[Article] Pay-for-play on semi-professional basis is inevitable in GAA

munchkin_utd

Colm "Wooly" Parkinson (of off the ball fame) is proposing/ re-stating that players should have a cut of gates in a similar scheme to the player grants currently.

I watched a repeat of 'Pairc Life', a documentary on professionalism in the GAA, on Sunday evening. It is a topic that really interests me and one we have often covered on the show.

I was glad to see players like Seamus Hickey and Podge Collins admit they would like the GAA to go professional, however far-fetched the idea is. The GAA will never go full-time professional, that's obvious. It's just not sustainable in a small country like Ireland with no international dimension to our games.

That does not mean it can't go semi-professional. A full-time professional game should not be used as a scare tactic by those not wanting pay-for-play.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/off-the-ball/colm-parkinson-payforplay-on-semiprofessional-basis-is-inevitable-in-gaa-31530816.html

My opinion is somewhat divided.
The players at this stage are going beyond what you'd expect of an amateur player and they do generate large gate reciepts so it would be easily justifiable to give them a cut of the loot.
Its also ironic to see paid officials in the stand and paid security at games, yet the ones in the middle get not a cent.

On the other side,
should club players get a cut of their club recipts, or the countys club gate reciepts (which in turn leads to less cash for the funding of county teams and facilities and grants)
And if players get a cut, then why not the person who cuts the grass for free without whom the club couldnt play games, and you could go on.

its a hard one to figure out. Maybe the county players should get a cut of the gates but where does the domino effect end ?

bruschi

munchkin_utd wrote: »

Colm "Wooly" Parkinson (of off the ball fame) is proposing/ re-stating that players should have a cut of gates in a similar scheme to the player grants currently.


http://www.independent.ie/sport/off-the-ball/colm-parkinson-payforplay-on-semiprofessional-basis-is-inevitable-in-gaa-31530816.html

My opinion is somewhat divided.
The players at this stage are going beyond what you'd expect of an amateur player and they do generate large gate reciepts so it would be easily justifiable to give them a cut of the loot.
Its also ironic to see paid officials in the stand and paid security at games, yet the ones in the middle get not a cent.

On the other side,
should club players get a cut of their club recipts, or the countys club gate reciepts (which in turn leads to less cash for the funding of county teams and facilities and grants)
And if players get a cut, then why not the person who cuts the grass for free without whom the club couldnt play games, and you could go on.

its a hard one to figure out. Maybe the county players should get a cut of the gates but where does the domino effect end ?

to be honest, I think thats the least problematic issue of all. look at every professional sport, only the players signed up to teams at the level get paid. Soccer is professional. I play soccer, but I dont get paid. The domino effect quite clearly ends at county teams.

However, its the scale of the county teams. Football would be relatively easy to sort, every player in every county gets the same. If you cant start at that level, then there is no point starting talking about it. If I am a top player in a weak county, but think I could be paid more in a stronger one, then I would move to where I get paid more. So you cant have differences in pay between counties.

Hurling is an issue though, on the flip side. If I cant make a strong county, would I move to a weaker one and get paid there? So maybe have the pay scale on the level of competition.

It's an interesting debate, and one that wont ever go away.

Mehapoy

munchkin_utd wrote: »

Colm "Wooly" Parkinson (of off the ball fame) is proposing/ re-stating that players should have a cut of gates in a similar scheme to the player grants currently.


http://www.independent.ie/sport/off-the-ball/colm-parkinson-payforplay-on-semiprofessional-basis-is-inevitable-in-gaa-31530816.html

My opinion is somewhat divided.
The players at this stage are going beyond what you'd expect of an amateur player and they do generate large gate reciepts so it would be easily justifiable to give them a cut of the loot.
Its also ironic to see paid officials in the stand and paid security at games, yet the ones in the middle get not a cent.

On the other side,
should club players get a cut of their club recipts, or the countys club gate reciepts (which in turn leads to less cash for the funding of county teams and facilities and grants)
And if players get a cut, then why not the person who cuts the grass for free without whom the club couldnt play games, and you could go on.

its a hard one to figure out. Maybe the county players should get a cut of the gates but where does the domino effect end ?

Inter county is gone so professional nowadays with big backroom teams and 7 figures being spent in preparing teams, nearly everybody involved is getting monetary reward apart from the players who are delaying careers and pushing their bodies to the limit, often for no tangible reward

But if it happens at inter county it would happen at club level, obviously the sums would be a lot less, that would mean players would gravitate towards the bigger senior clubs leaving smaller clubs behind, and there will be clubs who will always over extend themselves in the pursuit of glory and threaten their own existense.

I think the amateur county boards can barely keep a lid on the whole thing as it is never mind trying to handle a fully semi pro setup...a far more pressing concern would be to tackle coach and manager payments which is driving a lot if the excesses we are seeing.

blue note

I'd love to see the players come together and agree to limit the level of commitment. The demands on them are crazy for an amateur game.

cson

Grants are the way to go I think; stage it out so the further you go, the more you get. The present county system wouldn't sustain a full professional set up imo.

Do the counties get any 'prize money' or the equivalent for winning Provincial/All Ireland? Something I've always wondered about.

Where the GAA have been especially wasteful imo is with the County stadia; mental the way the thinking is every County has to have a 20-30k stadium. In Connacht alone you've Pearse Stadium (26k), MacHale Park (38k), Hyde Park (20k) and Markievicz Park (18.5k). Some serious money spent on those considering the amount of games they host.

TCDStudent1

munchkin_utd wrote: »

Colm "Wooly" Parkinson (of off the ball fame) is proposing/ re-stating that players should have a cut of gates in a similar scheme to the player grants currently.


http://www.independent.ie/sport/off-the-ball/colm-parkinson-payforplay-on-semiprofessional-basis-is-inevitable-in-gaa-31530816.html

My opinion is somewhat divided.
The players at this stage are going beyond what you'd expect of an amateur player and they do generate large gate reciepts so it would be easily justifiable to give them a cut of the loot.
Its also ironic to see paid officials in the stand and paid security at games, yet the ones in the middle get not a cent.

On the other side,
should club players get a cut of their club recipts, or the countys club gate reciepts (which in turn leads to less cash for the funding of county teams and facilities and grants)
And if players get a cut, then why not the person who cuts the grass for free without whom the club couldnt play games, and you could go on.

its a hard one to figure out. Maybe the county players should get a cut of the gates but where does the domino effect end ?

There was a time I was staunchly against players being paid. However, in the last couple of years, my mind has slowly changed. I agree with Parkinson - professionalism will never be sustainable in the gaa. However in the last few years, it has become more obvious to me just how many people make a lot of money out of matches. I was in quinns pub before the hurling semi final this year and they'd hired a guy just to keep a pathway clear through the pub - they were that busy! I got the train to drumcondra for that match and Irish rail had hired extra ticket inspectors to deal with the crowds! Even the guys selling headbands and flags are making money out of it. That's just 3 examples of people / companies making money out of big matches and it's all on the back of these players. It just seems wrong to me. I wouldn't even go as far as semi-professionalism. I'd be more inclined to give the players a token for their effort rather than call it semi-professionalism. I'd like to see the players from the 4 semi finalists in both codes get 500 - 1000 euro each. Just something to reward the top players in our sport. That may not seem like much but (26*1000) * 4 = 104000 * 2 = 208000. That's quite a sum of money for the gaa to come up with!

threeball

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

There was a time I was staunchly against players being paid. However, in the last couple of years, my mind has slowly changed. I agree with Parkinson - professionalism will never be sustainable in the gaa. However in the last few years, it has become more obvious to me just how many people make a lot of money out of matches. I was in quinns pub before the hurling semi final this year and they'd hired a guy just to keep a pathway clear through the pub - they were that busy! I got the train to drumcondra for that match and Irish rail had hired extra ticket inspectors to deal with the crowds! Even the guys selling headbands and flags are making money out of it. That's just 3 examples of people / companies making money out of big matches and it's all on the back of these players. It just seems wrong to me. I wouldn't even go as far as semi-professionalism. I'd be more inclined to give the players a token for their effort rather than call it semi-professionalism. I'd like to see the players from the 4 semi finalists in both codes get 500 - 1000 euro each. Just something to reward the top players in our sport. That may not seem like much but (26*1000) * 4 = 104000 * 2 = 208000. That's quite a sum of money for the gaa to come up with!

If you really want to drive a wedge between the haves and have nots in the GAA thats the way to do it. 208k is pittance to the association but it would be the worst spent money in history tearing the association in two.
Having 32 semi pro teams in the current format is not possible. The numbers will need to decrease and the entire championship/league set up changed to make it viable but it will happen as theres no way the game will go backwards or that the players will continue to do it for nothing.