Post by A.N. Other on Mar 5, 2008 13:34:04 GMT
The DRA Reconvenes
It looks like the reconvened DRA hearing may take place on Friday 14 March. We’re going back because of two basic things. First, we don’t think the GAA centrally has lived up to the commitments it gave at the last hearing back in January. That’s something we take no pleasure in. And second, we believe that Central Council’s motion asking Congress to say it’s “satisfied” the grants/awards don’t break Rule 11 has no standing at all in GAA Rule. Congress makes rules. It’s not there to say it’s “satisfied” specific things don’t break specific Rules.
Dessie Farrell (presumably on behalf of the GPA) has asked to appear/be represented at the hearing. This interest in openness and participation is a bit rich after months of secret, behind-closed-doors negotiations on the grants. And what was that a while back about small rumps of malcontents … ? No matter. This isn’t about scoring points. Our view is simple. The GPA is not part of the GAA. The DRA has no jurisdiction over the GPA. This is a case between two parts of the GAA, using the proper GAA systems and procedures. It’s got nothing to do with third parties. So our view is we’ll be keeping it properly “in house.” Nothing personal Dessie … just business.
Presidential Unanimity
Over the past week all three 2008 GAA Presidential candidates have expressed, at a minimum, very grave reservations about the proposed grants deal. Tipperary’s Sean Fogarty struck the clearest of chords with many “Of-One-Believers” when he said: “At the outset we should never have entered discussions on it.” Liam O’Neill meanwhile commented: “If we renege on our amateur status history will not judge us kindly.” And finally Christy Cooney is clear that: “If it affects Rule 11 it shouldn’t happen and it’s up to Management and Central Council to convince Clubs and Counties that it doesn’t.”
Defenders of paying our inter-County players cash to play gaelic games are becoming an endangered species. But when the best that one national journalist who supports the scheme can come up with is an intimidatory “Sign up to grants - or else”, it’s hard to be persuaded by the logical and ethical brilliance of that particular argument!
Dublin Deliberation Deferred
In the light of the forthcoming DRA hearing and Central Council’s meeting of 17 March, St Joseph’s/O’Connell’s Boys GAC agreed to defer until April its motion due for debate at last night’s Dublin County Board meeting. The Club’s motion was fairly straightforward: it mandated Dublin to vote against the “November 2007 Agreement” (or any modification of it that continues to break Rule 11) at Congress. A number of other Dublin Clubs had already rowed in behind St Joseph’s/O’Connell’s Boys on this issue.
But Because We Pay Managers …
There’s a weird circular argument going round that because there’s a raft of “illegal” paid managers at work across the GAA, then it should be OK to also illegally pay elite players. And that those who oppose the grants are thereby hypocrites. Our position is very clear on this: we oppose paid managers. We think the principle of outside, paid managers at Club or County level attacks the very ethos of the GAA. They’re a cancer … and just because part of the body has a cancer is no reason to inject botulism into another part of it.
If the grants debate is won and the idea of pay-for-elite-play is binned, then we need to address the pay-to-manage syndrome with the same vigour. Let’s do it. Let’s bring in rules about who’s eligible to coach/manage teams, rules that run parallel with our existing rules which determine who’s eligible to play for those same teams. It’s not beyond the bounds of GAA possibility to do it. And it’s something we can address jointly, from Central Council down to the grass-roots.
That’s of course, if we’re serious about it! And if that hypocrisy doesn’t run farther than some might think!
Every Club and County in the Land and Beyond
Because those who should be doing it aren’t doing it, we’ve been trying to facilitate a discussion on the grants issue across the GAA. Over the past weekend the text below has been emailed to GAA Clubs; Counties; and Provinces, not just in Ireland but round the world. Nearly 2,400 GAA units have now received the following:
=======================
“Speak Now … Or Forever Hold Your Peace!“
We’re All Adults Around Here
We have a particular view on the cash payments. We’re totally against them. But we don’t expect people to unquestioningly follow our line. We want you to discuss this issue and to reach a conclusion you’re content with. We hope you’ll share our view. This circular sets out why we oppose paying some GAA players to play gaelic games. It’s going to every GAA Club and County. Circulate it to your colleagues/members. Read over it and make up your minds. What you’ll read here isn’t being discussed across the GAA as it should be. But the GAA is us as much as anyone else. Let’s make our view count!
If Grants Are Paid To Inter-County GAA Players, Then;
Our Rule 11 (“a player … shall not accept payment in cash or in kind in conjunction with the playing of Gaelic games”) is blown asunder
Under EU law, the players’ GAA activity will become an economic activity and be subject to EU commercial law: our fundamental GAA principles and rules about eligibility; transfers; and so on will go out the window. Players will be able to move as they/sponsors/whoever sees fit. And they’ll hold “restraint of trade” powers over GAA Committees at Club and County level. It wouldn’t happen? Look at the Bosman; Deliege; Meca-Medina; and Kolpac cases at the European Court of Justice.
Our amateur status will be gone and it won’t be coming back. Those behind the grants deal say it “copper-fastens” our amateur status. European commercial case law says something totally different. Which of them do you think will turn out to be right?
For the first time in GAA history we will have two classes of GAA players/members … those who pay for the games and those who are paid to play them.
We’ll have established the principle that inter-County players get money because of who they are. That process won’t stop.
There will be no moral nor legal justification for not paying the teams’ backroom people … then the team liaison people … then our County Committee people … then …
For the first time in GAA history single decisions by referees; umpires; linesmen; and fixture-makers will decide into whose pockets tens of thousands of euros will go
Illicit “sponsors” will be able to offer teams cash prizes for winning things: the EU “economic activity” reality will mean we can’t stop it
Once the government pulls its funding (as it inevitably will) the GAA will have to pick up the bill
Club players picked for their County will have a clear financial incentive not to risk injury at Club level. The Club/County divide will grow dramatically.
Any chance we have of tackling the poison (and it is a poison) of paid managers in the GAA will be gone
Volunteers will increasingly say: “I’m off!” They have in every other sport where payment was introduced. Just look at Club rugby in Ireland (if you can find it) ten years after pay-for-play came in.
And No, We Don't Have To Do This!
Let’s remember a few basics that have got lost in the fog here:
In the GAA nobody has to do anything! If players think the burdens are too great, they should walk away … just like the rest of us should. We're volunteers, ALL of us!
In the GAA there's no such thing as an "Inter-County player": we have Club players who happen to get picked for their County
Amateurism and volunteerism are at the heart of what the GAA has been and done for 124 years: change that and you break the core GAA dynamic. And Ireland suffers disastrously as a result.
It's our choice and ours alone whether we accept pay-for-play, however it's dressed up. Oppose the grants. Let's get back to doing what the GAA was set up to do, providing "no charge" gaelic opportunities for the people of Ireland. Join us at www.ofonebelief.org
=======================
O Wad Some Pow’r
The great Robert Burns put it as only he could:
“O wad some pow’r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us”
In that light what about this from the Mayor of Wexford, George Lawlor, at last weekend’s Leinster Convention:
“Some people who seem to be shouting the loudest seem to be abandoning the fact that were it not for the GAA they would not be in the economic circumstances they find themselves at the current time. Also, in relation to power bases in the GAA, it has to be said that the day when a club secretary or chairman or county board delegate decide they want to go on strike, I think that’s the time you will see who are the powerhouse and who are the engine room within this organisation.”
Confused? Not Half As Much As We Are!
“I would be surprised if county boards made a decision on a document that they haven’t seen.” Pauric Duffy on 3 March 2008.
So how come Central Council could make a decision on 16 February, on the same document it hadn’t seen either, to seek Congress’ “satisfaction” with that document and its contents? We certainly expressed surprise then … but who else did?
Is there just a wee bit of double standards at work here?
And Finally, Keep The Faith, All 950+ Of You! The Next Month is Critical!
The mantra for opposing pay-for-play in the GAA remains the same. We work within (and want to protect!) the GAA’s structures and systems … so:
Bring this issue up in your Club and bring it to your County Committee to swell the very significant tide of GAA opposition to it
Make sure your voice is heard when it reaches the floor of Congress
Make sure your Central Council delegate reflects your County’s feelings when this issue is debated at Central Council on 17 March
Talk to people about the damage pay-for-play will do to the GAA … and how Ireland will suffer as a result
Keep hammering home the point that nobody in the GAA has to do anything: we’re all volunteers … and if the burdens are too much we should just walk away or reduce our input
Above all, in the GAA we don’t pay people to play our games!
To close on another positive note, the 950th person registered with us yesterday. Not bad for a small rump of malcontents!
It looks like the reconvened DRA hearing may take place on Friday 14 March. We’re going back because of two basic things. First, we don’t think the GAA centrally has lived up to the commitments it gave at the last hearing back in January. That’s something we take no pleasure in. And second, we believe that Central Council’s motion asking Congress to say it’s “satisfied” the grants/awards don’t break Rule 11 has no standing at all in GAA Rule. Congress makes rules. It’s not there to say it’s “satisfied” specific things don’t break specific Rules.
Dessie Farrell (presumably on behalf of the GPA) has asked to appear/be represented at the hearing. This interest in openness and participation is a bit rich after months of secret, behind-closed-doors negotiations on the grants. And what was that a while back about small rumps of malcontents … ? No matter. This isn’t about scoring points. Our view is simple. The GPA is not part of the GAA. The DRA has no jurisdiction over the GPA. This is a case between two parts of the GAA, using the proper GAA systems and procedures. It’s got nothing to do with third parties. So our view is we’ll be keeping it properly “in house.” Nothing personal Dessie … just business.
Presidential Unanimity
Over the past week all three 2008 GAA Presidential candidates have expressed, at a minimum, very grave reservations about the proposed grants deal. Tipperary’s Sean Fogarty struck the clearest of chords with many “Of-One-Believers” when he said: “At the outset we should never have entered discussions on it.” Liam O’Neill meanwhile commented: “If we renege on our amateur status history will not judge us kindly.” And finally Christy Cooney is clear that: “If it affects Rule 11 it shouldn’t happen and it’s up to Management and Central Council to convince Clubs and Counties that it doesn’t.”
Defenders of paying our inter-County players cash to play gaelic games are becoming an endangered species. But when the best that one national journalist who supports the scheme can come up with is an intimidatory “Sign up to grants - or else”, it’s hard to be persuaded by the logical and ethical brilliance of that particular argument!
Dublin Deliberation Deferred
In the light of the forthcoming DRA hearing and Central Council’s meeting of 17 March, St Joseph’s/O’Connell’s Boys GAC agreed to defer until April its motion due for debate at last night’s Dublin County Board meeting. The Club’s motion was fairly straightforward: it mandated Dublin to vote against the “November 2007 Agreement” (or any modification of it that continues to break Rule 11) at Congress. A number of other Dublin Clubs had already rowed in behind St Joseph’s/O’Connell’s Boys on this issue.
But Because We Pay Managers …
There’s a weird circular argument going round that because there’s a raft of “illegal” paid managers at work across the GAA, then it should be OK to also illegally pay elite players. And that those who oppose the grants are thereby hypocrites. Our position is very clear on this: we oppose paid managers. We think the principle of outside, paid managers at Club or County level attacks the very ethos of the GAA. They’re a cancer … and just because part of the body has a cancer is no reason to inject botulism into another part of it.
If the grants debate is won and the idea of pay-for-elite-play is binned, then we need to address the pay-to-manage syndrome with the same vigour. Let’s do it. Let’s bring in rules about who’s eligible to coach/manage teams, rules that run parallel with our existing rules which determine who’s eligible to play for those same teams. It’s not beyond the bounds of GAA possibility to do it. And it’s something we can address jointly, from Central Council down to the grass-roots.
That’s of course, if we’re serious about it! And if that hypocrisy doesn’t run farther than some might think!
Every Club and County in the Land and Beyond
Because those who should be doing it aren’t doing it, we’ve been trying to facilitate a discussion on the grants issue across the GAA. Over the past weekend the text below has been emailed to GAA Clubs; Counties; and Provinces, not just in Ireland but round the world. Nearly 2,400 GAA units have now received the following:
=======================
“Speak Now … Or Forever Hold Your Peace!“
We’re All Adults Around Here
We have a particular view on the cash payments. We’re totally against them. But we don’t expect people to unquestioningly follow our line. We want you to discuss this issue and to reach a conclusion you’re content with. We hope you’ll share our view. This circular sets out why we oppose paying some GAA players to play gaelic games. It’s going to every GAA Club and County. Circulate it to your colleagues/members. Read over it and make up your minds. What you’ll read here isn’t being discussed across the GAA as it should be. But the GAA is us as much as anyone else. Let’s make our view count!
If Grants Are Paid To Inter-County GAA Players, Then;
Our Rule 11 (“a player … shall not accept payment in cash or in kind in conjunction with the playing of Gaelic games”) is blown asunder
Under EU law, the players’ GAA activity will become an economic activity and be subject to EU commercial law: our fundamental GAA principles and rules about eligibility; transfers; and so on will go out the window. Players will be able to move as they/sponsors/whoever sees fit. And they’ll hold “restraint of trade” powers over GAA Committees at Club and County level. It wouldn’t happen? Look at the Bosman; Deliege; Meca-Medina; and Kolpac cases at the European Court of Justice.
Our amateur status will be gone and it won’t be coming back. Those behind the grants deal say it “copper-fastens” our amateur status. European commercial case law says something totally different. Which of them do you think will turn out to be right?
For the first time in GAA history we will have two classes of GAA players/members … those who pay for the games and those who are paid to play them.
We’ll have established the principle that inter-County players get money because of who they are. That process won’t stop.
There will be no moral nor legal justification for not paying the teams’ backroom people … then the team liaison people … then our County Committee people … then …
For the first time in GAA history single decisions by referees; umpires; linesmen; and fixture-makers will decide into whose pockets tens of thousands of euros will go
Illicit “sponsors” will be able to offer teams cash prizes for winning things: the EU “economic activity” reality will mean we can’t stop it
Once the government pulls its funding (as it inevitably will) the GAA will have to pick up the bill
Club players picked for their County will have a clear financial incentive not to risk injury at Club level. The Club/County divide will grow dramatically.
Any chance we have of tackling the poison (and it is a poison) of paid managers in the GAA will be gone
Volunteers will increasingly say: “I’m off!” They have in every other sport where payment was introduced. Just look at Club rugby in Ireland (if you can find it) ten years after pay-for-play came in.
And No, We Don't Have To Do This!
Let’s remember a few basics that have got lost in the fog here:
In the GAA nobody has to do anything! If players think the burdens are too great, they should walk away … just like the rest of us should. We're volunteers, ALL of us!
In the GAA there's no such thing as an "Inter-County player": we have Club players who happen to get picked for their County
Amateurism and volunteerism are at the heart of what the GAA has been and done for 124 years: change that and you break the core GAA dynamic. And Ireland suffers disastrously as a result.
It's our choice and ours alone whether we accept pay-for-play, however it's dressed up. Oppose the grants. Let's get back to doing what the GAA was set up to do, providing "no charge" gaelic opportunities for the people of Ireland. Join us at www.ofonebelief.org
=======================
O Wad Some Pow’r
The great Robert Burns put it as only he could:
“O wad some pow’r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us”
In that light what about this from the Mayor of Wexford, George Lawlor, at last weekend’s Leinster Convention:
“Some people who seem to be shouting the loudest seem to be abandoning the fact that were it not for the GAA they would not be in the economic circumstances they find themselves at the current time. Also, in relation to power bases in the GAA, it has to be said that the day when a club secretary or chairman or county board delegate decide they want to go on strike, I think that’s the time you will see who are the powerhouse and who are the engine room within this organisation.”
Confused? Not Half As Much As We Are!
“I would be surprised if county boards made a decision on a document that they haven’t seen.” Pauric Duffy on 3 March 2008.
So how come Central Council could make a decision on 16 February, on the same document it hadn’t seen either, to seek Congress’ “satisfaction” with that document and its contents? We certainly expressed surprise then … but who else did?
Is there just a wee bit of double standards at work here?
And Finally, Keep The Faith, All 950+ Of You! The Next Month is Critical!
The mantra for opposing pay-for-play in the GAA remains the same. We work within (and want to protect!) the GAA’s structures and systems … so:
Bring this issue up in your Club and bring it to your County Committee to swell the very significant tide of GAA opposition to it
Make sure your voice is heard when it reaches the floor of Congress
Make sure your Central Council delegate reflects your County’s feelings when this issue is debated at Central Council on 17 March
Talk to people about the damage pay-for-play will do to the GAA … and how Ireland will suffer as a result
Keep hammering home the point that nobody in the GAA has to do anything: we’re all volunteers … and if the burdens are too much we should just walk away or reduce our input
Above all, in the GAA we don’t pay people to play our games!
To close on another positive note, the 950th person registered with us yesterday. Not bad for a small rump of malcontents!
