would be up in arms. This is so Irish and typical parochial in nature and tone.

VERY WELL PUT HEAR HEAR