GAA drop amateurism now that someone else will pay

[BohDiddley]

The GAA is backing the proposal for the state to pay senior county players 'expenses', such as, in the player rep's own words, 'DVDs and washing powder.' This is being interpreted as, in effect, pay per play.
Women's GAA and other levels in the game are asking why they shouldn't also benefit.
Why should football not be entitled to similar benefits?

[Lionel Ritchie]

The GAA is backing the proposal for the state to pay senior county players 'expenses', such as, in the player rep's own words, 'DVDs and washing powder.' This is being interpreted as, in effect, pay per play.Women's GAA and other levels in the game are asking why they shouldn't also benefit.
Why should football not be entitled to similar benefits?

...or why shouldn't the GAA pay their own players expenses, which will doubtless be pretty imaginative, rather than looking for the state to do it?

Talk about a Brass Neck. :rolleyes:

[khoop]

...or why shouldn't the GAA pay their own players expenses, which will doubtless be pretty imaginative, rather than looking for the state to do it?

The amount of money the GAA are earning is unreal. Gate receipts, merchandising, TV deals, sponsorship deals, real estate - but when the players or clubs want something they are told to go and ask the government.

No surprise then that the GAA have unlimited funds to keep the legal challenge on Tallaght Stadium going on forever.....

[gspain]

Such grants should also be available to other sports.

Spare a thought for the poor managers who are left out and remain amateur. Surely something can be done for them or am I and the revenue the only ones that think they are the last true amateurs in sport. :D

[Lionel Ritchie]

Spare a thought for the poor managers who are left out and remain amateur. Surely something can be done for them or am I and the revenue the only ones that think they are the last true amateurs in sport.
:D

(Puts on best Krusty the Clown accent) "Those helicopters parked out the back aren't free you know". :)

[TonyD]

The amount of money the GAA are earning is unreal. Gate receipts, merchandising, TV deals, sponsorship deals, real estate ..

Yet, they are a flagship "amatuer" organisation. Great, innit ?:rolleyes:

[Ceirtlis]

Tommy Carr was in the star yesterday saying that he thinks neither the Gaa or the government have any intention of extending the grant scheme to gaa players and that it is just posturing by both parties. I would be inclined to agree with that myself as there are so many issues that would have to be sorted out before they start giving money out. The heads of the GAA dont want players paid but that is definetly what the GPA are pushing for. The GAA are trying to keep them sweet by paying lip service to schemes like this.

[Jaime]

Eamon Sweeney, Hold The Back Page

'We have a comprehensive list of expenses. It's an exhaustive list of everything from mileage to specialist foods to washing powder to DVDs of other teams." Donal O'Neill, Commercial Manager of the Gaelic Players Association, speaking last week

NOW, the cynics among you may regard this statement as just one more example of the GPA's knack for inadvertent comedy but I disagree. This column fully supports the right of the GPA to screw money out of the government under any pretence whatsoever.

You might wonder, for example, why inter-county players should have their washing powder bought for them by the state. Well the reason is this: It's a little known fact that the majority of GPA members are committed naturists, having acquired a taste for this pastime due to the many showers they take after training and matches. The average inter-county player doesn't own a stitch of clothes apart from his playing gear. Therefore he wouldn't even own a washing machine were it not for his love of the GAA. Hence the necessity for his Daz, his Omo, his Lenor fabric softener to be paid for.

You also probably don't realise that in most counties players are expected to order DVDs of the opposition from Amazon. In a minority of more enlightened counties the DVDs are on sale in the local branch of Blockbuster Video. It all costs. And it goes without saying that no inter-county player would be able to afford a DVD player, given the massive sacrifices he has to make for his sport. It's not the Minister for Sport that should be dealing with the GPA at all, it's the Combat Poverty Agency.

I thought An Béal Bocht was a Flann O'Brien novel before the GPA came on the scene. Yet the tactics seem to have paid off and last week the association, in conjunction with the GAA, presented the government with a €5m bill for player grants to be paid out this year. Given that there's an election round the corner, I'd fancy their chances of getting John O'Donoghue to stump up, wouldn't you? This is no time for politicians to be making enemies.

If you've read the main part of the column this week you'll know that there are far more urgent requirements in the area of sports funding than shelling out money to the GPA. The public purse is far from bottomless.

But, as George Bernard Shaw wrote, "A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul."

There was a sneak preview last week of the fun which lies ahead when the women's Gaelic football association declared that they must be entitled to some loot as well. Eventually no government will be able to deny the request of camogie players and female footballers because of the equality implications. Minister O'Donoghue will be saddling the state with an open-ended commitment to pay players. And if you think the demands will stop at the current level, I envy your naivete. Because, make no mistake, when you start talking about washing powder and DVDs we are in the realms of pay for play. Disguised pay for play, but pay for play all the same.

The most disheartening aspect of all was to see Nickey Brennan throwing the GAA's weight behind the demand. Amateurism turns out not to have been a core principle of the association after all. As long as someone else is paying up, Croke Park is happy enough. Pity.

[Lionel Ritchie]

The most disheartening aspect of all was to see Nickey Brennan throwing the GAA's weight behind the demand. ...sure why wouldn't he? It's not as if he's going to have to sign any cheques.:mad:

If this happens the expenses forms will, in time, become hallowed parchments containing some of the greatest examples of creative writing and rich prosaic fiction ever composed on this island.

I'm for the GPA in terms of their aim to have their players get just rewards for ther efforts but their b1tch is with their own organisation and the Irish tax payer shouldn't be picking up a tab that the GAA just don't want to pay.

[Jaime]

the Irish tax payer shouldn't be picking up a tab that the GAA just don't want to pay.

It's going to happen right in front of the Irish tax-payer's nose, and the irish tax-payer will do nothing about it. The Irish tax-payer doesn't give a ******** about sport, and the way successive Irish governments have been swindling Irish sport and killing it for decades, so long as he can afford his Sky subscription.

BACK when Irish rugby players used to disgrace themselves by visiting Apartheid South Africa their defenders would intone the mantra, "sport and politics shouldn't mix". Nonsense of course. The two are always intertwined because everything in our daily lives is connected with politics.

Still, we do like to think that sport exists in a separate sphere, a domain of relative innocence and purity. One of sport's great qualities, we proclaim, is its democratic nature. It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from, we're all the same on the field. Everyone gets a fair crack of the whip in sport.

There's even a folksy attitude which suggests that a bit of hardship makes you better at sport. Hence the romantic sports writing emphasis on Gaelic footballers from embattled small farms, on footballers from council terraces and boxers fighting their way out of the ghetto. The poor mightn't have much, the story goes, but they'll always have sport.

Except that they don't. A recent survey by the Economic and Social Research Institute reveals that in Ireland sport is just one more arena where the privileged are kicking the arse of the poor. This surprised me because I had cleaved to that old notion that sport was genuinely egalitarian. I think most of us would think that. We couldn't be more wrong.

A person with a post-graduate degree, for example, is almost five times more likely to play sport than someone whose education ended at Junior Cert. People whose incomes are in the top 25% nationally are almost twice as likely to participate than people in the bottom 25%. Basically, the social groups with a higher income and a better education constitute a large majority of sportspeople in this country.

"We wanted," says Pete Lunn of the ESRI, "to analyse if there were any links between disadvantage and participation in sports and it becomes clear that the link is strong and unarguable. This leads to the conclusion that if sports policy is to contribute to an improvement in population health, then investment must be targeted at disadvantage."

This exclusion of the less well off extends from participation to volunteering and even to attendance at games. They fall behind early. The survey found that primary schools in disadvantaged areas offer both less sport and less varieties of sport to their pupils. And the disparity remains constant, it remains the same in all age groups. Drop back in this race and you're never going to catch up.

The ESRI is nobody's idea of a left-wing organisation but the conclusion they've drawn from this survey is that public expenditure on mass participation sport can only be justified if the benefits are shared equally across the community. At the moment, they say, ¨Spending on sport is regressive. It is a transfer of resources from the less well off to the better off.¨

In other words not only is sport in this country not egalitarian but it's downright unjust. Poor people buying National Lottery tickets are subsidising the leisure pursuits of the better off. It's not just grant money spent on golf clubs and equestrian centres which is skewed in favour of the well off, it's sports funding in general. Because, and this is also interesting, the income disparity is constant across all sports, soccer, Gaelic football and hurling not being notably more equitable than golf or tennis.

The kid whose parents can afford to buy him a top of the range selection of computer games is far more likely to be playing sport than the kid who can't afford any of these distractions

This survey is, on one level, the sports story of the year. It tells us that everything conventional wisdom says about Irish sport is wrong. It shatters the illusion that sport is something that brings us all together in one cosy classless embrace. It is, to be honest, the revelation of a national disgrace.

We all agree that sport is good for us. It is accepted now that we face an epidemic of childhood obesity if we don't encourage our kids to take part in meaningful and structured physical activity. The PlayStation-wielding crisp-munching lard-assed youngster is a contemporary folk demon.

Yet it turns out that the kid whose parents can afford to buy him a top of the range selection of computer games is far more likely to be playing sport than the kid who can't afford any of these distractions. Your chances of benefiting from sport depend on how much money your parents, or parent, earn. And that has to be wrong.

The ESRI has called for the setting up of Local Sports Partnerships which will target disadvantaged areas. But whether the political will is there to tackle this problem seems doubtful. You see, what the Institute are calling for is a diversion of money from the middle class towards the poor. And, in a country where last year there were more second home buyers than first time ones, this is not a particularly attractive electoral option. That guy with the post-graduate degree and the top 25% income is the one whose vote is courted most assiduously by the main parties. His counterpart with the Junior Cert in the bottom quarter is not such a priority.

I decided to ring round a few of the parties to see if they had any suggestions as to how the balance might be redressed. The Labour Party propose to put specialist sports and PE teachers in all National Schools, crucially beginning with the disadvantaged ones. And Fine Gael are pledging increased personnel and grant aid for sports schemes in disadvantaged areas.

Paul Gogarty of the Greens, who see greater investment in primary education as providing the answer, made an interesting point. "It doesn't help that government policy seems to be as much geared towards encouraging people to sit on their arses rather than get involved. One third of sports funding goes to the already profitable dog and horse racing industries. Nobody gets fit out of sitting in a bookies or sitting at home watching animals race."

And Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins notes that while affluent communities can always make up a shortfall in state sports funding out of their own pockets the same option is not open to people in disadvantaged areas. "In the Mountview area of Dublin West, for example, we are still trying to get funding for a sports hall where the children can have the very basic facility of being able to change their clothes in some degree of comfort and have showers available. The community has been in place for almost 30 years now."

The question of disadvantage does seem, however, to be a relatively peripheral issue for most parties. The focus remains on encouraging greater participation in general rather than ensuring equality of access. Perhaps it's time for a major rethink all round.

Never mind international success, stadium building and tax breaks for the bloodstock industry, the ESRI have revealed where the real problem is. And until it's tackled and the rich man in his castle and the poor man at his gate compete in equal numbers, our idea of Ireland as a great sporting nation will be nothing but a sham.

thephotograph@hotmail.com

[pete]

If GAA amateur players can get paid by the state will Mr. O'Donoghue pay me to run laps around the Phoenix Park?

:mad: :mad: :mad:

[sonofstan]

Where does that piece come from,Jaime?

[razor]

Where does that piece come from,Jaime?
Sunday Independent

[Dodge]

There are lots and lots of amateur footballers in this country. I'd expect a few of the smarter ones to have a claim in with the D/Sports pretty soon

[khoop]

The GAA stance - although they haven't openly said as much - appears to be that bogball and stick-fighting are far more worthy of funding than other sports because of some twisted logic based on Irishness and tradition and various other mumbo-jumbo. But where does that leave the likes of me??? I wouldn't watch a Dublin-Kerry game if it was being played in my back garden. So if GAA "amateurs" get funding, then everyone else should - be they coarse fishermen, rock climbers or darts players. There's no way that GAA people can logically argue otherwise.

[green-blood]

in light of what the gaa are up to in Tallght, surely all Amateur sportsmen/women deserve this allowance.... independent of which code they play ?

[pete]

There are lots and lots of amateur footballers in this country. I'd expect a few of the smarter ones to have a claim in with the D/Sports pretty soon

In a Thomas-Davis-esque manner? I think a Judicial review is required when the government funding just one organisation... :eek:

[BohDiddley]

Star has a piece today saying it's a non-runner.

[shelbourne1904]

The worst inequalityof all is under the governments direct control:
the Universities!!

Why do all the Universities have all the best sports facilities.Just 2 for example Limerick and UCD.
Why are those facilities not attached to primary schools where all children benefit from them.Why should they be attached to 3rd level education when a lot of the poulation are out of the loop??This is blatant favouritism towards
those who have managed to get to this level.
Why does your ability to make it to third level decide what level of sports facilities and the number of different sports you should be exposed to??
Who is responsible for mantaining this blatant inequality???

[Student Mullet]

The worst inequalityof all is under the governments direct control:
the Universities!!

Why do all the Universities have all the best sports facilities.Just 2 for example Limerick and UCD.
Why are those facilities not attached to primary schools where all children benefit from them.Why should they be attached to 3rd level education when a lot of the poulation are out of the loop??This is blatant favouritism towards
those who have managed to get to this level.
Why does your ability to make it to third level decide what level of sports facilities and the number of different sports you should be exposed to??
Who is responsible for mantaining this blatant inequality???
On the specific point, I don't speak for UL (or for UCDD, for that matter) but UCDD facilities are available to the local schools. I've been involved with the college in making orienteering maps for some of the local schools and taking the kids out to show them the basics of the sport and the other sports clubs do similar work.

On the more general point, the means to tackle inequality is to improve the lot of the worse off not to disimprove the lot of the better off. If UCDD had facilities as bad as Trinity, it would remove some of the inequality but still wouldn't be of any help to the local primary school.

[Philly]

Lads my brother plays for the Kildare seniors and I can tell you one thing - "expenses" are pretty much nil. It costs extremely little. Petrol money. That's it really. This is a case of the GAA trying to get something or a pledge out of the government as the election looms.

[Erstwhile Bóz]

The GAA is backing the proposal for the state to pay senior county players 'expenses', such as, in the player rep's own words, 'DVDs and washing powder.' This is being interpreted as, in effect, pay per play.
Women's GAA and other levels in the game are asking why they shouldn't also benefit.
Why should football not be entitled to similar benefits?
Sure when you're using the Na Fianna facilities at the Bohs a.g.m. there might be someone around from the GAA you could ask. ;)