GAA alienating the grassroots

I see that Sean Moran today is wondering if the GAA HQ is in danger of alienating the grassroots. He asks if the GAA has run too far ahead of its membership in streamlining everything from revenue generation to the commercial exploitation of Croke Park.

Yes would be my answer, but thanks to the Irish Times' backward subscription model I can't read the rest of the article and don't know of anywhere close by that I can buy a copy of the "Protestant rag" as Frank McCourt's mother referred to it (I live abroad, you see). I'll try over on GAAboard.ie, hopefully someone has copied it to there to generate a discussion.

It's terrible that 2008 has seen the emergence of the term "grassroots" to describe the majority of GAA members. Before there was no distinction among GAA members, nor a need to distinguish between them, but since the "grants" fiasco and the GAA HQs money-hungry approach which has created difficulties for the local GAA we are seeing the term used more and more frequently. It's a sad sign of the times and the direction the GAA is taking.