Professionalism in the GAA

Mighty_Mouse

I honestly don't think many people favour it. Even amongst players. Personally Im all for players been taken care off in every possible way. Be it through tax breaks, good jobs, gym memberships, even car's if they can get em, sponsorship if they can get it. All the stuff that's happening already. I have no problem with seeing it across the board, and out in the open. However once you make the step to full blown professionalism the game is ruined at a grassroots level.

In the wake of the croke park debate which personally I believe is a related arument heres an interesting article on how things have fared in rugby:

25 September 2005 By Tom McGurk

It's exactly 10 years now since the International Rugby Board (IRB), the organisation that controls world rugby, decided to drop the old amateur status of the game.

After more than 100 years of amateurism the IRB bowed to the incessant pressure from the southern hemisphere, the satellite television channels and other vested interest and declared the professional age.

A decade on, there is now a unique opportunity to see the impact that professionalism has had. Of most interest, of course, is the impact it had on Irish rugby and the future of the game here. Among rugby playing nations, our numbers and resources are tiny and from the outset there was real concern that we might be swept away in the professional tide.



To give credit where credit is due, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), unlike their Welsh and Scottish counterparts, responded imaginatively and spontaneously to the new scenario. They quickly realised that by using the four provincial sides as the basis for the new professional era they could maximise their limited resources. Importantly too, they moved to bring home the increasing numbers of players who had left to play in Britain.

An elite and small group of players were contracted as full-time professionals around the national and provincial sides and high standards of coaching and preparation were demanded.

By any standards it has been a wholly successful ten years. The national side has had its most successful run ever, and led by Munster the provincial sides have been outstanding in Europe. We have also been blessed in that a number of hugely influential rugby coaches and players came along in recent years.

At the end of this season if everything goes to plan the old Lansdowne Road stadium, the oldest in international rugby, will be razed and a new 50,000-seater stadium will be built. Indeed, when the wrecking ball swings and starts the demolition of the old West Stand, there will be a prevailing sense that nothing will ever be quite the same again.

With its corporate boxes, it's all-seater stands and a game being played by professionals utterly unlike the old amateur game, the new Lansdowne will truly signal a new era.

As we enter the next decade after amateurism, there are increasing signs that the incessant demands of the professional game are beginning to seriously impact on the game worldwide.

In Ireland the basis of the game was between the schools and the clubs. They were the nurseries out of which each new generation of players came. At schools level, the numbers of players who continue to play the game afterwards is shrinking.

There are many reasons, including the onset of different lifestyles, but there can be no denying that the demands for training and playing are such that only the most determined will remain.

Once the demands of senior club rugby - especially among the junior sides - were not much more than an enjoyable two nights training plus a few pints with the lads. Those days are over. The physical and fitness demands of the professional era are such that a full-time commitment is required. Fewer and fewer young players are prepared to make this commitment, as it also entails implications for their work careers.

The crisis within the clubs, the next level in the game, is increasingly evident.

The paucity of playing members and the incessant cost demands has hit the clubs hard in the last decade. Many of Ireland's once most famous rugby clubs are a mere shadow of their former selves. Still largely surviving on the goodwill of the golden oldies, many that once put our five or six junior 15s out on a Saturday, can now barely scrape two or three teams together.

Nor has the crisis between national, provincial and club representation ever been resolved. For large spells of the Celtic League the provincial sides have to field teams minus their international players and nowadays internationals are never seen on the club pitch. But what is most worrying is that we are still living off the talent produced by the last years of the amateur era - and it's very difficult to see another generation ahead.

For example, Ireland has a dearth of young front-row players. And where is the next generation of halfbacks to come from? The input of foreign players and coaches into the Irish game has to date been very beneficial, but increasingly now the Irish provinces are strengthening their pools not with new Irish talent but with imported players.

Where will players come from?

That will be the fundamental question in the next decade. The professional player is increasingly an international journeyman, whose final loyalty is to wherever he can earn the largest pay packet. The problem is that with up to a 100 southern hemisphere professionals in need of jobs outside their off-season - which is our season - the extent to which they now become involved in both Irish and European rugby is critical.

Add to this the ability of say the wealthiest French clubs like Toulouse or Biarritz or Stade Francais to buy international players and we could soon have the Chelsea/Manchester United syndrome at work in Heineken Cup rugby.

As in other professional sports, the ability of big money to buy success may in the next decade utterly change the face of European rugby. As less and less new native talent appears and more and more overseas players are brought in to fill the gaps, the long-term future of Irish rugby becomes more and more uncertain.

With shrinking natural and money resources and with increased competition from the big spenders, the Irish performance of the last ten years may take some repeating in the future. Already the next impending battle may be about nationality qualifications as more and more of the second string southern hemisphere players seek to end up playing in the colours of the second string international sides.

The decisions made between the sometimes conflicting demands of the ethos of the game and the pressure of money will determine what the game will be like in another ten years. And whether Ireland can still compete at the highest level.

Culchie

Cheers, good article.

One Stat I heard quoted a couple of months back (Sorry can't remember who said it, but it was an interview on Newstalk or something) was that in the Zurich Premiership since Rugby turned professional that at any one time, 50% of players are injured. Can you believe that ... 50% !

jacksie

Im a player. and im totally against, when you play for money people get greedy and start diving etc, it ruins everything//. It would be much easier to dive in GAA but its about prode so people dont. Thank CHRISTy.

Blackjack

I don't think professionalism would work. All that would happen you'd have a Chelsea syndrome appearing in the game with the lesser clubs not being able to attract any decent players.
Would have a knock on effect of killing the inter-county championship as well.

Iceman_5000

The only thing that isn't professional about the game today is that the palyers are not getting paid.

At a Croker game over the summer every member of staff was getting paid in the building from the cooks to the Guards..... everyone except for the people that are putitng on the show..

cournioni

Iceman_5000 wrote:

The only thing that isn't professional about the game today is that the palyers are not getting paid.

At a Croker game over the summer every member of staff was getting paid in the building from the cooks to the Guards..... everyone except for the people that are putitng on the show..

Very true, but the players are playing for the love of the game. That is something the GAA would want to keep. Once players start getting paid, they would start playing for the money which would ruin the game.

Expenses for intercounty players should be covered, but nothing more.

Eddie Brennan

Iceman_5000 wrote:

The only thing that isn't professional about the game today is that the palyers are not getting paid.

At a Croker game over the summer every member of staff was getting paid in the building from the cooks to the Guards..... everyone except for the people that are putitng on the show..

you a bit wrong there. 90% of the stewards dont get paid. they volunteer. thats roughly about 150 people. and how many GAA players get to play there! Would they only pay players that play there! Matches in every county in Irekland would have to be attracting a lot oif people to support professional players! those numbers dont exist!

netwhizkid

Professionalism would ruin the game, Just look at the great All-Ireland final Kerry V Tyrone was, (although Kerry lost, it's like a bridge i got over it) I am sure that that level would not even be attained had it been a professional sport. Professional sport are generally about money not pride, Pride is a much greater motivator, and will drive any player to try harder, It's like a war without weapons. "love thy neighbour, but make sure and hammer them in the match first" That sort of friendly rivalry is drives GAA and professionalism would ruin it.*

* thats only my opinion.

Flukey

We've often had this debate. I think the players should be looked after but there should never be pay for play. It would destroy the game as we know it. The passion we see on the pitch comes from the love of the team, the club, the county, the jersey, the supporters, but never the euro. It's a real passion, fuelled by something money can't buy. Many English soccer managers have brought their players here to see the passion the GAA players play with, even though they don't get paid, and then ask their own players to play with that passion. You've got guys in the likes of professional soccer or rugby, getting paid huge sums, that can never raise the passion in their play that the GAA players play with. Anyway, most GAA players are already professional: professional doctors, professional farmers, professional publicans, professional businessmen etc. etc. etc.

Guy:Incognito

PORNAPSTER wrote:

Very true, but the players are playing for the love of the game. That is something the GAA would want to keep. .

Of course they would, much more money is to be made from slave labour than actually having to pay the people who earn you your money in the first place.

Although whether a game only played in one country (and a small one at that) could sustain its own professional sport is debatable.

I dont think it would have a huge effect on Inter county championship as this would become the equivelant of internationals in football. Although the players being free to have their own sponsorship and earning other non wage based income should be encouraged, they should be allowed to sell themselves as much as possible to support themselves. Plus ending things like monopolies (o'neill's ) is a good thing.

Imposter

There is not enough money in the GAA for it to be professional. As it stands at the moment it has the best mix that is possible imo. Club football is not big enough to sustain a professional setup. Inter-county football in it's current state wouldn't sustain professional teams. Money also needs to be filtered back in at grass roots to develop the games further.

The current situation where players get expenses and can now work out their own sponsorship deals is a good thing. Another very important consideration, in my view, is that a lot of elite players get their careers as a result of contacts they have made through the sports. This gives them a decent career as well as a job that is flexible enough to allow them to play at inter-county level and perhaps more importantly a career to continue with when their sporting careers are finished.

Making the sport professional would mean a league based system would be needed. Counties who can afford to pay more would be able to get players to transfer to them (with the current transfer rules at least) creating an unfair system. Would people still turn out in the same numbers if each team plays 7-10 matches every year? What about more matches? Could that number of matches sustain 25-30 people on full wages? I don't think so.

mchurl

i don't think that the gaa should become professional but the players should definetly be better looked after.

They should be able to have sponsors on their boots etc. so at least they are getting some sort of aaa financial reward for their efforts.

But, alas, u can't start paying players a basic wage as this will lead to the pride in the jersey and the honour of representing your county or club in croke park disappearing.

It would be to the detriment of our great games.:rolleyes: