Pay Players :John Inverdale

Macker

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2006/09/06/soinvr06.xml

Interesting read

Flukey

Paying them would spoil it. The passion for the jersey, club and the county is a far better incentive and gives the games that unique edge that professional sports just can't match. They are playing purely for the love of the game and the honour of wearing the jersey. That means more than any pay cheque. The Ryder Cup next week will have a huge interest and the European and American players will put everything into winning, unlike any other tournament. It is a team event and, there is no payment for the players. The Ryder Cup is in effect an amateur competition, which makes it special for the players.

Kojak

Flukey wrote:

Paying them would spoil it. The passion for the jersey, club and the county is a far better incentive and gives the games that unique edge that professional sports just can't match. They are playing purely for the love of the game and the honour of wearing the jersey. That means more than any pay cheque.

Spot on, Flukey. If GAA players were to be paid it would spoil our great games - which, IMO, are the best in the world. It would also destroy the club scene leaving good club sides like Portumna without some of their (and Galway's) best players (i.e Ollie and Joe Canning, Damien Hayes). Its foolish to think that they would play amateur with their clubs and run the risk of injury when they know they could miss out on money while playing for the county.

Also the "transfer market" would come into effect. Seeing as the vast majority of GAA posters on this site seem to be Dubs, here's a though for you. If, for example, Limerick (with JP's millions) thought that they needed a new centre-back they could very well come in with a huge bid for Dublin's Bryan Cullen and then the Dubs would be minus their star player just because of the money involved. Under-age competitions, and by extension under-age players, would be seen as money makers more so than "good prospects". From a Galway perspective I would hate to see Joe Canning sold just because some other county desired him.

If the GAA go down the road of paying players, I believe that it will spell the end of the GAA.

Aido c

Kojak wrote:

It would also destroy the club scene leaving good club sides like Portumna without some of their (and Galway's) best players (i.e Ollie and Joe Canning, Damien Hayes).

Firstly - it will not destroy clubs, it will have the opposite effect. The club would become the basis if all GAA, (similar to the UK / Soccar). With intercounty becoming alot like International, I imagine with some players, who have a birthright (regardless of their club) coming togeter to play a championship late in the season. Maybe then we could get rid of this backdoor, the intercounty league would be finished (how bad ).

This is not such a shocking proposition, it is how it was in the beginning, Kerry oficially won the first all Ireland, but it was actually done by a Club called Ballyduff, with lots of help from Neighbouring clubmen from Lixnaw, Causway etc.

You would see clubs like Dr. Croke's becoming bigger, buying in players, based on revenue at the gate, this would obviously mean an improvement in 'Towny' teams, which is actually the opposite to what has been happening lately (witness all the inner town GAA pitches being sold, clubs like Mitchell's in Tralee unable to field teams)

Now, would that effect community - yes. No question. But, that said, lots of things are effecting community right now, free movement of labour etc., I am not going to get into that - this is not ment to be a sociological thread.

There will always be club teams, and bar teams, at underage level teams willing to put togeter a team for a game on the weekend for a laugh, unpaid, That will never change, it is still prevelant in soccar both here and the UK.

With respect Kojak, I do not think that inflamatory remarks like 'it would spell the end of the GAA' belong anywhere in debates like this one. See this is coming whether we like it or not. What we need to do is address it in the best way, not dismiss it and hope it goes away.

I say it has come, because there are large parts of our cities, unable to field GAA teams. Dublin have not won an All Ireland in years and they have one quarter of the population. How are you going to convince small kids growing up in Mayfield, that Roy Boy was mad to play soccar, and that they should focus on playing GAA.

Is it cool that Ronan O'Gara is building a house in Cork worth a million or so, while an equally famous GAA footballer I know lives with his mother in a housing estate in Killarney.

See the proof is in the pudding, would you encourage your kids to play GAA football in Kilkenny, or Hurling in Tyrone, or would you like them to play Rugby in Limerick ?

You should always have an open mind. I think the success or failure of this will be how its managed. F1, lost its soul when big money took over, as did the premiership, as a small country we have less chance of that happening, but it will all come down to how its managed. A simple spending cap could have prevented Chelsea's domination of the premiership right now.

We have a great model with Munster Rugby, have they lost their soul? lets at least look at it and hear the arguements.