GAELIC GAMES/ INTERVIEW GAA DIRECTOR GENERAL PÁRAIC DUFFY: Two years into his tenure as director general of the GAA, Seán Morangets the views of Páraic Duffy on the major tests facing the organisation

AS THE GAA faces into its next 125 years the landscape is forbidding. The recession moves into another year and with it the prospect of a greater impact on the association, as unemployment worsens. The great bonanza of Croke Park rental revenue is entering its final weeks and public funding for infrastructure projects has all but dried up.

So, ostensibly, it’s surprising to find director general Páraic Duffy as unfazed as he is in the cavernous expanse of Croke Park on a gunmetal-grey January morning.

“Looking back (on 2009) you’d be reasonably happy in the circumstances. Sponsorship had been agreed through to this year and that will be better than if we’d had to renegotiate last year. Attendances held up better than expected so that’s two primary areas of revenue that were steady.

“The biggest hit we took was in public funding and the halting of the capital grants. We have no major projects requiring funding at present, but in a good year we have been able to draw down €30 million in funding for approved projects.

“Sports Council funding fell slightly, but that wasn’t hugely significant. But we’re expecting 2010 to be every bit as difficult. We will be prioritising attendances and are conscious of the need to keep people coming to matches rather than simply maximise revenue from that source.”

Recession isn’t, however, just a simple calculation of how far you can reach into the public purse. The devastating effects on individuals and families as unemployment soars to levels unseen in two decades necessarily affects the GAA and its network of clubs and local communities. The director general believes the full impact of the downturn has yet to materialise.

“So far that hasn’t had the impact on clubs that it had in the 1980s. The simple reason is that players who have lost their jobs have nowhere to go.

“That may change this year but so far there hasn’t been much opportunity in the States and Britain.

“One thing that has happened is that because you have a lot of people unemployed there’s definitely been an uptake in volunteering to give time to maintaining property or coaching teams. I’ve heard that said everywhere I go but the one concern there is that whereas that may happen in the first year of a recession, when the American and UK economies pick up then you’ll really feel the impact of emigration.”

Two years into his tenure he enthuses over the methodical roll-out of the Strategic Plan he initiated 14 months ago, a checklist-precise schedule of consultation, interim targets and regular review intended to identify challenges – and their possible solutions – facing the GAA in the 21st century.

There are steering groups specifically dealing with the seven urban areas: Belfast, Cork, Derry, Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Waterford. Blueprints to address the GAA’s continuing vulnerabilities in these major population centres have been drawn up and are due to commence implementation.

But the plan and its 86 per cent of targets met in 2009 are, despite the long-term importance, very much below the water-line as far as the public is concerned. There are higher-profile issues such as the adjusted circumstances of the post-rugby and soccer era at Croke Park.

Duffy has always accepted that once Lansdowne Road was developed, the FAI and IRFU would have no reason to return across the river once they had concluded commercial contracts.

A year ago he said he didn’t expect rugby and soccer to be played again in Croke Park during his term of office, which is due to end in early 2015.

“That’s the reality,” he reiterates. “We have the money (the final figure from the four seasons of leasing the stadium is expected to be €35.6 million) for investment but soccer and rugby will not be at Croke Park for the next 10 years at least and probably beyond so that revenue is gone.

“This is also a challenging time for the stadium, which has been an income generator through rugby, soccer and concerts.

“I’m confident that Peter McKenna (stadium director) and his staff will continue to do well but the days of it being a cash cow are over. It will still be a valuable, profit-making vehicle but nothing like before.”

That reduction in earning power comes at the same time as the sudden impoverishment of the State coffers. Furthermore, although attendances and gate receipts remained buoyant in 2009, the expectation is that reduced spending power caused by unemployment and pay cuts will make this year even more challenging.

“The priority will be to protect investment in coaching and games development and tailor infrastructure investment to reduced revenue,” he says.

“We’re fortunate that we decided to wait before allocating the Croke Park rental money.”

That rental income has been ring-fenced for investment in local projects that have already raised some funds.

It is specifically not for major stadium developments, an activity with which the association has made reasonable progress in the past decade, overseeing major work on Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney, the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick, Semple Stadium in Thurles, O’Moore Park in Portlaoise, Pearse Stadium in Galway and Castlebar’s McHale Park.

“There are a couple of areas that need to be addressed,” he says about the national stadium infrastructure, “Cork is one and Belfast is one. In terms of big stadia Páirc Uí­ Chaoimh and Casement Park clearly need to be looked at. Other than that, the provinces are reasonably well-catered for.”

In respect of the games, Duffy has been associated, both before and after he took over as director general, with initiatives that failed to find acceptance – restricting participation in the All-Ireland qualifiers, abolishing the under-21 football championship to counter burn-out, last year’s disciplinary reforms.

This year sees the five-yearly season for rules experimentation in the national leagues and already there have been grumbles about the introduction of a mark and restrictions on the hand-pass. He is frustrated by the lack of open-mindedness on such issues.

“What does annoy me somewhat is that we go through this cycle every single time. Changes are proposed and changes are accepted on an experimental basis and before the trial process has even started we have people – and I have to say managers in particular – expressing views on what’s wrong with them.

“The whole idea of trialling changes, which I think is the right way to do it, is that you see them in action, see how they work and then make a decision. We have the same this year: the mark won’t work, let’s keep the hand pass and so on – let’s look at it and see what the effect is before leaping to judgement.”

Duffy believes that the rationale behind last year’s package on discipline (which narrowly failed to secure the necessary two-thirds majority at Congress) remains valid even though a championship considered less wild-west than usual in 2009 was sufficient to persuade many, including the GAA’s management committee, that there was no need to resubmit the proposals.

“I still think there are issues around football. In my opinion there are too many fouls in a football game and players who foul can get away with it if they’re cute enough. That problem is still there and it may well be that we will have to go back to it.

“If you look at the norm in a championship match, to have 45 frees and add in all of the other restarts, there are too many stoppages. The challenge is still there to find a balance between an open, attractive game and one that retains the physical element. I don’t think we’ve addressed it yet.”

Despite the economic downturn and consequent deflation, new figures for last year show that spending on county teams climbed by five per cent in 2009 to €21 million. Duffy is alarmed at the trend. “I don’t believe that level of costs can be sustained going forward. I think there’s an amount of waste involved in that I believe you can look after players very, very well and still reduce those costs.”

He also suggests reviewing the number of representative competitions being squeezed into the GAA calendar at present (see details in panel).

Asked if such rationalisation, especially in relation to weaker hurling counties, would not run counter to the expressed wishes of the Gaelic Players Association, the now official body with which Croke Park reached agreement last November, Duffy says that this is just one area which will benefit from the new relationship.

“One of the great advantages of the agreement with the GPA is that we can sit down and talk about these things and come to better decisions than we did in the past when we weren’t talking to players.”

This is a challenging era for Gaelic games. Rugby has never been so successful and there are widespread anxieties about how this will impact on the GAA and, if the soccer team missed out narrowly on qualification for South Africa the imminence of the World Cup poses difficulties.

Looking at the year ahead, Duffy is aware of the challenges, but remains confident they can be met, as he spells out his priorities.

“The first concern for us will be to maintain the popularity of the games and attendances. This is a challenging year because it’s a World Cup year and it can be difficult to get your voice heard, particularly in the early months of the championship.

“I know it would be more daunting had Ireland qualified, but attracting crowds would still be the biggest thing for me because the media focus during a World Cup is hard to shift.

“There’s no doubt that rugby has become more popular and the national team in particular. In certain areas of the country rugby has had a big impact. In other areas it has had no discernible impact on us, Ulster for example.

“In measurable terms our participation rates remain high. The summer camps for instance attract 80,000 children. We have black spots where the challenge of either rugby or soccer is not being met . . . but I still believe that generally speaking we’re in there in a very competitive way.”

Duffy on . . . Competitions

“I think we’ve got to look at the number of intercounty competitions because every time a county panel is in training there are costs involved. The interprovincials are another example, but there are also issues in hurling at the lower levels.

“What I’m questioning is an intercounty programme that runs from January to July and incurs significant training costs. I would question the value of the National Hurling League to these counties and would prefer to see their intercounty competition structured around the Nicky Rackard and Lory Meagher Cups. The competitions would be played from April to June. It would mean playing in better conditions, reduce costs and the money saved could be invested in trying to raise participation figures and raise standards in these counties.

“It would not be unusual for hurling counties at that level to spend over €100,000 a year and you have to ask if that’s money well spent. You have a season that runs from the league straight into the Rackard and Meagher Cups so from January to July or August you’re running a county hurling team in a county that has a handful of clubs.

“In other words, between seven or eight of the weakest hurling counties, you’re probably spending €1 million on preparing teams. You have to ask would you not be better off confining it to the championships in the summer months and invest the money in greater participation.

“I think we need to look at all competitions and ask – are they fulfilling a promotional need or a developmental need? If they don’t do either of those things why are we playing them? It seems to me that there is no evidence that the huge investment in county teams at the lower level is promoting the playing of the games within those counties.

“I would also still question the benefit of the under-21 football championship in terms of the cost, in terms of its contribution to player burn-out. I still hold that it’s a competition we should have done away with. It only serves very elite players. I would argue that there’s a case for retaining under-21 hurling because there are fewer hurling counties and fewer promotional opportunities. It also draws bigger crowds.”