GPA strikes first deal for 10 players

Details of the commercial sponsorship contracts for 10 leading GAA players represented by the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) were announced in Dublin yesterday. It is the first commercial agreement of its kind signed by the GPA on behalf of its members since the organisation was launched nationally last December and cuts directly into the path of the GAA's own rules on appointment of players' agents and endorsements.

Under this deal, the players will benefit from a one-year, £50,000 deal with The Marlborough Group, the largest recruitment company in the country, in what is the most significant ever sponsorship package agreed between individual players and a commercial body in respect to Gaelic games. The 10 players, five from hurling and five from football, are among the highest profile names in the sport. Eight of them were present at yesterday's press conference and the identity of the other two, both of whom are involved in this weekend's championship encounters, will be revealed next week.

The eight players present were, from hurling; Brian Corcoran (Cork), Paul Flynn (Waterford), Brian Lohan (Clare) and Brian Whelahan (Offaly), and from football; Jarlath Fallon (Galway), Derek Duggan (Roscommon), Peter Canavan (Tyrone) and Stephen Melia (Louth). Their selection followed negotiations between the GPA and Marlborough and relates specifically to the 10 regions in which the company currently operates recruitment services in Ireland.

Speaking at the announcement, Donal O'Neill, chief administrator of the GPA, called it a "hugely significant" deal for the organisation. "It means for the first time ever the players themselves will benefit from the support provided by commercial sponsors. As I have stated before, the GPA looks first and foremost to its members, the players, for its mandate to represent their interests.

"And we would hold firm in our opinion that players have a right to associate and to right to utilise expertise available to them outside those parameters established by the GAA, to preserve and further their individual and collective needs. Our initial objectives to market the game more effectively through its most prominent exponents, the players themselves, continues to evolve."

As part of the agreement, the 10 players will perform a number of agreed endorsements and promotions for Malborough (up to a maximum of four per player) during the course of the next year, up to and including the conclusion of next year's All-Ireland series. Eighty per cent of the sponsorship goes to the individual players - with the remaining £10,000 going to the GPA.

According to O'Neill, the GPA intends announcing a series of similar deals over the coming months: "From this arrangement today, players throughout Ireland, as members of the GPA, will benefit from the status of their peers. The funds attributable to the GPA will be utilised by the players as they collectively decide."

A conflict with the GAA's own amateur status rules, however, is something O'Neill is confident won't arise. "If anything, we want to open a door for discussion with the GAA. We welcome the acknowledgement by Croke Park that elite intercounty players have a commercial and promotional value, but we would question their proposed monopolisation of this process. There is no room for monopolistic behaviour in any sphere today, and I would argue strongly that players, as amateur athletes and working professionals, should not be denied access to opportunities because of restrictive, authoritarian policies.

"But we don't feel like we are doing anything wrong here in that we believe in the right for players to seek negotiation from whoever they can."

According the Cork hurler Brian Corcoran, this deal is as much about making a statement of the player's intentions as it is about the sponsorship. "As an amateur player, I believe that I am free to do what I like in my spare time. The GAA say it is an amateur game and that is fine, but they don't have a right to decide what I do outside the game and they can't control us like we are professionals."

Galway's Jarlath Fallon also highlighted the long-term benefits that he believes will come to all players as a result of this deal. "For a while, the GPA was in unknown territory but it's coming up the ladder all the time," he said. "A certain amount of this goes back to the GPA so the other players will benefit in one way or another. There is so much time and commitment given by players today that you find a lot of them losing out financially through the GAA."

The possibility of players being suspended by the GAA as a result of the deal was described by O'Neill as "not feasible", nor was any question of a players' strike "on the GPA's agenda". For Offaly hurler Brian Whelahan - who plays in next month's All-Ireland final the question was particularly apt but he responded by saying that "if there was any threat of suspension then I wouldn't be here".