February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Under the present economic circumstances, it would be difficult to argue with any such move by Messrs. Cowen and Lenihan. However, the GPA have a very solid argument they can make in their own favor. When they sit down with the politicians across from Leinster House, they need not give the usual spiel about the cultural impact the GAA players have on society or the enormous sums of money they generate for the country every summer. You don’t have to be an economist to work out that the championships are worth serious bobs to the exchequer. Not to mention that this summer they will also distract everybody from the harsh reality of the recession.
However, the GPA should take a different tack from trotting out all of the worthy talking points they used when initially campaigning for this money. Even if a visit to their website offers compelling evidence of how determined they are to hang on to this little slice of the pie, there is an easier way than lobbying politicians and ministers. They should simply point out to their political representatives (and it is kind of funny that footballers from Ulster will be present given that their representatives sit in Stormont and London) that there is a very simple, financial solution to the problem.
Instead of taking away the relatively small sums issued to those men who sacrifice so much for the honor and privilege of their counties each year, the government should look elsewhere within the GAA to fund the scheme. How? Pretty obvious really. They should tell their TDs to send the taxman after the legion of coaches from Dingle to Donegal who are being paid under the counter sums to look after teams. If the revenue seriously pursued some of the characters who’ve been effectively working as professional coaches within the GAA for the past couple of decades, they would generate enough money to fund the grants system for the next 10 years.
More than anything, the continued acceptance of this unedifying practice – by Croke Park and the government – lends legitimacy to the players’ demand to receive a relatively minor stipend of a couple of grand a year. Why shouldn’t they receive an honest payment when so many in and around them in the game are making off with much larger sums that everybody knows about but too few will acknowledge. At this juncture, it’s become very difficult to read interviews with the cadre of managers who travel the length and width of the island trying to bring glory to counties with which they have no affiliation at all.
It’s nauseating to have to wade through their clich