STAGING THE ALL-Ireland finals on the August Bank Holiday weekend and condensing the provincial championships are some of the proposals that the new GAA Club Players Association feel can help the current problems which are crippling club players all over the country.
The new organisation was officially launched this morning in Ballyboden St-Enda’s GAA club in Dublin with ex inter-county footballers like Armagh’s Aaron Kernan, Cork’s Derek Kavanagh, Dublin’s Kevin Nolan and Donegal’s Martin McHugh involved along with recently retired Dublin hurler Niall Corcoran and Wexford’s 1996 All-Ireland winning manager Liam Griffin.
Monaghan man Declan Brennan, the secretary and founder of the CPA, outlined in a passionate speech how it is crucial that the inter-county season is shortened.
He insists that in order to sort out the club fixtures mess that players face, the All-Ireland finals must be brought ‘way back’ from their traditional September dates and explained his own personal preference would be to schedule them on the August Bank Holiday weekend.
The new group believes that the shortening of the provincial championships is vital. They point out the current flaws whereby the winner of the Ulster senior football championship can play a maximum of four games in nine weeks and how Kilkenny have won All-Ireland titles, playing four games between May and September.
‘We feel this is as an important a day as when the association was formed,” stated Brennan.
The Clontibret native also insisted that there would be ‘no jobs for the boys’ in their new organisation and that they were motivated by passion and a desire to change.
To register for the CPA, go to www.gaaclubplayers.com.
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