Advertisement
Páirc Life producer and director Jacqui Hurley. Ryan Byrne/INPHO
Pairc Life

'Podge says even the fellas selling hot dogs are getting paid on All-Ireland final day'

Jacqui Hurley’s ‘Páirc Life’ airs on Tuesday evening and features some interesting contributions on the GAA’s ‘pay for play’ debate.

JACQUI HURLEY’S EAGERLY-anticipated documentary examining the potential for professionalism in the GAA will be screened on Tuesday evening at 9pm on RTÉ 2.

The station’s sports presenter produced and directed the show which gathered opinion from players, managers and administrators for a fascinating look at the GAA’s changing landscape.

Pay-for-play and player welfare are the big themes in ‘Páirc Life,’ directed by Wicklow native Darragh Bambrick.

“Everybody has an opinion on this,” Hurley told The42.

“I find from talking to people, whether they’re staunch GAA people or whether they’re my mates down in the pub, the one thing they kept saying was ‘I can’t believe they do all this and they don’t get paid, how do they keep committing?’

RTÉ2 / YouTube

“I thought it was about time that people took those questions and put them into a documentary that find some answers. You’re not going to find all the answers but it was time to raise the subject to a national platform.”

Hurley has canvassed opinion from GAA stars Pádraic ‘Podge’ Collins from Clare, Leitrim’s Emlyn Mulligan, Limerick hurler Seamus Hickey and retired Armagh footballer Aaron Kernan.

GAA Director General Pauric Duffy also puts forward his opinions and Wexford camogie star Mags D’Arcy discusses her battle to recover from injury.

Dual player Collins, a 2013 All-Ireland senior hurling medallist with Clare, acknowledges that it would be difficult to formulate a model whereby all intercounty players would be paid, considering how the GAA is currently run.

But he believes that the players constantly filling stadiums should reap some rewards for their efforts.

“He says even the fellas selling hot dogs are getting paid on All-Ireland final day, and the players aren’t,” Hurley says.

“That’s the reality – they’re giving so much and getting so little in return. You will always say they do it for the pride of the jersey but how long can you do that for?

Seamus Hickey is saying, ‘look, would I love to get paid? Of course I would but it’s not that simple.’

“He realises that in the bigger picture, it’s not sustainable.

“There’s a lot of different views. Emlyn Mulligan, on the other hand, is saying that he wouldn’t like to get paid.”

Former Republic of Ireland soccer international Stephen Hunt is also featured on the documentary.

“He was quite critical of GAA players in the past, saying that he didn’t think they’d be able for the professional life,” says Hurley.

“We went with him to spend a couple of days and see what the professional life was.

RTÉ Sport / YouTube

“I don’t know if the professional life is what it would be cracked up to be for GAA players.

“It’s hard, what he does. He lives away from his family for three nights a week.

“He gets paid a lot of money but there’s a dark side as well, which I think you see in the documentary.”

Offaly senior footballer Brian Darby was also put through a series of rigorous fitness tests for the purposes of the show – and scored highly.

“He’s proven that he’s as fit as a professional athlete, which is really cool,” Hurley adds.

“It’s incredible to think he has 9 per cent body fat and can cover 5 metres in 0.92 seconds. That’s right up there with what Ronaldo can do. What shines through from the documentary is how much they all love the game.

“Mags D’Arcy is saying how people are speaking about the men’s game and how it’s gone crazy but the women’s game is unrecognisable from what it was.

RTÉ Sport / YouTube

“I wouldn’t have thought that the demands would be as heavy on the women but what I found from talking to Mags is that their demands have gone out of control as well. This is a very real problem for everybody.

“Pauric Duffy’s saying that as long as we’re trying to sustain the club game and keep everybody happy, there’s absolutely no way that this can go professional.

“A lot of it is about trying to help players for what we can now and what we can do for player welfare. A good section in the middle of the documentary deals with that.”

We’re looking forward to this one.

All-Ireland final referee battled through intense personal grief at Croke Park

Minding a bad back, Kilkenny’s appetite and chasing that midfield jersey

Your Voice
Readers Comments
24
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.