Gaelic players announce media ban

[deiseach]

It's all very well saying the GAA and the GPA should talk. But we know what the GPA want - official recognition. And unless the GAA went into any discussions with a mandate to discuss the brass tacks of such recognition, talks would just consist of the GPA repeating what they've already said in press releases.

[Keyser soze]

Well i don't see why any self appointed group has any more right to get recognition than any other group e.g the oft quoted grasscutters, net-putter-uppers etc.

These boys need to be told to get to f**k with their recognition demands, if they don't want to attend sponsors events etc don't go, you can be certain sure they're not doing it for nothing! Nobody is forced to play the games, if it's going to affect your family/work/health etc so much that it is having a hugely negative impact on your life, give it up and take up darts or some other less demanding sport.

The GAA has given these guys far too much airtime already, far from recognising them or incorporationg them into the wider GAA family i feel it is time for the GAA to make membership of a competitor body incompatible with being eligible with playing football/hurling.

I'm truly sick listening to that gimp Farrell and w**kers like Cusack continuallly criticising the GAA. These guys do not give one f**k about what's good for the GAA. Really SMS.  

[AZOffaly]

Unless the GAA took the initiative deiseach, and said 'We recognise that you represent the interests of the county players. Instead of merely recognising you, we would like you to come into the GAA fold officially, and look after all Player Welfare issues'. It would be an interesting proposition, and could be the ideal outcome. The players feel they are represented - by players, while the GAA gets to work within their own structures in terms of allocating funding etc, rather than a separate body, answerable to nobody apart from themselves.

[orangeman]

There was much talk of the GPA nearly being recognised formally just as Nicky's tenure was comimg to a close - why is it as far away as ever now ??


The %

[Zulu]

Well i don't see why any self appointed group has any more right to get recognition than any other group

Player welfare is a real issue and the GAA neglected it for far too long so the GPA is only doing what the GAA should have done previously. For my money short of going pro there is little I would begrudge players, so education and employment initiatives are fine by me. It's funny but when the GPA are pushing for these things and the funding to pursue them some lads want them to go jump but when Ricky Nixon is looking for players to go to Aus the same lads are asking what we can do to keep these lads here and wondering should we be giving them jobs or scholarships into university.

[deiseach]

Unless the GAA took the initiative deiseach, and said 'We recognise that you represent the interests of the county players. Instead of merely recognising you, we would like you to come into the GAA fold officially, and look after all Player Welfare issues'. It would be an interesting proposition, and could be the ideal outcome. The players feel they are represented - by players, while the GAA gets to work within their own structures in terms of allocating funding etc, rather than a separate body, answerable to nobody apart from themselves.

Maybe. But how would the GPA fit in to the fold? There would be situations where the GPA membership have an influence over GAA decisions - they're all members of the GAA, after all - while the GPA would have scope to make decisions that affect all members but over which the non-GPA member of the GAA has no power. Nothing is cast in stone, but I don't see how the GPA can be folded in to the GAA given the way the association is currently set up

[orangeman]

Well i don't see why any self appointed group has any more right to get recognition than any other group

Player welfare is a real issue and the GAA neglected it for far too long so the GPA is only doing what the GAA should have done previously. For my money short of going pro there is little I would begrudge players, so education and employment initiatives are fine by me. It's funny but when the GPA are pushing for these things and the funding to pursue them some lads want them to go jump but when Ricky Nixon is looking for players to go to Aus the same lads are asking what we can do to keep these lads here and wondering should we be giving them jobs or scholarships into university.

Hardly the same thing now.

[Keyser soze]

Wouldn't disagree Zulu that player welfare was neglected in the past especially in terms of travel and medical expenses and compensation for missing work or being disabled as a result of an injury. The GPA were instrumental in addressing some of these issues for an elite group of players.

However these are issues for ALL Gaa players, the GPA represent only a tiny minority of these players, an ordinary club player who misses work as a result of a Gaa injury is equally entitled to get compensation for this as a county player in my view. If the GAA set up a welfare scheme it should apply to all GAA members not just the elite. If 5% of GAA revenue was set aside for ALL player welfare under the auspices of the GAA i would have no issue with this at all.

I appreciate that county players by and large put in [slightly] more time and effort than the average club player and they probably incur more expenses - food travel etc - but they do so voluntarily. Many of these players have acheived career enhancements as a result of their playing profile. No-one has to spend time fulfilling commercial engagements for sponsors at the behest of the GAA. If you listen to Farrell you would think people are forced to give up their working day by the Co Board to give media interviews or be pictured at sponsors events, and that they weren't getting recompense for it!! FFS they do so because they are getting paid to do it, otherwise you can bet your bottom dollar that there would be more than just the embargo on the LFC and MHC finals. Dessie knows he wouldn't be able to hold the line on this one because the lads would be missing out on too many brown envelopes.

[theskull1]

I appreciate that county players by and large put in [slightly] more time and effort than the average club player and they probably incur more expenses - food travel etc - but they do so voluntarily. Many of these players have acheived career enhancements as a result of their playing profile. No-one has to spend time fulfilling commercial engagements for sponsors at the behest of the GAA. If you listen to Farrell you would think people are forced to give up their working day by the Co Board to give media interviews or be pictured at sponsors events, and that they weren't getting recompense for it!! FFS they do so because they are getting paid to do it, otherwise you can bet your bottom dollar that there would be more than just the embargo on the LFC and MHC finals. Dessie knows he wouldn't be able to hold the line on this one because the lads would be missing out on too many brown envelopes.

More time that the AVERAGE club player maybe Keyser I'd agree, but I could guarentee that there are many more club players (than county players) putting in equal if not more time/effort and incurring much more expense to do so - and again they do it voluntarily. These boys don't need someone to fight for their rights. They've made their choice & know full well what they are doing. No one thinking about "whats in it for me" at club level. If lifes circumstances mean that it gets too busy to commit to those levels then so be it. Thats the GAA we all want.

Why do the GPA not see it that way? Simple answer is greed. They think they are owned more than the rest of us which is an utterly contemptable perpsective considering the important roles we all play to make the GAA tick. Values & Ethics anyone?

[ardmhachaabu]

I think the facts that Bud uncovered speak for themselves.  The GPA (or the company behind them) are in it for themselves.

Today, Dessie was just being more honest with us than he has been before 

[deiseach]

The GPA (or the company behind them) are in it for themselves.

In fairness, I don't think the GPA have ever said otherwise. Wouldn't be much of a union if it didn't look out for it's members

[ardmhachaabu]

The GPA (or the company behind them) are in it for themselves.

In fairness, I don't think the GPA have ever said otherwise. Wouldn't be much of a union if it didn't look out for it's members

To be fair, I don't think they really give a ballix about their members, I think they just see € signs

[cornafean]

The GPA (or the company behind them) are in it for themselves.

In fairness, I don't think the GPA have ever said otherwise. Wouldn't be much of a union if it didn't look out for it's members

If the GPA cared a whit about their members they would not have set up their company as a privately-owned company, with only 2 shareholders legally entitled to share in profits.

Imagine the scandal that would ensue if the leaders of any trade union like SIPTU, NBRU etc set up a privately-owned limited company and in a single year generated €200k in profits among themselves on the back of union activities, all the time while using the union HQ as the company's registered office.   

[ardmhachaabu]

The GPA (or the company behind them) are in it for themselves.

In fairness, I don't think the GPA have ever said otherwise. Wouldn't be much of a union if it didn't look out for it's members

If the GPA cared a whit about their members they would not have set up their company as a privately-owned company, with only 2 shareholders legally entitled to share in profits.

Imagine the scandal that would ensue if the leaders of any trade union like SIPTU, NBRU etc set up a privately-owned limited company and in a single year generated €200k in profits among themselves on the back of union activities, all the time while using the union HQ as the company's registered office.   

Exactly.

Though I have to say here, there are none so blind as those who will not see.

[Hardy]

Unless the GAA took the initiative deiseach, and said 'We recognise that you represent the interests of the county players. Instead of merely recognising you, we would like you to come into the GAA fold officially, and look after all Player Welfare issues'. It would be an interesting proposition, and could be the ideal outcome. The players feel they are represented - by players, while the GAA gets to work within their own structures in terms of allocating funding etc, rather than a separate body, answerable to nobody apart from themselves.

Maybe. But how would the GPA fit in to the fold? There would be situations where the GPA membership have an influence over GAA decisions - they're all members of the GAA, after all - while the GPA would have scope to make decisions that affect all members but over which the non-GPA member of the GAA has no power. Nothing is cast in stone, but I don't see how the GPA can be folded in to the GAA given the way the association is currently set up

Interesting idea, AZ, but I think Deiseach is right. I don't think it's tenable to have an autonomous group within the GAA, selected on a different basis to every other unit and all other officers of the association, operating to a different set of rules and representing the interests of a vociferous faction of the membership whose raison d'etre is to divert zero-sum resources from the main organisation for their own gain.

I take the point of Bud and others that the GAA seems to be getting a mauling in the PR competition, but I prefer to see it as the GAA allowing the GPA to strangle itself in public with its own umbilical cord of greed and incompetence. 5% of the association's income! The day they uttered this ludicrous demand was the day they lost the rank and file.