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!