National Forum

GAA-GPA Stand Off

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Just wondering what people's views are on this, its an odd 1 for me, firstly Tom Parsons was 100% right in saying we should never have an instance where players have to pay to play and the current situation with fuel prices probably highlights this more but also if teams are training 6 or 7 times a week surely that's a player welfare issue too where the GPA's priority should be too highlight this if its an issue, taught O'Rourke was way off in his comments on Sunday Night, I doubt he's sitting in the RTE studio for the privilege as he put it.

bostonredsox (Wexford) - Posts: 4368 - 16/03/2022 10:34:37    2405658

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What about the lad working and living in Dublin, but still playing for his native rural club (a considerable percentage of our players)? Do fuel prices not matter a damn to him? Even one extra journey home during the werk is going to hit him in the pocket now.

I would have always thought the privilege of representing your county would supercede everything else. But between the GPA acting like primadonnas again, and the increasing influence of managers turning it professional, its becoming a chore. The GPA should definitely focus their attention on the problem of over-training instead.

beano (Wexford) - Posts: 1421 - 16/03/2022 10:43:46    2405660

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Cap county sessions at 4 per week maximum, as a rule, thus having consistency across all counties and no extra benefit for counties with rich sponsors to fund more sessions. This also deals with player welfare too in an amateur game too. Job done.

LongfordgaaAbú (Longford) - Posts: 473 - 16/03/2022 10:54:54    2405664

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I just feel the GPA want to have it both ways.

They give out about players being overtrained but then want 6-7 training sessions
covered by expenses. Wont that just result in more teams doing more training ?

The GAA said they would cover 4 sessions a week. That for me is enough as 6-7 a week
is asking too much of the players.

carlovia (None) - Posts: 1517 - 16/03/2022 10:59:37    2405665

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Both the GPA and some county boards have paid nothing but lip service to player welfare. It's time for ALL county boards to take a stand and stop allowing managers to dictate the agenda.

midlands (Westmeath) - Posts: 545 - 16/03/2022 11:08:01    2405671

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It's all very well saying cap sessions to four per week, but what if a player needs to travel to see a physio, doctor or other treatment, are they not entitled to their mileage for this journey? If players are expected to be doing 3 or 4 sessions a week in January, and playing McKenna Cup etc. (and possibly Sigerson as well), are they not entitled to be looked after. Very conservatively, if that's a round trip of 60 miles for which you would get €40 in expenses. For a young lad with a car loan, tax, insurance, diesel, wear and tear, they're not making money.

SouthOfTheGap (Donegal) - Posts: 585 - 16/03/2022 11:17:13    2405675

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Replying To LongfordgaaAbú:  "Cap county sessions at 4 per week maximum, as a rule, thus having consistency across all counties and no extra benefit for counties with rich sponsors to fund more sessions. This also deals with player welfare too in an amateur game too. Job done."
Could not agree more with you on all fronts. Player welfare , fairness etc... Also if the GAA have money to fund more (unnecessary) training sessions I would rather see those monies going back in to the clubs. I have no problem with the elite players getting more rewarded ( or less penalised) than the club players but club players are getting an awful shafting. Not only do they have to fund their own travel , but they are continually being asked to fundraise and/or contribute to training or club expenses. If clubs were adequately funded it could reduce the onus on them - they would still have personal costs but those costs would be more in line with what you would expect from a recreational activity.

anotheralias (Galway) - Posts: 842 - 16/03/2022 11:43:54    2405681

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Tom Parsons continues the longstanding GPA tradition of putting the hand out. Delighted the current GAA administrators have finally stood up to them.

WunderBar (Galway) - Posts: 290 - 16/03/2022 11:50:11    2405683

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Replying To LongfordgaaAbú:  "Cap county sessions at 4 per week maximum, as a rule, thus having consistency across all counties and no extra benefit for counties with rich sponsors to fund more sessions. This also deals with player welfare too in an amateur game too. Job done."
I agree but been realistic and living in the real world how will this be policed and be adhered too, counties have regularly shown in the last decade there happy to run a tightrobe regards training bans and the penalty of losing home advantage for a league game and whatever fine it entails isn't enough of a deterrent, stronger punishment's would be needed I believe.

bostonredsox (Wexford) - Posts: 4368 - 16/03/2022 11:55:15    2405684

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Replying To beano:  "What about the lad working and living in Dublin, but still playing for his native rural club (a considerable percentage of our players)? Do fuel prices not matter a damn to him? Even one extra journey home during the werk is going to hit him in the pocket now.

I would have always thought the privilege of representing your county would supercede everything else. But between the GPA acting like primadonnas again, and the increasing influence of managers turning it professional, its becoming a chore. The GPA should definitely focus their attention on the problem of over-training instead."
Fair point regards club players and why I taught the CPA disbanding was a strange and poor move, when playing intercounty GAA dictates your whole life which realistically it does these days the whole privilege narrative weakens in my view, its no coincidence many players from counties who realistically won't challenge for top honors are stepping away at a time when they have plenty more years to offer.

bostonredsox (Wexford) - Posts: 4368 - 16/03/2022 12:01:33    2405686

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So players dont get covered but the men in the suits get 5 and 6 figure sums for the year...

Timmy86 (Sligo) - Posts: 270 - 16/03/2022 12:02:50    2405687

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Replying To Timmy86:  "So players dont get covered but the men in the suits get 5 and 6 figure sums for the year..."
I agree with the GAA on this one.4 collective sessions is more than enough.

When are these players meant to get a life.

ifindoubt (Donegal) - Posts: 133 - 16/03/2022 12:16:30    2405692

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Replying To Timmy86:  "So players dont get covered but the men in the suits get 5 and 6 figure sums for the year..."
Players get covered for 4 sessions per week.

How many do you want them doing ?

carlovia (None) - Posts: 1517 - 16/03/2022 12:19:34    2405693

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The intercounty players are the ones paying most of the bills for the GAA. Their games are making most revenue through games ticket sales, TV, radio, podcasts, sponsorship, advertising, endorsements etc and government are taking a nice few quid on VAT from all these transactions and other GAA activities. They're also role models for children and adults and can help encourage them to participate in sports and tgeir health benefits there might also benefit our beleagured health service further down the line. There's surely agents involved somewhere too when players/teams are endorsing something?

The GAA is an amateur sports organisation run by professionals but the intercounty players are being exploited in comparison to professional sports. They shouldn't be out of pocket. They shouldn't be professional either but they should be well looked after. Or some of them when they reach 14 or 15, time to focus on one sport will go elsewhere.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7360 - 16/03/2022 12:23:30    2405696

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Just thinking about this again. Whether the cap is set at 3 or 4 training sessions there should be one set. I dont subscribe to the argument as to the difficulty of policing it. You policy it with harsh penalties i.e. like drink driving you just dont do it. A manager who breaches is sacked and banned for 2 years. This means that a whistle blower would not fear the end of his county career by flagging it. This would level the playing field , give lads a bit of life balance and might even allow them a night off to go watch their club mates playing a challenge or training.
On the other hand if an individual player trains 4 nights and has to travel for physio the 3 other nights , he should get his expenses for 7 trips.

anotheralias (Galway) - Posts: 842 - 16/03/2022 12:36:42    2405698

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Replying To wexico15:  "I agree but been realistic and living in the real world how will this be policed and be adhered too, counties have regularly shown in the last decade there happy to run a tightrobe regards training bans and the penalty of losing home advantage for a league game and whatever fine it entails isn't enough of a deterrent, stronger punishment's would be needed I believe."
I am not sure what they have said is that these are collective team training sessions and that could be where the GPA is not being very honest about what they are referring to. I cannot see any county team doing any more than 4 collective training sessions a week including games. If you look at the semi professional AIL A1 league, they do two and a game at the weekend however the players are individually in the gym. My assumption is players are given targets and plans at the start of the year for some that will be easier than others as its just bringing them back to the levels they were at a couple of months previous for others it would require more work. So it wouldn't surprise me if some lads were in the gym and training six or seven times as week. I am sure sometimes its a players choice of when, when and how often he wants to do the sessions. I am sure most work or live near a gym of some sort - if you know what you are doing the basics will be enough. So in a way it open to lads milking the system and don't tell me they wouldn't. As Beno says there are a lot of club lads doing this out of their own pocket and doing it with far less cost than the county players.

zinny (Wexford) - Posts: 1805 - 16/03/2022 12:48:21    2405702

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Replying To Timmy86:  "So players dont get covered but the men in the suits get 5 and 6 figure sums for the year..."
As well they should. Running the GAA is like running a big company; they've 100s of thousands of stakeholders, a huge financial throughput, oversight of dozens of subsidiaries etc.

The idea that the GAA could be run like a local club with volunteers without managerial, organisational or business skills doing it for free is laughable.

CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1646 - 16/03/2022 12:52:00    2405704

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Replying To anotheralias:  "Just thinking about this again. Whether the cap is set at 3 or 4 training sessions there should be one set. I dont subscribe to the argument as to the difficulty of policing it. You policy it with harsh penalties i.e. like drink driving you just dont do it. A manager who breaches is sacked and banned for 2 years. This means that a whistle blower would not fear the end of his county career by flagging it. This would level the playing field , give lads a bit of life balance and might even allow them a night off to go watch their club mates playing a challenge or training.
On the other hand if an individual player trains 4 nights and has to travel for physio the 3 other nights , he should get his expenses for 7 trips."
I admire your naivety that managers would be sacked for holding too many sessions. We had the Monaghan manager and his captain give full interviews on TG4 on Sunday, who when asked later about the GPA Media ban in place, stated that they knew nothing about it, hadn't heard of it. Funnily enough, he was one of the same intercounty managers who hadn't heard of the Covid 19 ban on collective training and the associated travel limits legally in force either. But I'm sure the county board didn't know they were happening either, and must have been shocked when they received the corresponding expenses claims.

SouthOfTheGap (Donegal) - Posts: 585 - 16/03/2022 13:44:51    2405720

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Replying To carlovia:  "Players get covered for 4 sessions per week.

How many do you want them doing ?"
Thats up to the managment and them ,...and il repeat and invite anyone to answer ,'players only want to get covered for travel to games and training but its all right for the men in suits to get 5 and 6 figure sums??

Timmy86 (Sligo) - Posts: 270 - 16/03/2022 13:45:35    2405721

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I had no idea of the details of this dispute before reading on HS. The GAA are 100% correct on this one. The line has to be drawn somewhere and 4 sessions a week for me is the right amount.

tiobraid (Tipperary) - Posts: 4119 - 16/03/2022 14:17:19    2405727

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