Conor Whelan and Cathal McShane address GAA expenses dispute

Not defying but rather bypassing any gagging order, two leading intercounty players have made known their feelings on the deepening expenses dispute between the GAA and the Gaelic Players Association (GPA).

Knowing a little about what it takes to succeed in the game, Tyrone’s All-Ireland-winning footballer Cathal McShane said it was difficult to put any cap on the number of training sessions required per week, saying counties will always be at different stages of development at varying times of the year, sentiments echoed by Galway hurler Conor Whelan, part of their All-Ireland winning team in 2017.

Once details of the dispute emerged last week, most counties declined to engage in any media activity at the weekend in solidarity with the GPA. McShane and Whelan however both spoke from Croke Park at a commercial event to mark the 30th year of Allianz sponsoring the leagues, therefore not considered an intercounty platform.

McShane was cautious about suggesting the dispute may deepen, but with the GAA adamant their expense rate could only be applied for four sessions a week, any excess of that requiring negotiation between individual counties, the matter clearly isn’t going away.

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“I know there’s been a lot of work going on recently between the GPA and the county reps, meetings and different things, in order to get to the bottom of it,” said McShane.

“I think the big thing is last year, obviously with Covid and a lot of restrictions, there was an agreement to reduce what they were getting from the GAA throughout the year, and everybody was happy to accept that, we were in bad times, in difficult times. The message came back that there was a written agreement once Covid passes, things would return to normality, and the issue now is there’s talk obviously that’s not being followed through, so possible trust issues.

“I know we [as players] would be very supportive in trying to get an agreement in place, I know that’s what happening now with the captains, the reps, the GPA, we just want what’s right.”

The notion that training sessions in excess of four per week would contradict the GPA’s wider concern of player welfare is difficult to gauge, said McShane.

“It just depends, we don’t choose when we’re going to train, what sessions we’re putting in a week. There are lots of players with different situations within a camp, younger guys at university four or five days a week, trying to play for the county and their club as well. They’re probably finding it more difficult. Or lads trying to put on a bit of size might have extra sessions within the week.

“But I do feel if you’re in a position where you have to attend a session then you should be getting covered for it. Whether that’s three or four or five sessions, I know with Tyrone over the years, at senior level, there have been times you’re only training a couple of times a week, [but then] sometimes you might be there five or six nights a week.”

Player welfare

In a statement on Wednesday, Wexford hurler Matthew O’Hanlon, who is the GPA national executive committee co-chair, expressed frustration with the GAA’s attempt to “unilaterally, without the agreement of players, try to impose a squad charter on their terms.

“The GAA have designed this charter, by their account, with player welfare in mind. Again, let’s be clear on this. Last December through to March the GAA came to the negotiating table wanting to retain the cost-saving measures players had agreed to during the Covid crisis. Now however, language around player welfare had been conveniently added in...

“That brings me specifically to player welfare. The GAA are now willing to cover four sessions per week at 65c. That came about because last week the GPA let them know we would be communicating with all players. Three sessions were then moved to four over the course of 24 hours. Surely if player welfare was the concern here such a move, adding 33 per cent to a training load, would be unthinkable.

“This is what some commentators are accusing the GPA of wanting. It’s hard to believe that when Tom Parsons refers to training once or 10 times a week to emphasise a point, it is being portrayed that the GPA would be happy to allow such over training. It’s spreading and creating a false picture – deliberately.”

He said the GPA had separately discussed contact hours with the GAA sports science group and recommendations would be presented to the group on March 30th on the advised number of training sesssions for players at each stage of the season.

Commitment

Tyrone host Mayo in Omagh on Saturday evening, a repeat of their All-Ireland victory last year, needing a win to stave off the real threat of relegation.

For McShane the commitment at this time of year is also very real: “For me, I work with the Keystone Group, and there is a lot of planning, a lot to be done there, work wise. Your evenings then are taken up by training, and there’s very little evenings I’m actually in the house, relaxing, you’re always doing something trying to better yourself going forward, and for your county, and your club.

“I remember going back to being a student, you’d be out four or five days a week, then maybe in Garvaghey three or four nights a week. It’s really difficult to fit in even a part-time job, in university, it’s really difficult.”

Whelan also suggested the crux of the dispute is indeed twofold: no player should be out of pocket for any training or match day activity, only who decides when is enough training for one week?

“From a player’s perspective, we don’t decide when training is, where it’s on, or how many times a week, that’s very much the management aspect,” said Whelan, a teacher by profession. “So I don’t think it’s really feasible to put a cap on the number of sessions that are going to be paid for.

“If a session is being held, that’s a whole different debate, how many sessions you can have per week, or should have. And that’s not really for me to say . . . the most important thing, particularly for younger players coming through, and players who are in college, trying to balance part-time jobs, is that they’re not out of money, aren’t losing money, going training. I don’t think any player goes to make a profit or make money from going training.

“It depends on the time of the year, younger players coming through might need more supervised gym sessions, so it could be training two or three times on the pitch, then once or twice in the gym. And different teams are at different phases in their development. So you can look at the cost-effective model, which is capping the amount of sessions, or else you can look at in terms of what each group of players need, and that’s dependent on the management team really, not the players.”

Tyrone and Mayo will wear once-off retro jerseys this weekend to mark the 30-year league sponsorship by Allianz.