Club Players’ Association disband after split season objective achieved

The disbandment of the Club Players’ Association after around five years in existence brings to an end what is likely to be seen as an influential lobbying group by anyone reviewing the major changes to the administration of games since 2016.

During that time the CPA lobbied to ‘Fix the Fixtures’ in response to long-standing unhappiness on the part of club players with schedules that gave no certainty to the 98 per cent of players who aren’t part of the intercounty programme.

It arrived at a time when moves were already under way to address the problem. At Croke Park level, a suite of measures had been painstakingly assembled to reduce multi-eligibility among young players, increase significantly the number of ‘result on the day’ fixtures at intercounty level and chip away at the championship calendar to create additional weekends for club activity.

Not everything worked out ideally and the concept of April as a club-only month was only a partial success, as it provided an isolated break in what was still an intercounty calendar. But the trend had been set.

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The CPA’s style could be abrasive – on occasion they statement-bombed the day when the GAA was launching its annual report and there was frequent recourse to hostile comments about their intercounty counterparts, the GPA – and if they clearly believed that such an approach would gather more attention, to onlookers there was greater impact in the calmer, more discursive messages they were also well able to communicate.

In any disagreements about how they pursued their policies, though, it is equally important to acknowledge that there was no hidden agenda. All they wanted was contained in the initial mission statement.

When founding secretary Declan Brennan at the CPA launch in 2017 called for All-Irelands to be over by the August weekend, people laughed. Last weekend it was agreed by congress to finish them by the end of July.

It was ironic in the end that the GPA effectively ate their lunch by coming out last summer in favour of the split season but the CPA weren’t territorial about how the ideas emerged.

“It may have taken different timelines and different routes to get to this point,” said CPA chair Micheál Briody last August, “but there is a growing realisation that a split season approach is the best solution to fixing the fixtures. It is reassuring now to see that the GAA, GPA and CPA have come to similar conclusions. We have always said it is about what is right, not who is right.”

By last year the pandemic had done what years of work groups and task forces couldn’t – by force of circumstance it showcased what life could be like with club and county existing separately but complementing each other.

County championships got played in decent weather and with all players available to the clubs. Intercounty didn’t, as now planned, get any of the summer but will share the good months in the years to come.

The edgy CPA attitude might well be explained by the frustration felt at decades of inability to sort out club fixtures but the agitation found an echo with club players around the country and undoubtedly added urgency to the perception of the problem among members and to an extent the public at large.

On Tuesday morning after an egm the night before, with the familiar embargo of a minute past midnight that accompanied all their press releases, the CPA announced that its work was done.

"With congress at the weekend making the historic decision to institute a split season model, the CPA executive considers its task is now complete. The responsibility is now with GAA Management directed by An t-Uachtarán, Larry McCarthy and Ard Stiúrthóir, Tom Ryan, to implement congress's unanimous and democratic decision. And it is the role of club and county players and officials to monitor the delivery of the new fixture arrangements and hold the association accountable."

They even thanked the GPA for their “co-operation and support”.