Time to clamp down on the pay for play Summer Junket in America?

I found this an interesting piece by Martin Breheny in the Indo last week on the issue of inter-county players heading off to America for the Summer to 'work', ie, get paid for playing Gaelic games out there. IMO, it makes a nonsense of having a split season, when a lot of club championships still start in August, because of absent players, and won't finish till October. Mayo are out of the championship since June but their club championship doesn't start till the middle of August. Breheny suggests that any players playing in the US should be barred from playing for their club for the rest of the year. They can still go if they like, but it might put stop to the farce of there being no club games in many counties in the height of Summer.

Gusser09

He is spot on. If you play in America in june/july you should be barred from playing for your home club that year.

Witcher

'Oh no, they're making money on their own time...but...but..the Grab All Association aren't getting a cut..how dare they'

Eoinbmw

Let them at it! playing all year for sweet F A they deserve a chance to earn a few quid playing the game!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122400669#Comment_122400669

Shouldn't the day job be taking care of that considering the amateur code of the GAA?

CramCycle

Silly article, those players are not the ones dictating when games are scheduled. It is certainly not the reason for a lack of club games during the summer and conflating the two is nonsense. If they schedule games at the times these players are away will they return, will their clubs let them play if they haven't been to training and so on. Anyway, of all the issues in the GAA, a few players going abroad to make money from their natural talents is not one of them and if it was, it is up to the local club to decide if they have not put in the effort or the county to appropriately schedule games.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122400820#Comment_122400820

Hmm, you can't rule out that some counties do delay their championships if what are considered key players are absent for their clubs. To make sure this excuse can't be trotted out, why not do what Breheny suggests, and bar players if need be? Plus, what's the point of the split season if counties are still running off their championships so late? I can't see why the All-Ireland can't be pushed back into August at least, because one of the main reasons given for the existence of the split season ("whatabout the clubs") is a nonsense tbh.

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122400930#Comment_122400930

I get what you are saying but if a county is pushing back games for specific clubs then there are bigger issues at play. I just don't get the point in barring players. Banning players is nothing but petty sh1te. What counties are pushing games back so late that it is making a difference. This has to be a very small niche of players who are at county level, and are in counties where you are out early enough that you are attractive and that the county board is willing to adjust fixtures to suit you. Far more likely to have younger, borderline county players getting sucked up in their younger years.

How many would come back just for club games unless they had a real shot at county or a final, so that narrows it again, and a lot of clubs won't put them on unless they were out training with them anyway.

flasher0030

Such a begrudging article. Something positive happens like players finally getting an opportunity to make a few bob from the game, and naysayers try to shoot it down.

Coming out with the amateur line was ok for the game 30 years ago. Players did a bit of training, the elite made it to intercounty, but it wasn't extreme. Now, intercounty (and probably playing senior football in general) consumes a players life - diet, exercise, field training, gym, socialising with friends. I think it is great if they can get something small back in return.

Let them off, they’re only young once. There’s absolutely nothing stopping the county boards from staging the championships without these players. Let the players make their own decisions.

joebloggs32

A lot of the big counties are scheduling their championships to start in August in case they reach the latter stages of the All Ireland championships. This gives certainty to clubs who are preparing for the championship. If Galway or Armagh, Clare and Cork had scheduled club games for this month or even Donegal/Kerry, and Limerick/Kilkenny had games they would have had to rip up thrir fixture list and start again. The club players would then have to recalibrate for a new start date.

Its also worth pointing out that you cant really expect club championships to start a wedk after the county team finishes up. You would want a minimum of two if not three weeks to allow the county players a little break and then bed back in with their club team.

i haven't read Brehony's article. Haven’t read anything by him in years as he really is a dose. Its probably just an attempt to have another knock at the split season in a roundabout way.

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122427028#Comment_122427028

Or you just play games in championships for the majority of players and not hold up any more time to acco7nt for 1% of the players

CCounty championships should most certainly be able to take place even a week after a county is knocked out. You can't hold up games for one player.

joebloggs32

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122427034#Comment_122427034

You cant penalise clubs who.produce players for their county teams.

BandMember

Martin Breheny, a bitter fool who just churns out the same articles every year and has had nothing new or valid to say in over 30 years still has anyone reading his BS - let alone debating it? Jesus wept!

Everyone in the GAA gets something bar the players. I have no issue whatsoever with any player reaping any reward(s) for the countless hours over a couple of decades to get where they are actually getting some compensation for this. More power to them and the figures are tiny compared to what they have invested of themselves.

threeball

Stupid Article. Most counties time their club championships to align with the provincial timetable so their eventual champions aren't sitting on their hands for 2 months waiting for their next game.

It'll all kick off in the next 2 weeks and anyone that was supposed to be there will be there with 2 months in America under their belt rather than two months pulling their plum only to meet an opponent with the momentum of winning a county title 2 weeks ago.

Lost Ormond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122427044#Comment_122427044

Maybe do something then for majority of players whose prime games of year are held up for one or two players in many cases. Create a better system so you don't penalise thousands of players because of the tiny pwrcentage who play inter county

joebloggs32

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122428417#Comment_122428417

Im all ears.....whats your proposal to "do something".

I played on a club team with lads who won multiple All Ireland senior titles. I can guarantee you there was no way we would have played championship games without our county players. Many years we would have had 5 or 6 players involved with the county senior team. If we had to field without those lads in a championship game we would have had a completely different team that would have been far weaker.

Many counties can and do run leagues to keep the club players active and teams will field without their county players in these, but championship is championship and there is now way in the world that a club team should ever beput in a position to field a team without their county a players.

griffin100

Reminds me of this article from a few years ago - https://m.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/joe-brolly-likens-gaa-stars-to-indentured-slaves-and-calls-for-massive-overhaul-of-fixture-system/30888054.html

People like Breheny have really lost the run of themselves if they think they can dictate where and how players can make a living.