GAA director general Páraic Duffy intends to address the payment of managers in the coming year to safeguard the amateur status of the association.
At the launch of the GAA's Annual Report (the full text of which is available at the bottom of this page), he highlighted the issue as one of the most pressing for the association and revealed his intention to establish a committee with a brief to examine and prompt debate on the issue.
"There is more than enough anecdotal evidence to allow us to conclude that, while managers and coaches give generously of their time, some are accepting payment in excess of what is permitted under rule to manage and coach teams at club and inter-county level," Duffy said in the report.
He continued: “What, then, should be done? The least acceptable option is to continue to proclaim a value and, at the same time, ignore it. And expressing a determination to address the issue (genuine as the intention may be) is meaningless unless followed by effective action.
“I believe it is time to call on the expertise available to us and establish a committee to examine the current situation with a view to bringing forward proposals in late 2010 that will allow a debate throughout the Association on the best way to deal with this difficult problem.”
Duffy also intends to look at the matter of match bans as opposed to time-based suspensions.
As it stands, the “irregular nature of fixture scheduling” means that a four-week ban, “the most common in our games”, is often redundant because it “leads to a situation where many players effectively do not miss even a single game”.
The report looks back on the historic 125th year of the GAA, in which Croke Park delivered a record €58.5 million in dividends, but Duffy ruled out generating more revenue by going down the route of "subscription" television deals.
Such a step, he said, would contradict the GAA's "policy of utilising television coverage as a promotional vehicle for our games".
Below, in three parts, is the full text of the report delivered on Monday, March 22nd.
[ GAA Annual Report 2010 - Part One ]