Dessie Farrell says GPA facing “serious funding challenges”

The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) are facing "serious funding challenges" as demand increases for the player welfare services currently offered to the senior intercounty playing body.

GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell, speaking at the launch of the Association's annual report for 2014, also warned of the increasing need to address player burnout, particularly at a younger age, although there has been some "overreaction" to the issue in recent weeks.

Total GPA revenue for the year ending 2013 was €3.7 million, of which 49 per cent (around €1.8 million) came from central GAA funding: 23 per cent (€850,000) came from Government funding (for the player grant scheme); 14 per cent (€510,000) came from GPA fundraising; and the other 14 per cent (€51,000) from GPA commercial activity.

The GPA’s current five-year partnership deal with the GAA finishes at the end of the year, and negotiations will soon begin to improve that deal beyond 2015, against the backdrop of the increasing demand on player welfare services.

“There will be challenges, no doubt, but there will also be opportunities for both the GPA and the GAA and we’ll use the current agreement as a platform to build an even better agreement next time around,” said Farrell.

The table

“Funding is always a challenge. It’s a challenge for the GAA, a challenge for us, it’s a challenge for everyone. The level of ambition we have within the organisation, to grow and develop and do more for players and ultimately our games, is huge, so I think funding will definitely be on the table again this year.”

In the first year of the agreement, in 2011, the GAA provided initial funding of €1.5 million; by 2014, the funding had grown to €2.2 million: “Funding has gone up over the last five years, and that’ll be a matter for the negotiations, again,” added Farrell.

“We eventually arrived at that position, in the last agreement, but it took a long, long time to get to that point where there was understanding of the importance of supporting the players. It was also important that the players understand that it is not just about themselves, that there is a bigger picture, and that the prosperity of the games is really important as well.”

Farrell defended the GPA’s position of effectively working with the GAA, while maintaining some independence: “We are a separate entity, but I think there’ll always be a requirement for funding from the GAA.

“I think where the real challenge was for us is meeting the level of demand. In the last 12 months, we’ve seen a significant increase from players in our programmes. If that’s to continue, and former players get more engaged with the support that’s available as well, it’s going to present serious funding challenges for us.”

Among the projects planned in the 2014 annual report is to develop a specifically built GAA Player Institute, with an estimated cost of between €8-€10 million. Yet Farrell also said the GPA had an important role to play in addressing player-out, especially against the backdrop of some recent claims of players being overtrained, overplayed, and s even overwhelmed.

“Well, I think there has been an overreaction to it, definitely. Is there a modicum of truth in it? There is, for a specific cohort of player. The younger player, who is on the county panel, and under-21 panel, and playing colleges – and throw your clubs in on top of that – for a short window of maybe 4-6 weeks, it is really difficult for those players.

“Some are more resilient and better equipped to deal with it than others. It definitely does prove challenging for many of them. We have conducted a series of workshops in 2014 and spoken to various other stakeholders in the game at that level, and we hope to publish a report in the next few weeks, that identify some of those challenges and hopefully put forward some viable solutions as well.

“Outside of that, you are talking about the more mature player, and some of the comments and discussion recently is very interesting.

Elite sport

“Ultimately, players want to be the best they can be and they commit to this with their eyes wide open. There is a choice they can make. They can decide to do it, or not to do it. Some players decide they will do it for a period of time and then retire and that’s fine. But that’s elite sport everywhere.

“To operate at the elite level of sport is not easy. If it was easy everyone would be doing it. There are challenges and sacrifices that are made but our sense, ultimately, is that the players really enjoy it and they want to be the best that they can be. Does that mean doing more and more training? No. It means training smarter, so they know what they are doing. And we are constantly encouraging players to assess themselves in that regard.”

Páraic Duffy, GAA director general, also recognised the important role of the GPA:” It’s absolutely vital, for us, that we provide the best player welfare service that we possible can.

“Because the players deserve that. It’s a commitment they enter into. Some players choose not to, because the level of commitment is so high. But many do, and they’re entitled to expect a very good player welfare service. And through our agreement with the GPA, they essentially took on that task, for us, and do it exceptionally well.

“Our aspirations are the same. We’ve a very good relationship with the GPA, and in recent weeks there has been some criticism of that, as if it should be any other way.

“Our relationship is best described as a ‘healthy tension’, and that’s the way it should be. We don’t agree on every issue, but we’ve a common goal, I believe our relationship is better than it’s ever been, and I’m confident it will grow in the future.”