THE GAELIC PLAYERS Association has promised to be ‘organised and mobilised’ for ‘any eventuality’ in the event that a charter for female inter-county players isn’t delivered soon.
An agreement was reached in July to deliver a charter for female inter-county players in time for 2024 but the GPA has reported little progress in the meantime.
A charter already exists for male inter-county players, setting out minimum standards, expenses and entitlements.
According to a GPA statement last July, an agreement had been reached to put one in place for female players and with a request for ‘funding support for the GAA for the charter implementation’.
Now with just weeks until female county squads reconvene for pre-season training, GPA chief executive Tom Parsons said players fear ‘this isn’t going to be implemented’.
The GPA held it’s AGM last weekend and Parsons said the strong message from both male and female inter-county players was that this needs to be sorted immediately.
“The closer we get to the return to training without confirmation of funding flows and a charter, the more players are feeling that this isn’t going to be implemented,” said Parsons.
“They are standing together now and have instructed us how to start getting the reps and captains together again in terms of 2024.
“I would say there is a risk of an increase in (protest) activity now in 2024 if there is not a charter in place.”
GPA finance chief Ciaran Barr, the former Antrim hurling captain, hinted that a withdrawal of services beyond 31 December could even be on the cards.
“We will be organised and we will be ready to mobilise,” said Barr. “We will be organised. We are not going to tell you what we are going to do but we are preparing ourselves to be organised for any eventuality – any eventuality.”
The other big talking point from the GPA’s post-AGM press briefing was the strong push to get rid of pre-season competitions.
A whopping 90% of GPA members at the AGM in Portlaoise voted to support ‘the removal of pre-season competitions’.
Former Mayo midfielder Parsons said that it is a ‘player welfare’ issue at this stage.
Some pre-season fixtures have already been drawn up though Parsons said it’s not too late to clear out the upcoming January schedule.
Asked if players might boycott pre-season matches, Parsons said:
“I don’t know. I feel if the reps decide collectively that we need to influence change, they might. A number of players might decide to opt out. It comes back then to showing frustration on the ground. We hope this is listened to and that the player welfare committee in the GAA starts showing leadership.”
The official return to training date for inter-county teams is November 24. Parsons said it’s no secret that some counties will break that rule and get back even earlier with pre-season fixtures in place for early January.
He claimed that if penny pinching GAA officials had their way, they ‘would have players return to training on the 15th of December to play a competitive game on the 1st of January’.
“Why would they see six weeks of no games or eight weeks of no games as a waste of time? Because it doesn’t generate any money,” he said. “It’s costing money.
“It should be, ‘Here is a six or eight-week window where you prepare without games to get ready for this high intense National League activity’. It would reduce the amount of injuries we’re seeing in players.”
