GAELIC PLAYERS ASSOCIATION [GPA] head Tom Parsons has called for increased resources for out of pocket inter-county players, warning that the very amateur status of the GAA could be at stake.

Speaking at the launch of a fresh report which revealed that county players incur an average net expense loss of €4,602 per year, Parsons said the government and GAA has arrived at ‘an important juncture’.

The players chief said that ‘if we want to protect the amateur status in 10 years’ time’ then action needs to be taken in the short-term to improve the lot of players.

The report, titled ‘Assessment of economic and social impacts of inter-county Gaelic football, camogie and hurling players in Ireland’, noted that county players generate a total economic impact of EUR591m annually.

Yet players still end up significantly out of pocket, are ‘ €1,499 worse off than in 2018′ in terms of reimbursement of expenses and lose ‘out on  €3,500 annually in potential overtime earnings’ due to their county activity.

According to the report, players are also ‘experiencing a €5,200 negative impact annual on their income’.

With those findings in mind, it is perhaps no surprise that just 59% of county players surveyed in 2024 said they were ‘content with the amateur status’ of the game, a significant drop from 71% in 2023.

Parsons said it is important that the government and governing bodies act now to respond to players’ needs and avoid a potential ‘revolt’ further down the line which could threaten that amateur status.

“A lot more needs to be done and my fear is that the next generation, five or 10 years, that if we don’t catch up and really look at the value proposition for players, then it would be awful to look back in 10 years’ time and say, ‘How did we lose that cultural heritage, where did we lose that, why did players revolt and decide to stop playing?’” said Parsons.

“We have an opportunity now with the government and the governing bodies to really look at the value proposition and to ensure that players think, ‘Yeah, I’m thriving in my career, there’s an investment in player development, an investment in player welfare, there’s a really good bursary programme, there’s a meaningful expense system and we’re treated equally and fairly, everything is transparent’. I think we really need to look at that.”

The GPA is currently in negotiations with the GAA regarding the funding it receives from Croke Park and the report will inevitably buttress their argument for greater resourcing.

Parsons said it’s about ‘fairness’ for county players who should be able to arrive at a ‘net zero’ cost for representing their county.

Linking it back to the amateur status issue, Parsons claimed that players will ultimately start to think, ‘If I’m going to give so much, what’s the return?’

“If we want to protect the amateur status in 10 years’ time, this is an important juncture where the government and the governing bodies really need to look at, how can we create a value proposition where players are net zero?” said the former Mayo midfielder. “So it’s not costing them. So it’s net zero and we’ve created an environment where there’s an investment in their careers, their education is thriving. For example, that student athletes don’t have to have a part-time job in a bar on a Saturday night if they’re going to be playing in front of 82,000 people in Croke Park.”

Parsons suggested pooling the money generated from sponsorship logos on the sleeves of jerseys and ring-fencing it for player welfare.

Tyrone goalkeeper Niall Morgan, a co-chair of the GPA’s National Executive Committee, said that if he were starting out now with Tyrone, he couldn’t afford to play. Morgan knocked a semi-professional soccer career in the Irish League on the head to play for Tyrone in 2013.

“I couldn’t afford to be a student now and to play county football,” he explained. “On the other hand, I’d got an Irish League wage and being a number one goalkeeper I know I’d be able to afford a better life if I was playing soccer. I actually have that written down in my notes here for today.

“If I was to be put in the same position, at 20 years of age I think I was when I was asked (to join Tyrone), I think I would be pushing it back at least four years and I’d be saying, ‘You know what, I’ll finish university and then I’ll revisit this’. I know as a student I wouldn’t have been able to afford this.”

Morgan explained that he supplemented his income from soccer with an evening job in a bookmakers to put himself through college. The 33-year-old said he was three stone lighter when he first joined the Tyrone panel and spent large amounts of money on food bulking up, again leaving him out of pocket.

“You want players to say, ‘Do you know what, I’m happy, this is a fair deal, I’m happy with this equation’,” said Parsons. “But at the minute, I don’t know.”