Players cannot be dictated to in this era

The right to join the GPA is central to players' grievances in the current dispute in Cork hurling, writes Seán Moran

The developing crisis in Cork hurling will be of great interest to inter-county players around the country.

Central to it is the right of players to join the Gaelic Players Association without being harassed by county boards.

The drip-feed of players over the past couple of days taking to the pages of the Examiner and the Echo has to an extent obscured this general issue at stake. To some, the individual complaints might seem repetitive and petty, but taken as a whole they add up to a damning picture of a dictatorially-administered county team in the modern era.

The much-derided protest before this year's NHL final may have been primarily a reflection of the Cork players' discontent with their management and county officials. But it focused attention on the Gaelic Players Association in a way that raised the GPA's profile without implicating it in the shambolic nature of the protest.

The poor state of morale within a panel of players most of whom have won All-Irelands at some level, many of them at senior three years ago, makes for dismal reading. What has happened in that time to alienate players so badly? Bertie Murphy is the third Cork hurling manager in successive years. His two predecessors walked away with a minimum of fuss. Jimmy Barry-Murphy went after the team had failed to retain the All-Ireland in 2000 and his assistant, Tom Cashman, last year after the surprise defeat by Limerick.

The appointment of Murphy made sense in that he had led many of the players to under-21 All-Ireland success.

A fine coach, Murphy was perceived in some quarters to have one drawback, his closeness to his namesake Frank, the controversial secretary of the county board.

As if in affirmation of this, Frank Murphy was appointed a selector along with John Meyler, PJ Murphy and Pat McDonnell.

One well-placed source suggested that a couple of the selectors, whose primary experience of management had been at under-age level, might have struggled to communicate with hurlers once they had matured into senior players.

The fire of the players has been directed at the selectors rather than the manager, but the starting position of the players when they meet with the county board delegation to discuss the issue is that they want a completely new management installed.

This is not a new phenomenon in Gaelic games. Ten years ago two county managers stepped down after the expression of player discontent. Dublin's Paddy Cullen was primarily responding to a split amongst his management team when he walked away to prevent further antagonisms, but the players had already communicated their wish for a change to the county board.

The same summer in Mayo there was a more famous case with the county footballers releasing a statement indicating no confidence in the management of Brian McDonald.

The chances of Cork hurlers being able to exert this sort of influence would look slim. Bertie Murphy's management team has been appointed for two years and Cork is one of the counties that is not easily stampeded into changing managers at the first hint of crisis.

Frank Murphy may go as a selector simply because he is the one member of the management whose tenure is for one year as he was nominated by county champions Blackrock. Then again he may well recoil at giving the impression that he was forced from office.

Other considerations include the likely departure from the inter-county scene of several players, including some who have supported the criticisms of the county board by goalkeeper Donal Cusack.

Whatever arises from the meeting between players and county board time at least time is on everyone's side with the league six months away. It's not the way of Cork - above all county boards - to give way in circumstances like this, but given the intensity of the players' feelings and the considerable public support they command the officers will have to do something to resolve the situation.

How open the players will be to compromise remains to be seen. But in the high-pressure world that inter-county activity has become, what is happening in Cork is further proof that the feelings and sensitivities of players have to be acknowledged more satisfactorily than has evidently been the case in the past year.