Kerry and Mayo players pull out of event to promote Allianz football final

A media event scheduled for Tuesday to promote Sunday’s Allianz Football League final has been cancelled after players from Kerry and Mayo were pulled due to the continuing stand-off between the Gaelic Players’ Association (GPA) and the GAA over player expenses.

A spokesperson for league sponsors Allianz confirmed that a player from each county had been lined up to promote the final, via a Zoom interview, but were pulled on Monday afternoon.

It’s the first major promotion event to be hit by the stand-off, which sees little sign of being resolved in the near future, and follows a vote taken last Thursday night by more than 60 team representatives and captains to, in their words, “escalate the player protest”.

This was followed by a circular sent to all GPA members on Friday, where chief executive Tom Parsons outlined that while the vote had been unanimous, the players' group was still open to discussions with the GAA to resolve the issues at hand.

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While select players and managers did make themselves available for interview after the weekend games in the Allianz football and hurling leagues, opinions on the matter have differed.

Dublin football manager Dessie Farrell did make himself available after their defeat to Monaghan, resulting in relegation, while Monaghan manager Séamus McEnaney declined on the advice of his player Darren Hughes, the team representative to the GPA.

The GPA’s motivation on the extension of the media blackout is designed to deprive sponsors of the spotlight provided by TV and online footage of post-match interviews, and with that bringing commercial pressure to bear on Croke Park.

Parsons wrote in his note: “Specifically for televised broadcast interviews on match day, players will continue to make themselves unavailable. No players will attend the launch of any GAA competitions at national or provincial level in the coming weeks. Players will write to the GAA’s commercial sponsors to inform them of the position of players and flag that disruption of upcoming events is likely.”

With just three weeks to go until the start of the championship, and several other media events scheduled around football and hurling, the latest GPA stance won’t go easily unnoticed at Croke Park.

The GPA remain adamant they’ve been forced into taking this action by what they see as the GAA’s decision to use players as a cost-control measure, while Croke Park have been open on the need to reduce the burden of the millions spent on preparing teams for the intercounty game. The GPA have been equally clear that it should not cost players money to train and play for their county.

Figures released by the GAA last Friday also indicate that 57 of the 67 intercounty panels have submitted expenses going back to December 8th and just two have claimed for in excess of four sessions a week.

Among the suite of measures published, designed to intensify the dispute, were -

- Specifically for televised broadcast interviews on match day, players will continue to make themselves unavailable.

- No players will attend the launch of any GAA competitions at national or provincial level in the coming weeks.

- Players will write to the GAA’s commercial sponsors to inform them of the position of players and flag that disruption of upcoming events is likely.