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O'Rourke On The GPA

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Great article in the Independent on the role of the GPA. I was at Citifield a couple of weeks ago. An enjoyable day but I don't know the purpose of it. If you want to promote Hurling play Hurling. I wouldn't go out to watch whatever they were playing again. Seems the money spent would have done a lot of good in the weaker counties and clubs. Watching the Munster club final yesterday would remind anyone what the GAA is suppose to be about. A titanic battle between players who would give anything for their club. As usual once big money is introduced to an organization huge problems follow, it takes great leadership to manage the situation. Love watching the club championships even the bad weather adds to it, even though the players should be allowed to play in the warmer weather. If you ever want to see what the clubs mean to players watch Tommy Walsh's interview after he won the Kilkenny Intermediate county Final. These are the teams and supporters that should be benefiting from money instead of 4 county teams going to NY to play some odd ball game. gatha (Kilkenny) - Posts: 318 - 25/11/2019 13:18:51 2251311 Link
Replying To gatha: "Great article in the Independent on the role of the GPA. I was at Citifield a couple of weeks ago. An enjoyable day but I don't know the purpose of it. If you want to promote Hurling play Hurling. I wouldn't go out to watch whatever they were playing again. Seems the money spent would have done a lot of good in the weaker counties and clubs. Watching the Munster club final yesterday would remind anyone what the GAA is suppose to be about. A titanic battle between players who would give anything for their club. As usual once big money is introduced to an organization huge problems follow, it takes great leadership to manage the situation. Love watching the club championships even the bad weather adds to it, even though the players should be allowed to play in the warmer weather. If you ever want to see what the clubs mean to players watch Tommy Walsh's interview after he won the Kilkenny Intermediate county Final. These are the teams and supporters that should be benefiting from money instead of 4 county teams going to NY to play some odd ball game." Great article and well worth a read. KingdomBoy1 (Kerry) - Posts: 14092 - 25/11/2019 14:18:49 2251329 Link
Agreed apart from the warmer weather. We live in Ireland, an island on the north Atlantic. We get about 8 weeks of warm weather a year. Why does everyone have to play then? Many players don't even like the summer. Too hot and games/training are torture as it is too hot. I don't have a problem with these classics as the players are rewarded with a tour from 4 counties. There should however be a tour organised for the Mcdonagh and Christy ring final winners. That would be one hell of a prize for the weaker counties to aim for. Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 25/11/2019 14:21:49 2251330 Link
The GPA are a farce, and largely disinterested in promoting the game. It's a gravy train for the few highly paid employees 890202 (Wexford) - Posts: 1278 - 25/11/2019 14:50:51 2251336 Link
Didn't see this article but I've seen stuff that Colm wrote before and he does seem to have issues with the GAA. Colm wouldn't be someone I'd have a lot of time for, but I would agree with him 100% on that opinion. The GAA is destroying itself from within and the GPA are front and centre in that regard. Even their name is designed to make themselves seem something they are not. A gaelic player's association should be there to represent gaelic players and not just a tiny section of the group. They are now just a lap dog to the GAA hierarchy who are their paymasters. Greenfield (Meath) - Posts: 522 - 25/11/2019 14:55:14 2251337 Link
dermot early left the g p a to go back to the army . that told me all i wanted to know mickcunningham (Westmeath) - Posts: 1802 - 25/11/2019 15:29:05 2251353 Link
Replying To Greenfield: "Didn't see this article but I've seen stuff that Colm wrote before and he does seem to have issues with the GAA. Colm wouldn't be someone I'd have a lot of time for, but I would agree with him 100% on that opinion. The GAA is destroying itself from within and the GPA are front and centre in that regard. Even their name is designed to make themselves seem something they are not. A gaelic player's association should be there to represent gaelic players and not just a tiny section of the group. They are now just a lap dog to the GAA hierarchy who are their paymasters." O'Rourkes article was the opposite of what you thought. He was very critical of the gpa and criticised the gaa for indulging them. On the page beside it Joe Brolly had an article criticising the gaa for not listening to the gpa. carlovia (None) - Posts: 1517 - 25/11/2019 15:51:42 2251360 Link
Replying To carlovia: "O'Rourkes article was the opposite of what you thought. He was very critical of the gpa and criticised the gaa for indulging them. On the page beside it Joe Brolly had an article criticising the gaa for not listening to the gpa." My mistake. I meant to type he has issues with the GPA. Greenfield (Meath) - Posts: 522 - 25/11/2019 22:07:38 2251434 Link
Replying To Greenfield: "My mistake. I meant to type he has issues with the GPA." Those 2 make more sense in print then on The Sunday Game. gatha (Kilkenny) - Posts: 318 - 25/11/2019 23:28:18 2251453 Link
Replying To carlovia: "O'Rourkes article was the opposite of what you thought. He was very critical of the gpa and criticised the gaa for indulging them. On the page beside it Joe Brolly had an article criticising the gaa for not listening to the gpa." Hmm I didnt take that at all from Brolly's article (though admit cos it was so long, I didn't read it to end). In article after article over the past few years, Brolly has been highly critical of the GPA and has been saying much the same things about them as O'Rourke has. It would be a U-turn of epic proportions if he was asking the GAA to listen to them now. PoolSturgeon (Galway) - Posts: 1903 - 26/11/2019 00:35:48 2251460 Link
An outstanding article by Colm O'Rourke. icehonesty (Wexford) - Posts: 2550 - 26/11/2019 07:35:40 2251468 Link
Brilliant article by O'Rourke. He nailed every point that needed to be made. 6million over 3 years is an astronomical amount of money to pay out for wages, college bursaries and a few courses in social media. Mad Judgejules1 (Galway) - Posts: 9 - 03/12/2019 22:25:26 2253065 Link
But lads there is another massive elephant in the room in Dublin that nobody is really talking about, other teams are trying to follow and compete. Where's that going to end? gahfan (Wexford) - Posts: 636 - 03/12/2019 23:03:29 2253079 Link
Replying To PoolSturgeon: "Hmm I didnt take that at all from Brolly's article (though admit cos it was so long, I didn't read it to end). In article after article over the past few years, Brolly has been highly critical of the GPA and has been saying much the same things about them as O'Rourke has. It would be a U-turn of epic proportions if he was asking the GAA to listen to them now." He wasn't whiterbannnas (Mayo) - Posts: 2441 - 05/12/2019 10:43:01 2253334 Link
Replying To gatha: "Those 2 make more sense in print then on The Sunday Game." My thoughts exactly. Not mad about seeing them on tv but their articles I always read. O Rourke is dead on about the GPA fergie (Carlow) - Posts: 1115 - 05/12/2019 12:21:51 2253349 Link