Gaelic players announce media ban

[rrhf]

Shocked..... anyone?
I want that 5% for the clubs that nurture these brats. 

[Zulu]

think it's time for the GAA to bite the bullet on this one. These guys don't deserve to get a penny directly from the GAA income. They are a special interest group representing a minuscule percentage of the GAA membership. The issue here is about paying these guys for play and the the amateur status of the game. Anyone who seriously thinks that giving the GPA 5% [to start with] of income will result in anything other than players turning professional is living in cloud cuckoo land.

I'm afraid it is you who is in cuckoo land and that type of doomsday prediction is exactly what this debate doesn't need. We can only go pro when you, I and thousands of other ordinary GAA members vote to do so, it can't be forced through by anyone.

How do you think the GPA see this autonomy ? Do you think they want to retain a separate company, separate bank accounts, separate offices away from Croke Park, separate staffing structure, separate sponsorship / commercial acvtivities  etc ?

Do you think the money they will need should be based on a % of income ?

I don't know is the honest answer but this is what dialogue can unearth and from that real progress can be made.

They are not interested in club players- that I know for a fact.

Nor should they be but if they are brought in and given responsibility for them as well as IC players that should change.

Hostility towards a group that don't have the best interests of the association at heart. Only their own interests.

Only your opinion Indiana and while I don't agree with some of what they are looking for the best way to resolve this in the best interests of everyone is to discuss it. If they are the scource of all evil that some would have you believe then it will come out. Half of you complain that you don't know what the GPA really want and your solution is to tell them f**k off rather than talk with them and see.

[rrhf]

For the fence sitters its time for hostility, for the average GAA fan its time to call a spade a spade,  I commend the honesty of the GPA for the first time in their history they have laid their cards out and today the average GAA man is feigning shock.  Well doing business with Des is a bit like the smoking 100 a day and acting shocked when the doctor telss you you have emphsema.  We knew this was coming.   Why should the GAA give 5% of anything to another mans company and why should they even wish to do business with the  self appointed players agent.   
I think Des stands accused today of murdering the GPA and unitng the GAA against them. The small group of players can fcuk off.   

[Hound]

Excellent detective work Bud. I haven't seen the accounts but would have the following comments:

There are only two shareholders in the Gaelic Players Management Company. Donal O'Neill and a guy called David Burke own 75% and 25% of the shareholding respectively.

I thought O'Neill had left the GAA.
Burke is a lawyer and used to play with Waterford (footballers I think). He's been involved with the GPA for at least 5 or 6 years.

How can another company apply for a Government Grant if they owe VAT, or better still, how did they get previous grants at a time when they appeared to owe vat?

The company paid Corporation Tax of  €21,209. This would indicate that the company made profits of €169,672 in 2007, again a tidy sum (after directors salaries etc) to be shared among two individuals.
The accounts record the company as owing €78,590 to the Revenue as at 31 December 2007 and €52,973 as at 31 December 2006. So was this owed when they got original funding? This would normally appear to indicate an ongoing problem with VAT arrears and/or cashflow

The company had "cash in bank and at hand" of €121,125 as at 31 December 2007, which is very curious given the existence of the large VAT liability as at that date. The  "cash in bank and at hand" as at 31 December 2006 was €247,626.

The tax figures are in no way unusual. The amount of €78k owing could include the 21k corporation tax and will include 3 months worth of PAYE/PRSI and at least 2 months of VAT. There is nothing to indicate the company does not pay its tax liabilities as they fall due. The company clearly has the cash, but to pay Revenue before it was due would be silly.
In my view the extracts you have shown would indicate the company does NOT have any tax issues and would qualify for a tax clearance certificate.

Not sure why the company is making profits. You would think that if they allocated the profits to player welfare activities they could have avoided the 20k tax. There are no dividends being paid out, so the net profits have been reinvested. I presume O'Neill and Burke are nominees rather than the actual owners of the company and therefore would never receive dividends? 

Ciaran McArdle was appointed as director on 1 October 2008. There is no mention either of any connection between Ciaran McArdle (who is listed as an "accountant" on the B10 return filed with the CRO to record his appointment as director) and the auditors Kearney McArdle McEnaney & Company, so it can probably be assumed that no such connection exists simply because you can't be a director of a company and be the companies auditor at the same time

McArdle has been an accountant with the GPA for a number of years. Dunno if he has any connection with Kearney McArdle McEnaney.

[Bud Wiser]

I'm afraid it is you who is in cuckoo land and that type of doomsday prediction is exactly what this debate doesn't need. We can only go pro when you, I and thousands of other ordinary GAA members vote to do so, it can't be forced through by anyone.

Zulu, you must come across a fair few cuckoos on a daily basis if you don't think the GPA's intention was NOT to turn the Association, through their members and their members activities into a pro sport where players would be paid.  Click on the link and tell me one of the first seminars they organized was aimed at the old Mick Mackey type hurler with the peaked cap or the Beckham type?



http://www.chass.co.uk/old_site_2005_11_18/DUBLIN_SEMINAR.pdf

[scud]

It a big leap to make from sayin  'heres how to make a few quid if you're asked to do corporate sponsorship type gigs' to - heres how we're gonna make you professional athletes.

If the GPA thought the idea of professionalism would fly surely they would have chanced their arm by now? It won't and I'd bet the majority of players wouldn't support it either

[rrhf]

I like the way he didnt demand for gate receipts - all very well thought out, in the hope that apathy remains at grass roots level to their cause. 

[orangeman]

I like the way he didnt demand for gate receipts - all very well thought out, in the hope that apathy remains at grass roots level to their cause. 

I thought he was looking 5% of EVERYTHING ?.

[Bensars]

Im now looking forward to listening to Today FM on the way home. Dessie will have bother getting out of this one

[orangeman]

Im now looking forward to listening to Today FM on the way home. Dessie will have bother getting out of this one

Not in his own mind - he'll be telling us all how the GAA are getting good value for money and how much they've saved so far.

[Keyser soze]

I like the way he didnt demand for gate receipts - all very well thought out, in the hope that apathy remains at grass roots level to their cause. 

I thought he was looking 5% of EVERYTHING ?.

According to the IN all commercial income is targetted 'this includes gate receipts, TV rights and sponsorship deals' [quote marks are for the IN] and the GPA want 5% of the gross.

Zulu, do you agree that they should get 5%? What do you think they are gonna use it for?

[orangeman]

I like the way he didnt demand for gate receipts - all very well thought out, in the hope that apathy remains at grass roots level to their cause. 

I thought he was looking 5% of EVERYTHING ?.

According to the IN all commercial income is targetted 'this includes gate receipts, TV rights and sponsorship deals' [quote marks are for the IN] and the GPA want 5% of the gross.

Zulu, do you agree that they should get 5%? What do you think they are gonna use it for?

5% of the gross is how much of the net profits ? -    20%, 30%,40% ?

[lob her in lad]

why not just get rid of farrell the man is such a media bi**h

[Zulu]

Zulu, you must come across a fair few cuckoos on a daily basis if you don't think the GPA's intention was NOT to turn the Association, through their members and their members activities into a pro sport where players would be paid.

I'll refer you to my previous post Bud, - "We can only go pro when you, I and thousands of other ordinary GAA members vote to do so, it can't be forced through by anyone."

This fact renders all talk of professionalism little more than scaremongering IMO.

Zulu, do you agree that they should get 5%? What do you think they are gonna use it for?

I don't necessarily agree that they should get that but I do think we should be sitting down and talking with them and as AZ said let them put their proposals on the table and explain what they want, why they want it and how they see the future developing. Then we can decide on an appropriate response, at first glance I don't have any problem with the GAA partly funding the GPA but I don't think I would be in favour of it until they are brought into tehfold a bit more. But the main point here is that much of what we are saying here is idle internet specualtion with the odd few lads seemingly under the impression that they know exactly what others think.

[cornafean]

If the GPA are clearing profits of €200k per annum, then it is they who should be partly funding the GAA and not vice versa.