Madam, - The articles by Sean Moran and Gavin Cummiskey in your edition of October 12th raise important issues for the GAA and for Irish society.
On the one hand a survey shows that a majority of GAA players favour semi-professional status. On the other hand, an ESRI report makes the point that sport and commercialism don't mix. Sean Moran quotes this report as saying that "a market system is not concerned with promoting access to sport on the basis of fairness". He also highlights the contribution of team games, including Gaelic games, to the development of a sense of community. His assertion that "team games challenge the primacy of the individual and emphasise the importance of collective effort and responsibility to team-mates" needs to be part of the mission statement of all those in charge of sport in Ireland, especially the GAA. They need to recognise that sports, especially team sports, are great generators of social capital.
Any move by the GAA to professionalise will, however, do major damage to social capital generation. The wealth of the individual player and not the "honour of the little village" will become the objective. The GAA's great strength is its identification with place, be it county, village or parish. This is a wider issue, however, than whether players are paid or not. It is also tied up with the commitment needed and the risks taken by amateur players.
At the moment Gaelic games are played by amateurs, whose motivation is identification with village, county and community. They have to go to work at the day job on a Monday morning. The commitment in time, effort and risk is at least as strong as is needed in competing professional sports. In Gaelic games, however, there is no cash or career rewards; hence the support for semi-professionalism.
This is a major societal issue and not just a sporting matter. - Yours, etc,
A LEAVY, Shielmartin Drive, Dublin 13.