THE GAA are pressing ahead with the 2011 All Star nominations even though agreement has yet to be reached on how the awards will ultimately be announced.
First up, later today, will be the 45 hurling nominations, which for the first time are being presented as the recently-merged GAA’s All Stars and the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) players’ awards scheme, under the sponsorship of Opel – and thus officially titled the GAA-GPA All Stars.
The 45 football nominations will be announced next Tuesday.
In the meantime, when details of the merged awards were announced last month, there was some considerable discontent among representatives of the written press, who were not happy with the proposition that both All Star teams would be announced live on television on the night of the awards banquet, October 21st, as opposed to having one of the teams announced by the written press a day in advance, as was the existing arrangement with the GAA.
At the time GAA president Christy Cooney confirmed, “We are looking to announce both teams on the night, in a change on the presentation format”, but it has since emerged negotiations are continuing, and the likelihood now is one of the teams will be first disclosed to the written press, who effectively dreamed up the awards scheme in the first place.
“No, as of now that has not being finalised yet,” said Alan Milton, the GAA’s communication manager. “We may have some update on it after the nominations are agreed, but I imagine there may be a couple more meetings necessary before there is anything concrete on that. But then there are still a lot of loose ends to be tied up, given the All-Ireland finals are only just concluded.”
How the awards are actually decided has essentially remained the same: under the new joint awards scheme, a committee of GAA journalists – or steering committee – will choose the respective All Star teams of the year, while the individual player-of-the-year and player-of-the-month awards will be selected by the intercounty playing body, as the previous GPA awards scheme were.
“The process of nominating the 45 players hasn’t changed,” confirmed Milton, “in that they all come from the written press, as has been the case for the past number of years. That is carried out by the steering committee, as usual. There is no GPA representation at that stage.
“The only particular role the GPA have in the scheme is the shortlist for footballer and hurler of the year, and young footballer and hurler of the year, is drawn up by the GPA committee, and that shortlist is then forwarded to the GPA player membership, who then vote on their particular choice.”
There will also be three individual player-of-the-year awards from the Christy Ring, Nicky Rackard and Lory Meagher Cups.
Each winner on the All Stars team will receive a €1,500 cheque, for the use of their image for promotional purposes, while the individual players of the year will receive a €5,000 cheque each. Also, each of the players of the month will be presented with a cheque for €1,000.
The GAA insist these cash awards are in no way conflicting with the association’s amateur status: “Again that has been very carefully looked at,” said Milton, “and all parties are happy with the arrangement, as outlined when the combined awards were first announced.
“It is the merger of two schemes, so while the money is a new element to the GAA scheme, it was part of the GPA scheme, and there has been a fair amount of crossover between the two, as you would expect with any merger.”
Also announced today will be five player-of-the-month awards in hurling, from May to September, (with the football equivalent being announced next Tuesday: “These are being announced retrospectively,” said Milton.
“Ideally they would have been announced at the end of the particular month, and that would certainly be the intention for next year, but the sponsorship negotiations were ongoing this summer, and it just wasn’t possible to present the awards at the end of each month.”
What is certain is the All Star Awards banquet is set for the Convention Centre Dublin on October 21st, and the awards will be presented live on RTÉ television.
The All Star tour will also continue, and this year’s version involving the 2010 and 2011 hurling selections, will visit San Francisco in late November.
In a separate venture, the GPA will today stage a new Stars of Erin event at the New York Athletic Club, with Kilkenny’s Henry Shefflin and Dublin’s Ger Brennan displaying the Liam MacCarthy and Sam Maguire cups respectively, with the intention of highlighting the contribution of GAA players to Ireland’s social and cultural fabric, and also raise awareness for the GPA’s Player Development Programme, which assists current and past intercounty players facing financial difficulties.
