It appears we are heading for a major confrontation between different sections of the GAA over the place of inter-county footballers and hurlers in the whole scheme of GAA activities.

What appeared for several months past to be little more than a skirmish between the official GAA and the GPA over the distribution of €5 million, which the GAA made no contribution to, has developed into a more serious issue altogether where some of the fundamentals of the GAA's existence, notably amateurism, are being questioned.

As always in such major confrontation in the GAA, the rank-and-file members of the organisation have quickly aligned themselves into one of two factions in a manner that is reminiscent of the great debate on Rule 27, which banned 'foreign games' over 30 years ago and in more recent times the controversies over the Ban on RUC and British soldiers joining the GAA and the Rule 42 debate about the opening of Croke Park.

Factions

If past experience is anything to go by, we can expect to see the two factions, pro and anti-GPA, become more virulent in their statements and actions over the next year or two and the language to become more and more intemperate as hardline views take precedence over common sense.

It has always been thus in GAA controversies, as I can personally vouch for having lived through the three major 'debates' mentioned above.

As time goes by logic and common sense go out the window and the venom that was apparent against changing all of the restrictive rules of old will resurface in opposition to the GPA.

That opposition to date has been muted enough with very few elected officers prepared to speak out against the players' body even though privately they detest everything the GPA stands for.

But, as far as those people are concerned, preventing the GPA achieving credibility is a battle worth fighting to the death for. For the great majority of GAA people who simply want to promote, play and watch football and hurling, this is a fairly dismal prospect.

I expect the current dispute to be resolved quickly since there is no basic principle at stake and why the Sports Council has not already been used to distribute the €5m is a mystery.

By voting to take strike action, however, the members of the GPA have marked out the battlefield for the future and that is more important than the current dispute. Prior to that action, the contacts between the GAA and the GPA were on a relatively cordial basis, at least for public consumption.

Past president Sean Kelly went out on a limb to bring the GPA into the GAA fold, but little progress was made in achieving what would be the first major step at preventing disaster in the years ahead.

If the GPA was officially recognised by the GAA in the same way as the bodies which run secondary schools or third level competitions are, then there would be a strong possibility that a more harmonious relationship would develop between the two bodies.

Nickey Brennan and Pauric Duffy have maintained a good relationship with the GPA also but the vote for strike action may well polarise GAA members into two opposing camps despite that.

The strange thing is that even though GPA CEO Dessie Farrell was elected onto the Central Council to represent players, the GPA was not officially recognised as a legitimate GAA subcommittee.

War footing

By calling strike action, the GPA has in effect adopted a war footing. Threatening to disrupt the big hurling and football games next spring will not be seen in any other light by anti-GPA people from fans to top officials.

It is odds-on that the strike will never take place but the mere fact that GPA members voted so decisively for such action is a like a red rag to a bull to many GAA officers and, it must be said, to a lot of ordinary followers of the games also. There is a great deal of ignorance among ordinary GAA people about the role of the GPA, what they are for and who exactly their membership is.

For instance, we have never seen a list of GPA members from individual counties which would be of great interest to the fans. The fact that such information is not available leads to suspicion about the real strength of the organisation around the country and is damaging to the GPA as far as the battle for public opinion is concerned.

On the other side, most GAA followers have the distinct impression that the GAA at official level is out to kill the GPA either by kindness, by ignoring them or simply by sheer brute force.

The usual suspects in official quarters who are against everything new will start emerging from the woodwork shortly to make snide and disparaging remarks about the GPA and individual members and at upcoming county conventions we can expect to see this trend emerge.

County Board officers will boast about how well THEIR players are looked after with the clear implication that official GAA does not need the GPA to tell it how to treat players. The reality, of course, is that but for the emergence of the GPA players would still be treated like dirt in many counties. Some counties who less than ten years ago were paying motor expenses at 13p per mile would still be paying that paltry amount instead of the minimum 50 cent a mile that is now in place.

Teams who MIGHT have got one set of playing gear, and late in the season at that, now receive two complete sets at the correct time.

Players who might have come straight to training from a hard day's work would still be getting a pint of milk and few biscuits instead of the hot meal they are guaranteed now.

Many counties would still be ignoring the medical and financial plight of seriously injured players, as they been doing for donkey's years. All these improvements came about because the GPA lifted the lid on the outrageous carry-on in some counties up to a few years ago.

A major source of attack on the GPA will be the charge of elitism. 'These fellows are only interested in the big-time stuff and feathering their own nests but what about the lads who sweep the dressing rooms and mark the pitches? Aren't they as important as the big county stars?'

This is a spurious argument, but one that will be flogged remorselessly by anti-GPA people.

They forget that having a star county player is the best thing that can happen any GAA club and there was no better example of that in recent years than the captain of Kerry in the past two years Declan O'Sullivan from the tiny south Kerry club, Dromid Pearses.

Elitism

I had the opportunity recently of hearing Declan speak about this club-county connection with tremendous pride and his words completely refuted the argument of elitism. Every sport NEEDS elite players to set standards and motivate young people to follow in their footsteps.

Comparisons between players like Declan O'Sullivan and people who line pitches are just ridiculous because both have their own important role to play in the GAA.

Pay for Play will be the cornerstone of the relationship, if any, between the GAA and the GPA. It will be used constantly as the main stick to beat the players' body with and the biggest challenge the GPA faces is convincing GAA people from the top to the bottom of the organisation that they are not planning to contrive Pay for Play in the short-, medium- or long-term.

Unless they can do that, there will never be harmony between the two bodies, just regular confrontations such as the present one over the distribution of the €5m.

The GAA could help things by being more proactive in relation to investing more of the money, largely generated by county players, back into the players. There are numerous ways that could be done and it would signal to the players that they are appreciated and recognised as key people in the GAA.

Greater expenses could be paid. More scholarships could be awarded to all levels of third-level and second-level education. There is a strong argument for backing Fine Gael TD Jimmy Deenihan's proposal that a small percentage of all Championship games be pooled and divided among inter-county panels for welfare, holidays, etc.

Amateur status

There are numerous ways the GAA could direct more money to inter-county players without infringing their amateur status and it could all be done in a very controlled manner to ensure fair play for ALL inter-county players.

Sadly, the GAA shows little initiative in that regard, preferring to follow events rather than positively influence them in advance.

It is not too late yet of course but certainly closer co-operation between GAA and GPA is what the vast majority of GAA people want -- along with the abandonment of all talk about Pay for Play.

eugenemcg@hotmail.com

- Eugene McGee