Colm O’Rourke’s article today

The GAA has been in a state of flux for a while. Controversies abound.
Mickey Harte's comments on Cathal McShane's possible move to the AFL indicate a parochial attitude which still persists in many parts of the GAA.

No-one likes to lose players to Australia, but Harte would be better off wishing McShane well in his sporting pursuit and telling him that he is always welcome back to the Tyrone team. That same Tyrone team don't own him. McShane owes them nothing.

Would the attitude be any different if he went to work in New York or San Francisco? Or is it the prospect of him getting paid for playing which grates with so many?

There is not much being said about the number of players who are walking away from county teams. Many of these are from the weaker counties. These players are not fools. They realise that the league is a competition where they can make some progress, but the championship is a dead duck. Does Harte or any of the others who complain about players going to Australia have any feelings for this much larger group?

This problem is created and fostered by the GAA's fixture schedule and competitions structure, but there is very little done about it, maybe because most of those walking away are not well known. If the new proposals go through with the league and championship being flipped then there will be a response. It would be a start on the long road.


Of course there are other solutions to the problems of the present. Perhaps a semi-professional league would solve a lot of those problems at both club and county level. I suspect the GPA would be happy, even if they profess otherwise, and players would naturally be delighted to be paid for playing. Anyone who says otherwise is either stupid or brainwashed. Any man or woman is entitled to get paid for working if that is what playing football becomes.

Very many of us would not like to see the GAA travelling this road, but there are plenty of examples in other sports of how it has worked well. Aussie rules, which so many blame quite a few ills on, was in a similar position to the GAA 40 years ago. The game was largely based in Melbourne (with a population close to five million) and teams represented districts of the city such as Hawthorn, Fitzroy, North Melbourne, Collingwood, Essendon and so on. It was very popular and, like rugby in pre-professional times, players started to get money to play.


Eventually an all-Australian League was formed with teams in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and the Gold Coast. Money talked and players did not represent their districts anymore as the league and finances grew. Yet even though the teams were franchises or owned by supporters' clubs, the league has grown, crowds are huge and it is financially very healthy.

One of the reasons for this success is the salary cap. Every club can pay around $12.5m to a panel of 42 players. If one player gets $1m, the other 41 share $11.5m. This cap is rigidly enforced. The big money has come from TV rights - a six-year deal was struck in 2015 for $2.5bn.

The GAA could have a semi-professional league based on this model. County teams would disappear (many have to all intents and purposes) and there could be 12 or 14 teams who would all play each other during the season. Naturally there would be at least one Dublin side, maybe even two or three, and one in Kerry, Mayo, Galway, Tyrone and other centres where a team could be supported.

Their survival would depend on having a major sponsor and a good support base as each team would play six or eight home games every year.

County teams as we know them would disappear and only the best players would have a chance of getting a contract. The reality would be that 50 or 60 players playing in Dublin would be snapped up. Not just Brian Fenton, Ciaran Kilkenny, Brian Howard and Con O'Callaghan, but a whole host of other club players who do not get a look in at the moment.

Perhaps the final some day could be between Google North Dublin against Facebook Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown, or it could still be Meath v Kerry. Most teams would be based near the east coast where the population is growing rapidly. Home grounds would not be so important. In Melbourne there are matches every week and sometimes more than one in the MCG and Marvel Stadium. They are not as hung up on ownership as we are. Play the game and pay the rent rather than burying millions and millions in bricks and mortar. Put the money into the game is their motto.

This type of league has many advantages. First of all it would remove teams from under the auspices of county boards and save counties a fortune. More and more money is being wasted on county teams as the dog continues to chase his tail. Free from the burden of financing a county senior side which 95 per cent of the time goes nowhere, there would be an opportunity to develop the game properly at club and underage level, with greater funds available. There would be no fixture conflicts as the county players would no longer play with their clubs. The hassle over conflicts with the third level, under 20s and other competitions would instantly disappear as the county players focus on just one team. And young players would strive to get into the big league.

The key, as always, is money. For sure a better TV deal would be possible as a professional game would mean more TV channels would be interested. Games would be more competitive, at least after an initial settling in period as the weaker teams every year would get the first choices in the draft. Supporters clubs would flourish, as they do in Melbourne, where some have more than 100,000 members, and for a small fee they get tickets for matches at low prices, lower than we pay into championship matches in Croke Park. And bigger sponsors would get involved.

For many the thought of such a move is heresy. At the same time we have to face up to the fact that there is creeping professionalism anyway. One where some of the biggest bluffers in back-room teams get highly paid while the best players get nothing. Is that sustainable or even fair? We now have a system where the rich have nearly devoured the poor. If the GPA organised a strike among players from weaker counties to get proper treatment I might even support them.

Life is full of choices. Everyone in the GAA runs away from hard decisions. This is one choice which would solve a lot of problems and would mean that there would be no need for players to travel to Australia to play professionally. Mickey Harte would hardly approve of this either.

There is nothing wrong with a strictly amateur game so long as everyone plays by the same rules. I would still prefer a heavily-reformed GAA to this semi-professional model, but it would be better than what we have at present.

In the meantime, some will travel to Australia in pursuit of adventure as much as money. Good luck to them. There is nothing easy about making it down under and shooting the messenger won't stop the gentle trickle of talent making the hard voyage.