Gaelic players announce media ban

[JMohan]

Ok .. well the Cork thing was a once off ... but I don't think there is a joining up process is what I mean ...
Anyway the GPA was just trying to flex it's muscle there

[JMohan]

I hope they end the ban soon ... having to listen to this whinging weasel is too much .... http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/the_championship/8123062.stm

[Bud Wiser]

Hence 1900 so called 'members' ...

Well d'ya see this is where I am coming from by asking how many associate members there are.  For example if they have 1900 PLAYING members then they have an income of almost one hundred thousand euro per annum on players membership alone.  Since they claim to have the support they keep talking about then - apart from merchandising, car sponsorship, endorsements, and other major sponsorships it would follow that along with associate membership their ATO is somewhere around half a million to three quarters of a million a year.

There is a company, The Gaelic Players Management Company, see information available to public here http://www.cro.ie/search/companyresultse.asp that was set up in October 2007 and whose last annual returns were filed in 2007.  Again this is public information. I know that if I apply for a grant for my company or submit a tender the first thing I am asked is for a tax clearance certificate and confirmation that my accounts are up to date.

I am not saying that the GPA are not up to date in their filing of accounts, nor am I saying or alleging they are making half a million a year but what I am asking is can the likes of Eamonn Sweeney (today's Indpependent) tell me what name the company he is promoting for Grant Approval is registered under and where can I see their annual returns before I decide to give the support that Sweeney is crying for. He ends his article by stating " And if the GAA try to brazen this one out? Then in the words of a certain man who played a blinder in Pairc Ui Chaoimh 21 years ago, things will start getting "bad, Bad,, really, really bad" which in any mans language is a reasonable threat to our association.

** (from the link you must click on search and insert "gaelic players" ) 

[JMohan]

Good post and was following you perfectly up to here ....

I am not saying that the GPA are not up to date in their filing of accounts, nor am I saying or alleging they are making half a million a year but what I am asking is can the likes of Eamonn Sweeney (today's Indpependent) tell me what name the company he is promoting for Grant Approval is registered under and where can I see their annual returns before I decide to give the support that Sweeney is crying for. He ends his article by stating " And if the GAA try to brazen this one out? Then in the words of a certain man who played a blinder in Pairc Ui Chaoimh 21 years ago, things will start getting "bad, Bad,, really, really bad" which in any mans language is a reasonable threat to our association.

** (from the link you must click on search and insert "gaelic players" ) 

It's most likely my fault btw

[Bud Wiser]

Good post and was following you perfectly up to here ....

The details at the Company Registration Office show that  A company, named Gaelic Players Management of Drumcondra Road have not made annual returns since 2007 or since their last returns were due.  And what I am saying is that I am unsure as to whether this is the company that manage all the little multiple payments of fifty euro membership for the GPA.  Sometimes, for legal reasons it is best not to make allegations and I am just making the point that I am not making allegations but merely raising questions from information available to the public.  I am sure the simple questions I raise can be answered without any bother at all.

[JMohan]

Ah ... ok ... get you now ... well that ties in with my understanding and what I was told about members etc ...


The GPA is just short of a 'scam' tif you ask me ... it's not a union and it's not an association with 1900 members ...

[Bud Wiser]

As it happens, they did make an annual return in October 2008.  I am still confused though as to who the entire board of directors are and the exact legal structure of the GPA and if the GPA are The Gaelic Players Management Company - and I would say I am not on my own.

[cornafean]

I am still confused though .... if the GPA are The Gaelic Players Management Company

If you go to the GPA website http://www.gaelicplayers.com and click on the "GPA Associate Membership" tab at the top of the page, then click on the "Join Now" link on the resulting flash window, complete the short questionnaire (tshirt size etc) this will bring you to a third-party page where you enter your credit card details etc. The name "Gaelic Players Management Company Ltd" appears in large writing at the top of this last page. 

[cornafean]

I missed most of the Sunday Game last night and saw only the Cavan v Antrim bit towards the end. After this particular game, they interviewed the 2 managers, Tommy Carr and Baker Bradley. That made me wonder had RTE decided to pre-empt the upcoming GPA "protest" by blackballing the players for post-match interviews. Did they feature players' interviews after their coverage of yesterday's games?

[orangeman]

I am still confused though .... if the GPA are The Gaelic Players Management Company

If you go to the GPA website http://www.gaelicplayers.com and click on the "GPA Associate Membership" tab at the top of the page, then click on the "Join Now" link on the resulting flash window, complete the short questionnaire (tshirt size etc) this will bring you to a third-party page where you enter your credit card details etc. The name "Gaelic Players Management Company Ltd" appears in large writing at the top of this last page. 

By Jaysus you're right. OOPS !

[Bud Wiser]

That made me wonder had RTE decided to pre-empt the upcoming GPA "protest" by blackballing the players for post-match interviews.

If that is RTE's tact then it is a wrong one and I consider Noel Curran in RTE to be one of the shredest men in there, shrewd enough to handle a few directors of a small company like Gaelic Players Managemt company (Ltd)  However, if it is a wrong move by RTE it is a bigger one by the GPA because it is the players who the ban effects more than anyone else, particularly those who like being in the limelight and there have been a few of them in our time.  If the GPA had been smart enough they would have instructed players so seek as many interviews as they could get and then at each given chance promote their members commitment relative to what they are looking for.  Example:  

RTE:  "Well that was a good win for myou today, was there any time during the game when you thought the game was slipping away when they came back at you during the first quarter of the second half?

PLAYER:  "This is what we trained for five nights a week and all the hard work over the winter nights paid off today and I think it was a team effort, especially from the lads who have travelled hundreds of miles and stuck to the training regime that got us this win today.  Now we must go back to training with even more intensity from next Tuesday" etc, etc,

Instead they choose to diminish the profiles of the very people they are trying to promote.  And the, to add insult to every right thinking GAA man they throw in the statement made in Eamonn Sweeney's article in yesterdays Sunday Independent, " And if the GAA try to brazen this one out? Then in the words of a certain man who played a blinder in Pairc Ui Chaoimh 21 years ago, things will start getting "bad, Bad,, really, really bad"

It is my opinion that, for all the criticisms that were made of Nicky Brennan and HQ,  there are more brains within HQ than there are in the strategists of the GPA and whatever benefits are going to be got for the players they have better representation from the official association than from the one with the policies that I have described. From the time that time began in the GAA, RTE (Radio Eireann) has been the conduit for the promotion of the GAA in far flung corners of the world and the crackiling broadcasts over the wires to emigrants is one of the reasons why there are clubs all over the world today, to an extent that I often wonder why RTE have to pay the GAA for broadcast rights as opposed to the other way around.

Stomping on the toes of RTE may well be a big mistake for the GPA, they may yet need them.  This flurry of support for the GPA in rags like the Independent is nothing more than an opportunity for them to encourage the ban on players interviews with RTE simply because there is no love lost between the printed media in general and RTE.    There is however a good relationship between RTE and the GAA and if the GPA damage that relationship, which is what they are doing, then they will have a lot to answer for.

[orangeman]

Isn't it heartening to see that the GPA haven't imposed a blanket media ban ! Good old Vincent Hogan is still here to take instructions and defend the GPA honour. He has some cheek to talk about humility after defending the lads down south in Rebel country all winter. Humility What a laugh !!!




Time for GAA to play ball with players

By Vincent Hogan


Monday June 29 2009

The only surprise about the shells now whining in the GAA's direction is how long they've taken to get air-borne. If the weekend's GPA statement proves the precursor to a summer of disconnect and staged protest, who can honestly blame them? Job would be spitting teeth if exposed to the kind of condescension and doublespeak that has been coming their way of late.

I doubt there's a hurler or footballer in the country who would go to war on the cold issue of a modest grant. But you'll find more than a few who'll take up arms if treated like fools. Right now, there's a deep reservoir of frustration out there among the country's elite GAA players.

And it might be sensible to recognise that.

Ostensibly, the subject of the stalled grants and that of the GPA's on-going struggle for official recognition are two entirely separate stories. In reality, they are one and the same.

You see, most people can live with disappointment in their lives. It's disrespect that tips them over the edge.
On the grants issue, Minister Cullen dances around the houses, speaking a language that hits the senses like industrial strength valium. True, he didn't instigate the scheme, he inherited it. And, at this time of national crisis, it's hardly high on any list of Government priorities to be humouring the country's top hurlers and footballers.

But he should consider the novelty of a straight answer to a straight question some time. It might surprise him how folk respond.

In any event, there's a pretty strong case to be made that the notion of a grants scheme for GAA players is an absurdity when set against the current economic meltdown. No more so, mind, than little sweetheart deals for wealthy professional sports people.

Is it not a repulsive thought that even one euro could be pared off the budget for Crumlin Children's Hospital at a time when millionaire sports stars side-step income tax?

Still, the absence of clarity from Government is hardly a news story. The silence of the GAA is.

It has been all too convenient for the Association to endorse a scheme that would never carry their own fingerprints. In refusing to handle the grant money, they could sustain the notion of purity and Corinthian ideals. This was hypocrisy, of course. The Irish Sports Council, reluctantly, took on the dirty business of distribution. The GAA sat firmly on its hands.

Whether the grants will simply die now or be re-invented in some neutered form is probably for another day. A report in yesterday's Sunday Independent suggested that Government moves to have the scheme limited to top-tier players was rejected by the GPA as "elitist" (now there's an irony for those inclined to depict Dessie Farrell and Co as grabbers).

Friday's statement was a shot across the bows that, frankly, has been a long time coming. As the GPA pointed out, Christy Cooney is now the fifth GAA President they have engaged with, yet they seem just as far away from healthy co-existence as they did at their inception.

Why? Because the standard repertoire of communication with the players' body remains implicitly hostile from Croke Park's side.

It's a pity that the GAA couldn't, occasionally, (a) take the kind of initiative the GPA recently took on unemployment rates among inter-county players across the country or, at worst, (b) publicly applaud it.

Instead, there remains a fundamental mistrust of the players' body that is articulated more in nuance than word.

Nickey Brennan directed a little broadside at them on leaving office and Cooney has, since, made it clear that he does not consider reaching an accommodation with the GPA as anything resembling pressing business for the Association.

One obvious bone of contention is the GPA's request for a fixed percentage of GAA income to fund their player welfare activities. It's not hard to imagine the alarm bells such a request sends ringing around Croke Park. To agree to this, the GAA would have to take a huge philosophical leap in a direction clearly repugnant to much of its core membership.

Yet, does the Association honestly believe that dilatory evasion is the answer?

What the GPA announced last Friday was a long way short of war. Players refusing to co-operate in TV interviews will embarrass the GAA -- nothing more. The move was designed essentially to get their attention.

But the fact that -- 10 years on -- getting the GAA's attention requires this kind of militant stand, speaks volumes. Is it not time for the authorities to desist from feigning a great, moral depth to their position on player welfare? Should they not -- finally -- engage in something resembling candid, transparent dialogue with the GPA? To do so, would -- surely -- reflect confidence not some fundamental retreat.

A little humility might go a long way.   

- Vincent Hogan

[Bud Wiser]

A retired Laois hurler who didn't join the GPA.

[full back]

Very few players actually give interviews that provide any insight.
On most occasions the same old lines & cliches are trotted out, much the same as a managers interview.
Its all blowing up the opposition & playing down your own chances, while saying you are quietly confident
Same old sh1te

It will be no great loss IMHO

[bingobus]

We can dismiss this "media ban" as a nonsense and water of a ducks back but I'd imagine it is the start of a prolonged campaign by the GPA with more far reaching measures.

It'll be very much like the recent strike on Cork which started quietly with support slowly built up behind it. The various press plants of the GPA wrote on their behalf (they already at it this time as well) and they slowly turned the public to the strikers way of thinking.

I'm sure the GPA know a strike now will wipe them out but they will take their time and build up to more major actions, possibly by the All-Ireland.

It is quite sly of the GPA to only ever mention the welfare issues of players in their press releases and the unemployment situation, they never detail their demands from the GPA and to read this without any background it would be easy to see why people would support them and this slow burning campaign will play into their hands.

The GAA need to come out strong on this and clearly and publicly state why they can't agree to the GPA's current requests.