Appearance Fees getting out of hand?

[Nice Ham]

i'm assuming it's ok to post this as it has already been published in the Roscommon Hearld and they seem to be sure of their facts:

I read an article today where it stated as a fact the Sean òg o'Halpin quoted a Roscommon Charity €3,000 as an appearance fee

This is ridiculous, obviously the player has to be reimbursed for his time but fees like this are crazy and against the whole ethos of the GAA. Those cork "players" have really lost the run of themselves.

[outsidethebox]

niceham said:

i'm assuming it's ok to post this as it has already been published in the Roscommon Hearld and they seem to be sure of their facts:

I read an article today where it stated as a fact the Sean òg o'Halpin quoted a Roscommon Charity €3,000 as an appearance fee

This is ridiculous, obviously the player has to be reimbursed for his time but fees like this are crazy and against the whole ethos of the GAA. Those cork "players" have really lost the run of themselves.

Good old Sean Og, sure don't you know with the rising cost of Petrol these days, sure €3000 would just about get you from Cork to Roscommon and back

[azoffaly]

I don't like getting stuck into players with personal issue, but the next time I hear Seán Óg talking about the dedication needed to play inter county (which I agree with), and how he's having such a bad time about it, I would just like the interviewer to ask him one question.

'Why did a club in the Avondhu district board in Cork have to get Dan Shanahan to present their underage medals?'

[hangblaa]

archives.tcm.ie/roscommonherald/2008/02/27/story7299.asp

[azoffaly]

There's no author credited with that? Was there a byeline in the paper?

[corkster]

azoffaly said:

I don't like getting stuck into players with personal issue, but the next time I hear Seán Óg talking about the dedication needed to play inter county (which I agree with), and how he's having such a bad time about it, I would just like the interviewer to ask him one question.

'Why did a club in the Avondhu district board in Cork have to get Dan Shanahan to present their underage medals?'

Im from a North Cork club who had Dan do a medal presentation this yr. We asked him because of his high profile and the fact that Lismore is hardly that far away. I wont get into the t+cs but everyone was delighted with Dan just as they have been with Sully,Tom Kenny,Jerry OCOnnorand Sean Og and other Cork players in the non too distant past.
You question is ,frankly, meaningless.

[kpmg]

Sean Og is a disgrace if you ask me. Whinging all the time about something. Giving the poor mouth speech about how much dedication it takes to be a county star while raking in the cash on the other hand. It's estimated he earns over €100k a year from sponsorships, appearances etc. There is no fear of this lad.

[azoffaly]

corkster said:

azoffaly said:

I don't like getting stuck into players with personal issue, but the next time I hear Seán Óg talking about the dedication needed to play inter county (which I agree with), and how he's having such a bad time about it, I would just like the interviewer to ask him one question.

'Why did a club in the Avondhu district board in Cork have to get Dan Shanahan to present their underage medals?'

Im from a North Cork club who had Dan do a medal presentation this yr. We asked him because of his high profile and the fact that Lismore is hardly that far away. I wont get into the t+cs but everyone was delighted with Dan just as they have been with Sully,Tom Kenny,Jerry OCOnnorand Sean Og and other Cork players in the non too distant past.
You question is ,frankly, meaningless.

You mustn't be from the same Cork club as my source so corkster. But I'll take your word for it, I have no reason to doubt you.

[passedit]

The GAA ‘appearance fee’ has gone into overdrive

When I lived in the Midlands, a member of the Offaly senior hurling panel lived a couple of doors down from me. I got to know him quite well and we had many chats about hurling and football. About two or three times per year, he would be asked by a GAA club to present medals.

This he did and was very proud to do.

He never made any special requests regarding payment or accommodation for the night. Usually, he would be handed an envelope with a few quid anything from €50 to €100.

That was about seven years ago.

Times have changed a lot since then. In quite a lot of cases, clubs make a gesture in the form of a payment of around €200 to an intercounty player to present medals and offer a few words of encouragement to the stars of tomorrow.

Your average intercounty player doesn’t have a ‘set fee’

If he gets a few quid, well and good.

If he doesn’t, it’s not a big issue. Of course, when players are invited from another county, the payments get larger and understandably so. Clubs may wish to bring a recent All-Ireland winner to make the presentations. Every young player wants to meet the likes of Henry Shefflin or ‘Gooch’ Cooper. Such players could attend functions 365 nights a year and still not have visited everyone. But in the majority of cases, everyone comes out a winner the club gets to boast of attracting a star name, the young players are delighted to meet their hero and the intercounty player gets looked after financially.

Everyone goes home happy.

However, not everyone would go home happy if they knew the amount of money that was changing hands.

After all, club members and the people of the parish are the ones who pay into games, buy the local lotto tickets, fork out anything from €20 to €100 for bumper draws etc. Your average club supporter understands that you can’t expect a person to travel a long distance and give up their time for free.

They wouldn’t question the star of the show picking up a few hundred quid for the night. But when the figure runs into four figures, then it’s well and truly time to take stock. GAA clubs spend a lot of time begging and you have to wonder how then they can justify paying someone a fortune to make an appearance as a special guest for a night. A former All-Ireland winning captain lost a lot of friends when he cashed in on tour with the cup a few years ago.

He employed an agent and charged every premises that wanted to have the cup for a night. It got seriously out of hand. And the excrement really hit the fan when the captain made his fee known to a publican in his own parish when asked to call with the cup.

The publican wouldn’t have it and I don’t think the cup ever made an appearance in that pub. You could argue that the publican knew the tills would be hopping if he had the cup for a night too and he was still getting a great deal. But all things considered, you just don’t hire agents and demand fees to call with a cup to a pub in a country area. It’s as simple as that.

There was what you call a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ struck between clubs in a county concerning payments to club managers a few years ago. Basically, a flat fee in the region of a maximum of €80 per session was agreed.

That ensured that the clubs with greater financial clout didn’t get all the top coaches and thus have a greater advantage than the smaller clubs, who had less bargaining power financially. In theory, it was a great idea.

A similar agreement, though probably impossible to implement, would do the GAA as a whole a great favour because the whole appearance fee issue is getting out of hand. A former All-Ireland winning manager charges €1,000 plus accommodation for an appearance.

Most would agree that it’s a lot of money for an appearance.

In the current climate, it falls someway short of what some of the bestknown names in the game are charging.

The GAA’s Mr Clean, Sean Óg O’Halpin, quoted a Roscommon organisation €3,000 for his services in the not too distant past.

Fact. The event was a charity fundraiser. In the corporate world, what people do for appearances is not an issue. The company in question is going to be out of pocket. It invites a star to boost its particular brand and everyone comes out a winner. However, in the case of the GAA club, it’s coming out the loser. The youngsters who receive their medals and listen to words of wisdom from their hero go home happy but the club has to make sure that word doesn’t get out about how much it paid for the special guest.

If it did, a lot of people would be angry, and they’d be entitled to feel this way. Quite often in the GAA, people lose sight of the financial equation that is part and parcel of its activities.

That is, unlike soccer, you do not recoup monies for winning trophies. The more matches a team wins in the championship, the more the county board has to fork out. It’s not the Champions’ League where you get rewarded financially for reaching the quarterfinals, and then the rates rise accordingly for reaching the semi-final and final. In the case of the GAA club, the money it forks out for a special guest cannot be recouped. It is not endorsing a product.

It has nothing to sell. Sadly in the GAA, a lot of the time it’s the old ‘keeping up with the Jones’s’ philosophy that creates this environment. If one club stages a big medal presentation ceremony attended by hundreds, then the neighbouring club must better it. It hires a bigger star.

The photos appear in the local paper and the club is happy in the knowledge that it has made a statement by proving how big a club it is that a star would take up the invite of making an appearance.

The day of the presentations of crystal and pieces of bog oak is still alive and well. These are the standard presentations made to club members, such as player of the year awards and managers on winning a county title. But to the intercounty player, clubs feel it is only fair that they are at the very least compensated for giving up their time to attend their club presentation night. It is only fair that they do. But the economies of scale doesn’t allow for a couple of week’s wages being handed out in such cases. Nobody questions financial reward for a person’s time. But when that financial reward is equal to the weekly local lotto jackpot, it’s time to assess the situation

Two issues

1. why is everyone with their hand out (with the exception of Sean Og) afforded annonimity?
2. The author (and the majority of the player haters I'd wager) finds the payment of managers acceptable. The sooner the 'of one hypocrisy' movement recognises this as the root of all professional evils the better.

[corkster]

azoffaly said:

corkster said:

Im from a North Cork club who had Dan do a medal presentation this yr. We asked him because of his high profile and the fact that Lismore is hardly that far away. I wont get into the t+cs but everyone was delighted with Dan just as they have been with Sully,Tom Kenny,Jerry OCOnnorand Sean Og and other Cork players in the non too distant past.
You question is ,frankly, meaningless.

You mustn't be from the same Cork club as my source so corkster. But I'll take your word for it, I have no reason to doubt you.

Im from aclub (Mn/Bn) with seperate hurling and football sections which have one underage committee looking after both codes. Dan has done a lot of medal presentations and businesses opening locally. Not one person from Cork that I know would dare cast aspirations about the guy because of this. Unfortunately when it comes to the Cork hurlers and anonymous forums like this it open season to smear, cast aspersions on and post whatever derogatory comments take your fancy . You'll see AZ why Im touchy on this particular subject.

[azoffaly]

Why 'player haters'? Who hates the players?

I don't hate the players at all, and I wouldn't want to give that impression.

I've had this debate with friends of mine currently on various Offaly panels, and it is common practice. They were telling stories, which I'm not going to repeat because it;s very much 'duirt sé go nduirt sé', and that's not fair.

Granted, only the really high profile lads put out the lamh, or name a high price beforehand, but some of them are fairly brass necked.

There are also many stories of lads bringing credit to themselves and their counties by going out of their way to be available, and who don't charge a thing. One of the GAA's bete noirs, Paul Galvin of Kerry, is such a lad, and fair play to him.

[azoffaly]

corkster said:

azoffaly said:

You mustn't be from the same Cork club as my source so corkster. But I'll take your word for it, I have no reason to doubt you.

Im from aclub (Mn/Bn) with seperate hurling and football sections which have one underage committee looking after both codes. Dan has done a lot of medal presentations and businesses opening locally. Not one person from Cork that I know would dare cast aspirations about the guy because of this. Unfortunately when it comes to the Cork hurlers and anonymous forums like this it open season to smear, cast aspersions on and post whatever derogatory comments take your fancy . You'll see AZ why Im touchy on this particular subject.

I understand, and I am usually loathe to comment on individuals, and in this case I obviously haven't a clue as to whether Seán Óg really did ask for money in Roscommon or not.

However, I have heard from many reliable sources that this is going on, and many more players than just Seán Óg. I'm not going to repeat stories, because while I trust my sources, it is only gossip without proof.

The only reason I commented at all is because Seán Óg regularly gives it the beál bocht about everything he is giving to the GAA (which is true), and receiving very little in return (which I believe is false).

Again, the only reason I mention Seán Óg is because he is mentioned in the article, and has been 'public' recently on the hardships of playing inter-county.

This is not a rant at Seán Óg per se, and I don't mean it to sound like that.

Edit: I also meant to add that I would stand over everything I've said, and have done before when chatting to lads who take 'appearance' fees. Seán Óg seems like a nice lad, and I'd certainly say it to him over a coke in Cork if I knew him. This is not a case of 'keyboard warrior'.

[passedit]

azoffaly said:

Why 'player haters'? Who hates the players?

I don't hate the players at all, and I wouldn't want to give that impression.

I've had this debate with friends of mine currently on various Offaly panels, and it is common practice. They were telling stories, which I'm not going to repeat because it;s very much 'duirt sé go nduirt sé', and that's not fair.

Granted, only the really high profile lads put out the lamh, or name a high price beforehand, but some of them are fairly brass necked.

There are also many stories of lads bringing credit to themselves and their counties by going out of their way to be available, and who don't charge a thing. One of the GAA's bete noirs, Paul Galvin of Kerry, is such a lad, and fair play to him.

Sean Og has become the new Bete noir of the begrudgers and the tales of his moneygrabbing have temporarily replaced contemptible innuendo about Donal Og. I'll ask again why was no one else named. Is receiving payment for personal appearances illegal? Paying managers certainly is.

[azoffaly]

I'm not sure of the legality or otherwise of receiving appearence money. Certainly there would be revenue implications.

My gripe with this is that we are regularly hearing about the hardships endured by the players, especially recently from Seán Óg, although not by him alone, while no one ever says to them, 'well are you getting money to open supermarkets, present medals etc etc'.

And I agree, if you are going to name Seán Óg, then name the others.

[passedit]

BTW AZ I wasn't having a go at you, i'll save that for gaaboard .

just questioning the motivation of the original article.

FWIW, my view on appearance fees is that the market finds it's level. If someone is stupid enough to pay that amount of money then the gripe should be with the payer not the payee. Once you're paying anything at all the principle is conceded. Tis like the old saying, you can't be a wee bit pregnant.