GPA exceptionalism

[tiempo]

Inter-county players drive over €600M into the Irish economy & create 4,200+ jobs, yet, on average, they're €4,600 out of pocket annually.

Anything to be said for a club chairpersons association? Nevermind the out of pocket, they must be driving billions into the economy

[Cortoon]

Inter-county players drive over €600M into the Irish economy & create 4,200+ jobs, yet, on average, they're €4,600 out of pocket annually.

How do they drive it into the economy? There's no external investment into the GAA, bar a couple of flutes like yer man O'Leary and JP McManus.

[Rossfan]

Why don't you ask them?

[naka]

Inter-county players drive over €600M into the Irish economy & create 4,200+ jobs, yet, on average, they're €4,600 out of pocket annually.

How do they drive it into the economy? There's no external investment into the GAA, bar a couple of flutes like yer man O'Leary and JP McManus.

Hotels , pubs ,restaurants , Chippys , trains , busses, o neills etc all gain from the intercounty season

[marty34]

Inter-county players drive over €600M into the Irish economy & create 4,200+ jobs, yet, on average, they're €4,600 out of pocket annually.

How do they drive it into the economy? There's no external investment into the GAA, bar a couple of flutes like yer man O'Leary and JP McManus.

Hotels , pubs ,restaurants , Chippys , trains , busses, o neills etc all gain from the intercounty season

Everybody but the players to a greater extent.

GPA flexing its muscles but I don't mind that. Kind of a union for them.

[tiempo]

Fun fact - hotels pubs restaurants chippys trains busses o'neills etc existed before the GPA

The GPA have paid for a report to justify funding and frame the GPA as indispensable

This is not an independent study, its advocacy economics/napkin maths 101 inflated by multipliers, assumptions, and the notion that every euro spent on a big match day somehow owes its existence solely to elite players

The GPA is sitting on the roof of a house built entirely by clubs and their leaders

The GPA has been strategically embedding itself, shifting from a "players' union" to an influential stakeholder inside GAA governance i.e. classic intuitional creep, its why they are so steadfast for integration, it creates holes and cracks for them to exploit and fill. Start as advocates, become embedded, shape policy, effectively co-govern: thats the vision

The GPAs latest pitch more money for elite amateurs is apparently about securing the future of Gaelic games for everyone - no harm Tom but thats an inverted pyramid of piffle

[BigGreenField]

Big Tom in the Irish Times yesterday on this

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/2025/07/25/tom-parsons-intercounty-players-give-us-something-money-cant-buy-so-why-are-they-out-of-pocket/

As the players "Union" perhaps they might be better pushing back on county manager demands that are seeing their members out of pocket

The association is jammed packed with volunteers giving up their time and sacrificing opportunities elsewhere to do so, it is literally the ethos of the Gaa, if the GPA members want something different other sports with a professional payment framework are available.

If the current level of elite performance is requiring too much of a sacrifice then the union should work to lower the level of demands on their players.

[DaleCooper]

Wasn't banty calling for €1000 a week "officially" for managers.

It's inevitable when large sums are bandied about in Croker that those involved in producing those sums will feel entitled to a slice.

Professional creep wasn't nipped in the bud and here we are.

[marty34]

That's the issue.

Where does it stop?

I man journey men/spoofers 'managers' at clubs are getting a fortune at it every year.

The following season, they're at a club 5 miles up the road.

More fool to the clubs that are handing it out instead of investing it in their youth set-ups.

[DaleCooper]

Has anyone been able to map out these moves? That would be interesting.

You could generate data heat maps etc

[tiempo]

Big Tom in the Irish Times yesterday on this

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/2025/07/25/tom-parsons-intercounty-players-give-us-something-money-cant-buy-so-why-are-they-out-of-pocket/

As the players "Union" perhaps they might be better pushing back on county manager demands that are seeing their members out of pocket

The association is jammed packed with volunteers giving up their time and sacrificing opportunities elsewhere to do so, it is literally the ethos of the Gaa, if the GPA members want something different other sports with a professional payment framework are available.

If the current level of elite performance is requiring too much of a sacrifice then the union should work to lower the level of demands on their players.

Nail on the head

Tom and the GPA lobbied for removal of the pre-season competitions on player welfare grounds, while county teams trained out of season, against the rules - Tom hasn't anything to say on that, you can be sure in-season expenses were provided for these off-season activities

Jim McGuinness was giving out about playing weekly, not because they can't (with a panel of 40+ there's more than enough available lads), but because he'd rather a ratio of 6 trainings to every game, but he was only getting 1 or 2 sessions to prepare for a game

The current split season and the thick and fast nature of it is ideal, drop the guru-model, the game is about players playing not sessions on a training field

As of next week every club in the country will harmonised in respect to playing off their league and championship in tandem - in relative terms, providing the club players (99.7%) with a reasonable window to prepare and conclude their season

0.3% of players, thats who Tom speaks for - tail wagging the dog springs to mind

[Rossfan]

That 0.3% play in Club Championships too.

[Captain Scarlet]

I will take the GPA much more seriously when they come out and talk about the demands INTER COUNTY MANAGERS put on their members.

They will however come out constantly talking about the demands of 'the GAA'. It gives the impression that Jarlath & 'the suits' has a tracker for every county man in the country, he has then up at 6am. He makes sure they don't touch a sup...

They have not got a leg to stand on until they tackle that. Even looking at that Mayo GAA housing situation. Why were they not screaming about that?

[Cavan19]

I will take the GPA much more seriously when they come out and talk about the demands INTER COUNTY MANAGERS put on their members.

They will however come out constantly talking about the demands of 'the GAA'. It gives the impression that Jarlath & 'the suits' has a tracker for every county man in the country, he has then up at 6am. He makes sure they don't touch a sup...

They have not got a leg to stand on until they tackle that. Even looking at that Mayo GAA housing situation. Why were they not screaming about that?

Just on the housing suituation were they actually living there or just using it as an address to cheat the expences system?

[tiempo]

I will take the GPA much more seriously when they come out and talk about the demands INTER COUNTY MANAGERS put on their members.

They will however come out constantly talking about the demands of 'the GAA'. It gives the impression that Jarlath & 'the suits' has a tracker for every county man in the country, he has then up at 6am. He makes sure they don't touch a sup...

They have not got a leg to stand on until they tackle that. Even looking at that Mayo GAA housing situation. Why were they not screaming about that?

That story doesn't fit with the GPAs polished national advocacy narrative, there was no national policy win to be had, they pick their battles, they claim to fight for players but ignore them when its inconvenient

Selective advocacy and upward loyalty (Croke and sponsors), their real energy is spent on strengthening their seat at the top table - the next generation of suits and would be execs