I see that Johnno, in his role as Fine Gael Deputy Spokesperson for Art, Sport and Tourism with Special Responsibility for Sport, tackled Minister Martin Cullen in the Dail last night on the players’ grants issue. He got a proper tackle in too, forcing the Minister to concede that budgetary constraints – specifically the reduced budget that’ll be available to […]
Ronan McGarritty’s rollercoaster year has reached another significant milestone: he’s just been awarded (jointly, along with Cora) the Connacht GAA Writers’ Personality of the Month for November. Does this mean that these lads announce a Personality of the Month every month? There’s a thought – maybe I should do the same. Well done (again), Ronan. I bet you’ll get a […]
The players’ grants issue is continuing to generate plenty of debate: there’s John Maughan reminiscing about what things were like in the good old days when he had a full head of hair, there’s PJ McGrath saying that refs should be ahead of the players in the queue for payments, there’s An Spailpin fulminating about the GPA’s motives and drawing […]
The Mayo senior football and hurling panels have wasted no time in reacting to their county board’s “unanimous” decision to oppose the awarding of grants to inter-county players (see previous post). Earlier this evening, the two panels issued a joint statement expressing their disappointment with the county board’s position on the issue and stating that they “stand firm” on their […]
The Mayo GAA politburo have apparently – so says RTE so it must be true, right? – voted unanimously against the Pat’s Ass solution to the players’ grants issue. I’m not sure why we’ve emerged as the hotbed of dissent on this one, although we’re far from alone on it, as there was a biggish protest gathering (what is it […]
So there’ll be no all-night sessions at the Labour Court, no grim-faced, downbeat assessments provided to the media by a bearded Brudder Farrell, no Ingrid Miley reports for RTE News, no placard-bearing players huddled around burning braziers outside Croke Park. What did I tell you? None of the participants in this comedy wanted to go the full distance on it […]
No, I’m not going launch into a treatise on obscure Pink Floyd numbers but instead direct you towards an incisive (as ever) piece in today’s Indo from Eugene McGee on the GAA, GPA and P4P (that’s pay for play to you lot). Eugene’s analysis is pretty much on the button, IMHO. Contrast, if you will, what he has to say […]
The GPA announced today that its members had voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action involving upcoming inter-county games. With the NFL not due to start until the first week in February next year, the strike action – if it goes ahead at all – will impact on the traditional provincial pre-season softening-up tournaments. What? No 2008 FBD League? How […]