The GAA will never let it happen

Across all the views of the pro- and the anti- grants camps a strong point of agreement would appear to be that professionalism would be bad, if not ruinous, for the GAA. The consequences of professionalism don't have to be explained: GAA members appear to be well-informed of what they are already. But, what they don't agree on is the proximity and the degree of danger. Those for the grant, but against professionalism, are not worried because, they say, the GAA and its members will never let that happen. 

It doesn't matter if Dessie and the GPA see the grant as an interim measure--as just a "battle" in the "war" for professionalism. It doesn't matter if the next generation of GPA members are reared in an Association with diluted ideals and principles regarding payments for players, because, as the logic seems to go, when the GAA is faced with the clear and present danger of professionalism, the members will rise-up to defeat it.  

That's why the players can be appeased with with a few bob. The GAA will ultimately decide; they are, afterall in charge, or at least should be. That's why the anti-grants movement can be dismissed with a sneer by Messrs. O'Rourke and Breheny as a bunch of non-sensical anarchists. The GAA should be the only arbitrator of its own affairs and appeals to courts and non-GAA bodies by upstarts should be eradicated. 

Yes they should. That's exactly the point the anti-grant group is trying to make! 

"Who is running the show?", indeed. 

With the grant  in place, the answer will not be the GAA, as some, if not most, naively believe. 

By introducing the grant the GAA will no longer control its own destiny. It's hands will be tied. Just like UEFA's, just like FIFA's, and just like every other sporting organisation that has been ensarled by the four freedoms of the European Union (free movement of goods, services, labour and capital). It is the European Commission and the European Court of Justice that will now decide the GAA's fate. The precedents are there --Walrave, Donà, Bosman, Deliège (the one GAA members and grant advocates should fear) Kolpak, Meca-Medina etc.-; that's what Of One Belief is desperately trying to point out. 

UEFA and FIFA would like to protect football. They would like to be able to regulate their own sport. They would like to tackle the number of foreigner players playing in domestic competitions. They can't. Freedom of movement. They would like to address the competitive imbalance in and between leagues. They can't. EU Competition law.  They've been lobbying to get the principle of the "specificity" of sport enshrined in the EU treaties to balance the influence of the EU on the game and regain some control, but have so far failed. And, while the EU has stopped short of treating sport as "just another business" there is no mistaking that it is the forces of the free market that reign supreme in football. While some, like the Premier League, are happy to exploit this to their advantage, not everyone thinks that greed is good.

 

So while the danger is not yet clear for some, it is present. Don't think that the GAA will be cocooned away from the implications of the EU law. The grant establishes the link with the EU legal framework and all it will take is one disgruntled party from inside our own ranks to exploit it.

And, sadly, we never seem to be short of them. 

GPA: Donal and Dessie

An insider reveals who the real genius is...

Self-righteous GPA

The self-righteousness of the GPA knows no bounds.

Less than a week ago Dessie Farrell lashed out at the Of One Belief group for insinuating  that Farrell and the GPA privately harbour long-term aims to create professional Gaelic games. Dessie took umbrage at these remarks claiming that the GPA's "bona fides" on preserving the amateur status are recognised by the GAA. How dare that "rump of malcontents" cast suspicions over the GPA's good word!

Although he later admitted he "probably" did make the comments referred to by Of One Belief in 2002, he insisted the remarks were written in a much different climate of relations. He neglected, however, to disclaim the sections of his book, written in 2005,  that advocate semi-professionalism, and, where- in a fit of egalitarianism rarely seen in peak Celtic Tiger Ireland- he put forward the concept of every player receiving the same amount of money. That didn't last long either, then, did it?

I dislike the label "flip flopper" and don't believe that a change of mind should handicap anyone. But, reacting with such pique and indignation, as if question marks over the GPA's commitment to amateur status were some slur on Dessie's and the GPA's character is downright petulant. Even worse, it's sanctimonious. 

 

It seems, however, the GPA doesn't know any other way. Their support today for Antrim's request to change in throw-in time for Sunday's Allianz Hurling League tie against Waterford in Dungarvan betrays this characteristic again. Bringing forward the throw-in time so that the Antrim players could make their way back to north Antrim - over 450 km and 6 hours drive - is perfectly reasonable, justifying additional GPA pressure on the GAA to accede to Antrim's petition. But, in doing so, why do they always have to be so prickly?

Why do they need "point out just how (my emphasis) accommodating players have been in recent years where fixture scheduling has taken place to facilitate television, Saturday ties and midweek games". Is there an implicit threat that they may not be so accommodating in the future? Even if not, their haste to always claim the moral high ground is priggish, and, more often than not, unfounded. Remember the GPA player's hankering to get on television with their Club Energise drinks in 2005? The GPA needs television as much as the GAA, if not more, especially if their ambitions to get their grubby hands on some of the TV revenue are fulfilled. So why bring that into it?

It's time for the GPA to stop thinking its above the GAA. We've had enough of the holier-than-thou attitude.  

Too much GAA on TV? YES, says Delaney

Leinster Council chief executive Michael Delaney has called for a restriction on the number of live games screened on Sunday afternoons according to today's Indo.

"Two live games, followed by the 'Sunday Game' is overkill."

"When you have two games shown live on a Sunday, it takes over the whole day so it's very difficult to get people out to watch club games later on."

"As things stand, the club scene is being seriously damaged by too much TV coverage on Sundays," said Delaney.

No to AFL Compensation for GAA recruitment

While no shock, this morning's headline in the Irish Independent "GAA clubs in line for compensation over AFL recruitment", is still disturbing. What's more alarming is Nicky Brennan's apparent willingness to explore this possibility.

Compensation for what? The young GAA players that the AFL are recruiting are members of the GAA. Look it up Nicky. Membership means participation by choice. The clubs don't own these players. The counties don't own these players. The GAA doesn't own these players. They are playing GAA because they want to. It's a choice. They sign up, they pay a membership subscription (which I might add is very good value when compared to lots of other sports memberships) to play.

While it is hard to stomach, there is not a lot that can be done. Great GAA players like Setanta O hAilpin, Colm Begley and Martin Clarke, who prefer to go to Australia to become professional athletes in a different code, should be free to leave with no "benefits" in return, if they choose to do so. How many young players who play soccer or rugby and Gaelic games have given up Gaelic football or hurling to try to play either of those codes? 

As Martin Breheny points out "Of far more concern to the GAA should be the drop off in the number of youngsters playing the games once they pass minor level". I'd go further. What about making GAA more appealing to a broader audience by cutting out the frequent violence in the game and creating a culture where there is more respect for the referee and for one's opponents? How many young people give up or, indeed, never take up, Gaelic games because of the perceived lack of respect for rules and because of the violence that frequents even underage games?

And what about the players that give up before they reach minor level because they never got a fair chance to play the game? How many kids depart disgruntled because certain mentors choose to ignore their lesser talents, which may develop at a later age but are never given the chance to do so, in pursuit of short-term success. A much sought after U-14 Division III title, for example. It's more widespread than you think. Shouldn't that be more of a concern?

The similarities between Gaelic football and Aussie rules and the age at which these players are recruited, just as they are appearing on the inter-county scene, makes their decision all the harder for the GAA to take. But, it is their decision. The GAA has no 'rights' over a player, unlike in soccer. UEFA have rules for compensating clubs in Europe for each transfer for any player up to the age of 23. That's because players are considered "assets" in a purely financial sense and UEFA wants clubs to have the necessary financial and sporting incentives to invest in training and educating young players. Introducing similar rules in GAA and accepting compensation for players from the AFL would be another huge step towards professionalisation. If the GAA really wants itself to be considered primarily a "sporting and cultural" organisation then the idea of compensation should be dismissed immediately and categorically. 

And that silly International Rules circus should be rejected along with it. 

Is there too much GAA on television?

The GAA has completed its TV rights deals for coverage up to and including 2010, and nobody, it seems, has been left out.

Under the deal, RTÉ secured the live rights for 40 GAA championship games, with the exception of ten games, which will be shown by TV3. The live rights to the Allianz National Leagues and Club/Cup Championships were awarded to TG4 and Setanta Sport respectively. TG4 will have the rights to Sunday afternoon League games and Club and Colleges games, while Setanta will show floodlit games on Saturday nights and four Sunday afternoon League games. A range of highlight packages have been awarded to RTÉ, TG4, Setanta Sport and the BBC. UTV secured a 'Clips' package.

In addition, BBC NI, RTÉ and the GAA have agreed a new deal that will mean significantly more GAA matches being broadcast live on BBC NI over the next three years. Under the new agreement, BBC NI will be able to show live any game in the Ulster Football Championship that RTE is also broadcasting.

Even less high profile competitions such as the Sigerson and Fitzgibbon Cup finals, the U21 championships, the Mc Kenna Cup O’Byrne Cup, Leinster Colleges, Féile na nGael and even Cumann na mBunscol finals, all of which had previously struggled to receive any television coverage, now get televised. Such comprehensive GAA coverage on television is good news for armchair GAA fans all across Ireland. But, isn’t there a balance to be struck?

Despite the high numbers of championship games to be broadcast—in total, 52 live championship ties were broadcast last year, including replays and with 50 games already divided up between RTÉ and TV3, that will be exceeded under the new contract which kicks in after the National Leagues—Nicky Brennan has emphatically rejected the suggestion that there is overkill regarding live coverage at this point.

‘‘All we’re doing is what we’ve been doing for the last number of years. There’s a strong audience out there for it. Our attendances have not been impacted on over the last number of years, we’ve continued to maintain our attendances. It’s always something we’re conscious of, I won’t deny that.”

Nicky is in denial about a lot of things these days, the grants for example, so maybe he and the lads at Croker Park have neglected to think of the wider impact of televising more and more games. Does all this GAA on television mean that less people are now inclined to go and watch club games, which take place at the same time as televised matches on a Saturday evening? And who is going to decide the throw-in times for the matches—the broadcasters or the GAA—and how will this affect fans?

In England the traditional Saturday kick-off time of 3.00 pm for football matches has been sacrificed to accommodate the whims of the broadcasters, much to the disgust of fan groups. It’s the broadcasters, not the clubs or the League, who specify the times on which most teams play their games. The new times, such as Monday evenings, greatly inconvenience fans travelling to games. We’re lucky as travel distances are not too much of a problem in the early stages of GAA championships and it ceases to be an issue from the quarter-finals on as the majority of games are played at the usual Sunday time.

The impact of televised games on attendance at club matches is still worth considering. Although, proving there is a link is next to impossible as there are no statistics to evaluate the trends maybe the GAA should still think about blocking hours for club matches at weekends. For example, Article 48 of UEFA's Statutes and Article 3 of UEFA's Broadcasting Regulation provides for member associations to block broadcasts during certain hours. The Football Association in England does not authorise the broadcasting of football matches played during its main fixture on Saturday afternoons to protect attendances at the game.

TV coverage does provide the opportunity to watch a game fans want to attend but are unable to get tickets and for neutrals to watch the best matches—all GAA fans want to, and should, see Munster hurling matches. Some fans, however, are influenced to watch games on TV rather than go to the match. So maybe the comfortable option of watching a game on telly rather than go see a local club game is becoming more popular with all these games now on TV.

What do you think?

GAA TV Rights: not just for the money

There it is again!

B-O-N-A-N-Z-A

"€30m: Croker's bonanza from new TV deal" is the headline in today's Irish Independent.

At least the headline is tempered by the contents of the article where Nicky Brennan explains that money was not the most important consideration in the deal: "We went for a combination of finance, quality of coverage and experience."

Thankfully, there's no pay-per-view deal with Setanta. Imagine the hay the GPA would have made out of that.

There's still no mention, however, of all the good uses this money will be used for. Danny Lynch may be gone, but the ineffectiveness of the GAA's PR team appears to remain the same.