The meeting in Cavan organised by gaels from Longford and north Leinster goes ahead tomorrow (Wednesday) night as follows;

Wednesday 19 December
7.30pm
Cavan Crystal Hotel

We know the week that’s in it … and the demands that’s on people’s time. But pay-for-play is the agenda item for GAA people … so if you can, come along tomorrow night. You’ll be out the door by 9.00pm. Can you give 90 minutes to defend a core GAA principle?

DRA … Drastic Action?

When we set out to oppose pay-for-play we agreed to do it through the GAA system … and to all the while play the ball, not the man.

The DRA is part of the GAA system so we’re using it.

The appeal has been lodged and is being supported/developed by a number of true GAA “legal-eagles” … all on that real GAA basis, ie “No Charge!”

As of now there’s been no feedback from the DRA but we’ll keep you informed re developments.

A Flowing Tide?

As of last night, the pay-for-play arrangements approved by Central Council have been either directly opposed or seriously questioned at or by the Clare; Cork; Derry; Down; Fermanagh; Mayo; Tipperary; and Tyrone Conventions or County Committee meetings.

This story isn’t over yet!

A Flowing Tide, Part 2?

The article below appeared (totally unsolicited by us) in the news section of last Sunday’s “Sunday Independent”. What can we say … other than read it and weep?

“A bright new professional world casts a dark shadow”

The GAA is plunging itself into an abyss it will never surface from, writes Jerome Reilly

“THE taxman has had a moment of clarity that cuts through much of the cant and hypocrisy surrounding the gaelic players’ grant scheme.

The Revenue Commissioners consider grants to athletes as income which may be liable for taxation. Gaelic players are now on a wage, the tax inspectors believe.

When those threatening letters with a harp on the envelope start to land on the doormat, those who have fooled themselves their new grants are not pay-for-play might want to reconsider their position.

Professionalism has slipped in the backdoor of the GAA like an unwelcome guest at Christmas dinner.

Those who publicly oppose the scheme have been ridiculed as a “small rump of malcontents” by Gaelic Players Association spokesman Dessie Farrell.

Not only is that a slur on men who have given a lifetime to the Association it’s also wrong in fact. There is a growing groundswell of opinion among ordinary members of of the GAA that the new grant scheme undermines the amateur ethos and will do long-term damage to the national games.

The shabby maneuverings of last week to stop the individual voices of disapproval from county boards growing into an outright chorus does little to change the situation.

Croke Park might not be handling the cash, the provincial and county boards may not be administering the loot but it is still pay-for-play. And the actual grants scheme itself reinforces the “professionalism” that will now become part and parcel of gaelic games.

The grants scheme has at its heart the Annual Team Performance Scheme. This will be based on the performance of teams during the Championships and will apply to the 12 football teams qualifying for the third round of the All-Ireland qualifiers or reaching the provincial final and the 12 teams in the McCarthy Cup. The level of award available to teams will be calculated on a sliding scale.

So not only is it pay-for-play, it’s performance-related pay. In the same way that soccer players are on “win bonuses” and cash rewards for winning the Premiership, Championship, the FA Cup or the European competitions, the best gaelic players will receive more money.

Though the players of less successful counties will also get money under what is coyly referred to as the “annual support scheme for the development of excellence” there will be a two-tier system even within the inter-county ranks.

So to paraphrase George Orwell, inter-county players are “more equal” than ordinary club players who leave blood sweat and tears on club pitches around the country and some successful inter-country footballers from Kerry, Tyrone or Armagh are “more equal” than the county players of Carlow, Leitrim and Tipperary who are unlikely to win the All-Ireland in the immediate future.

The performance begs the question will the new scheme only serve to widen the gap between the GAA football elite and the rest.

It is only December, the time (as Micheal O Muireachartaig so memorably put it) of soft and sometimes foolish “winter talk.” Yet most GAA followers will accurately guess the identity of at least nine of the 12 football teams that will contest the latter stages of the championship next year.

With extra “grants” these players can perhaps take a few more days rest from work, train a little harder, get a little better. The comparisons between the big four of the English Premiership with the bigger revenues creating bigger success are not as far fetched as one might expect.

The decision by Donal McAnallen, brother of the late Tyrone Allstar Cormac, to resign as secretary of the Higher Education Colleges GAA Council should shake those who love gaelic games to the core.

He admitted his decision was influenced by the recent agreement to give players grants and said his reasons were both practical and from a sense of disillusionment.

When someone so steeped in all that is great about the games becomes disillusioned then there is a real threat to the future of an organisation that more than any other in these islands is based on volunteerism.

“I have no income at present and I in debt. My dedication to GAA committee work has cost me too much time, effort, stress, and my health at times also,” McAnallen stated.

He added: “Up to now I kept involved because I got a sense of fulfilment from doing that work, as I thought the association served a greater good in Irish life, and I thought everyone was working towards the same ends. But since the weekend, I realised that the association is changing direction altogether.

“Suddenly I knew I had lost interest in doing the voluntary work if the sport ceases to be for sport’s sake. “Many GAA volunteers, including some of my fellow committee members, have made similar sacrifices. Now I wonder whether it was all worthwhile,” he added.

Surely that view is now rife throughout the country. The GAA as we know it is headed towards the abyss. The bright new world will be fuelled by greed.”

Keep It Going!

There’s now 566 of you out there.

You’re the heart and soul of this campaign. There’s a few things you could do to stop pay-for-play:

• Bring this issue up in your Club

• Try to get it discussed at your County Convention

• Talk to people about it: tell them why we think the way we do.

Above all, keep your commitment and enthusiasm!

Remember Cavan on Wednesday night!

In case we don’t have another communication in the next week … thank you for your commitment to all of this. It hasn’t been easy … or pleasant.

Le gach dea-ghuí i gcomhair na Nollag is na h-athbhliana!

Fellow gaels in north Leinster have arranged a public meeting on the pay-for-play arrangements as follows:

Wednesday 19 December
7.30 pm
Cavan Crystal Hotel, Cavan Town

Let’s see what the south Ulster/north Leinster/north Connacht view on all this stuff is. If you’re from there, then turn up at the Cavan Crystal next Wednesday night. Bring others with you … and tell even more people about it. This is one of the most important things you’ll be asked to do to help reverse the pay-for-play agenda … so let’s have a turnout that makes a statement!

If you’re registered on this site you’re a believer. If you’re a believer, be there!
(If anyone sees a bearded gentlemen in a red suit … invite him along!)

After Last Saturday …

After the approval of the pay-for-play arrangements last Saturday – by Central Council only, remember (and in my official guide Central Council is just one of five levels of “jurisdiction” within the GAA, the other four being Clubs; Counties; Provinces; and Congress) – what’s now to stop this scenario:

• Millionaire A offers County A’s Senior Football Panel members €/£20,000 a man to win the All-Ireland
• He offers Player B from County B €/£50,000 to come on board … and gives him a job/address in County A
• All parties sign an agreement stating that they “recognise that the GAA is an Amateur Association and state their absolute commitment to the maintenance of the amateur status of the Association. They state that nothing in this agreement shall be allowed to undermine the amateur status of Gaelic games”. (Does that last bit sound familiar?)

In the new post-8 December world how can the GAA legally or morally oppose such a scenario? It’s performance-based; County panel-specifc; isn’t “our” money; and will be paid/distributed by a third party. And there’s a paper guaranteeing the amateur status. So it clearly isn’t pay for play! (It’s definitely time for that bearded gentleman in the red suit!)

Up Down! Up Tyrone!

Tyrone and Down will meet in next year’s Ulster SFC (GPA strikes etc permitting of course!). Whatever the outcome, we’ll know we have two true GAA counties going head-to-head.

On Sunday Down voted unanimously to reject last Saturday’s pay-for-play deal. On Tuesday night Tyrone voted 152:1 to reject any meddling with Rule 11 via grants or any other sleight-of-hand. Tyrone’s mathematics are interesting in that they almost certainly reflect the proper proportions involved in this whole issue. Don’t let’s pretend there isn’t a “GPA view”. There is. And it has a right to be heard. But for every GAA person holding that view we’d be very confident there’d be 150 who don’t hold it.

To its shame last Saturday made no attempt to reflect or seek the views of the 150.

You’re Growing … and Growing … and Growing!

As of last night, 12 December, there’s 521 of you out there. Thank you for supporting the opposition to pay-for-play.

We believe this is now on the agenda for Congress 2008. And we intend to keep the debate rolling right up until then. To do that we need your help.

• Stay with us!
• Keep raising this issue!
• Don’t accept that the fat lady has sung (she hasn’t even warmed up yet!)
• Keep reinforcing what the GAA’s really about!

And come to the Cavan Crystal Hotel next Wednesday night!