Stephen Hunt believes the GAA would "lose its character" if it ever turned professional.

The Republic of Ireland soccer international, who became embroiled in a war of words with Joe Brolly last December after suggesting that GAA players would find life tough in the Premier League, maintains that while footballers and hurlers train at an elite level, they don't play at the levels of professionals.

In the RTE documentary Páirc Life, which will be screened next Tuesday, the former Waterford underage hurler said: "There's no doubt they could be [professional sportspeople]. They are elite in what they do. How they train, they're elite. They do their gym work, they do their sessions.

"They probably train just as much as us. But they have to work. So they can never be as good, as sharp or as fast if they were rested. If they did that professionally the game would get quicker, it would get faster, it would get stronger.

"But you also might lose the character that comes as part and parcel of hurling and Gaelic football, the history that comes with it. I don't think you'd want that. I think you want to see hurling just the way it is now. They're treated with respect, and they're heroes. They are.

"They're literally Gods of Ireland, and so they should be because it's part of our history and what we love."

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