GAA:The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) tonight announced players involved in the Leinster SFC final and the Munster SHC final "will not be available for any GAA sponsors promotional activity" as they seek a formal recognition agreement between the GAA and the GPA.
The GPA’s latest stance comes in the wake of the players’ association potentially losing Government grants worth €3.5million that had been negotiated and agreed on last November.
In a statement released this evening, the GPA confirmed that, with the lack of a formal agreement between themselves and the GAA, they are “proceeding with plans to address the needs of players and the players' association over the coming months”.
As a result they also said players from the four squads involved in the two provincial finals “will not be available for sports programming on the relevant channels or any GAA sponsors promotional activity around these two fixtures”.
It was also made clear in their statement this move will not impact in any way on the staging of the two matches.
“In no other aspect will the staging of the two finals be affected by the actions of the GPA and its members,” the statement added.
“The GPA has requested the GAA to fund a series of enhanced player welfare programmes in the critical areas of employment, career development and health and wellbeing services.
“As players have chosen the GPA to represent their interests, it is only through the establishment of a meaningful official relationship with the attendant financial commitment that the GAA can meet its obligations to the inter-county players who do more than anybody to fuel its financial engine.”