Ban on outside managers `discriminatory'

Prohibiting managers from crossing county boundaries would unduly penalise weaker counties, according to former GAA president Peter Quinn who chaired the amateur status committee whose report is the basis of the current rules on amateurism.

The move is under consideration along with other measures to eliminate payments to managers in breach of those amateurism provisions. "I think it would be financially effective," he says, "but it would also have the effect of discriminating against weaker counties."

Quinn also revealed that his committee had considered allowing the payment of managers when drawing up its landmark report of four years ago.

Arguments were advanced in favour of the move that was ultimately rejected. The issue is again in the public eye as the GAA have decided to establish a committee to investigate payments to managers and coaches.

"The view was advanced and considered," he says, "but we felt it was very difficult to sustain the case in a situation where players weren't being paid and most county officials weren't being paid. Then you'd be saying that managers were in a category of their own."

The argument has been made by weaker counties that they depend on outside management because they lack the local resources to provide their own coaches. Des Quinn, the Leitrim chairman, proposed a motion at the 1997 special congress, which accepted the amateur status report, calling on the GAA to recognise the difference between players and managers.

He pointed out that good managers - particularly in smaller counties - performed a vital service in, not alone maximising the prospects of a limited playing resource, but also through their efforts promoting the game amongst children and the wider population.

Leitrim's motion was lost, but Peter Quinn sympathises with the need for outside assistance. "I would accept that totally. There is a need for a level of experience that just isn't there in certain counties. Weaker counties don't have it.

"In my own playing days, a team manager arrived from an outside county with a successful track record. He brought a bit of know-how and we won five championships. Our players were no better in 1969 than in '68."

GAA president Sean McCague is a long-time advocate of putting a stop to unauthorised payments and the decision of the management committee to establish an investigative body to look into the matter is his initiative.

Although there will be no announcement on the membership of this five-man committee, it is believed that Leinster Council chairman Seamus Aldridge, GAA trustee Jimmy Dunne and Dublin Central Council delegate Gerry Brady, also a member of the management committee, and Ulster Council chairman Danny Murphy are all to be appointed.

Their activities will continue the work undertaken by a number of other bodies, the audit and later financial management sub-committees of the management committee.

Two years ago, the latter subcommittee stated "when analysing county board accounts, the committee are keeping a watchful eye on team administration expenses to ensure that counties are adhering to the amateur ethos of the association".

The amateur status committee also investigated the matter of illegal payments and Quinn's frustrations with his investigation's lack of progress have been in the public arena for a long time. "I'm not saying that it's impossible to track down these type of payments but I'd have to say that we didn't find it possible. These sort of payments invariably are made by people outside the association who come to arrangements with managers.

"When the individual then goes to the county board and says, `all I want is 30 pence a mile', they can either call him a liar or accept what he's saying."

Given that the phenomenon of the supporters' clubs has largely subsided since the GAA stipulated that such support groups must be answerable to the relevant county board and involve the county treasurer, independent financial assistance to county teams is even more hidden than it used to be.

Short of acquiring the powers of a tribunal of inquiry to examine the bank accounts of the individuals or companies and managers, there would appear to be little chance of the new committee faring any better than its predecessors.

The Revenue Commissioners have the requisite powers to scrutinise such records, but, according to their press office, there are no plans to conduct an investigation into the area.

"There wouldn't be a particular interest in the work of this committee. There is a general interest in everyone declaring earnings and paying their correct taxes, but as of yet this area is not being targeted."