Replying To moc.dna:  "Your a man with his head buried in the sand, you will go far in the GAA.
Let's take a couple of lines from your post, firstly "I'd say they care more about the CPA than the CPA care about the GAA", well if that's the case how come they don't even officially recognise them as a group, how come they dismissed the motion at Congress on transparency & openly mocked motions from the CPA, seems pretty clear to all that the GAA have a hostile view of the CPA. Secondly, " if all revenue from the inter county structures stopped as well as advice on grant applications etc you'd find a high percentage of clubs would cease to exist " the majority of GAA clubs continue to exist without any funding from the GAA despite them paying over thousands in registration & affiliation fees. You were asked to back your other post that clubs are funded from the inter county scene, as of yet you have put nothing up to back that statement. As for the CPA coming up with proposals on how to stop inter county players heading to the American & London money, perhaps you should pose that to the GPA who are their representative body & who are funded with millions of GAA money to administrate.
You also state that "they also did not seek millions in public money to part build a new stadium & then waste that money" obviously pure denial on your part, how do you think Croke Park was built, remember the Bertie vote. Many millions of public money went into Croke Park & let's not forget the PUC mess, did you forget the €30 Million of public money there.
Lastly, you say "yes organisations within the GAA(Cork, Mayo,Galway) have issues on how they govern themselves & I'm sure the hierarchy will step in as required" well they are already in there & yet there continues to be controversy, yet no transparency from the GAA or answers to what they knew, when they knew, did they withhold information or advise to do so. So continue on with your deflection & defence of all matters such as GAA hierarchy & inter county scene. Demonise the CPA as the big bad wolf, yes they are responsible for destroying the GAA. If people of the calibre of Micheál Briody, Aaron Kiernan, Liam Griffin etc cannot get any traction from the GAA then you realise how bad it is. If I were them, for their own sanity they should disband the CPA & walk away & leave it to the autocratic dictatorship. They clearly have no interest or understand the level of discontent & apathy."

Replying To TheUsername:  "You'd be a big backer of the CPA then, im open minded about it, my comments are opinions on the political process and how i see it as opposed to the report (despite it being well leaked/kited) you are correct to say it hasn't been officially published. Im open to my analysis of agenda being wrong, its just an opinion.

I dont really have a alliance or agenda with one particular group involved in this, what i would say is that there are an increasingly number of noses at the trough of these things, yet nothing seems to be getting better, in terms of player welfare, fixtures and all the relevant issues of the day, in fact i think the opposite ids done in an effort to compromise and become inclusive of all said noses, just power plays really with no meaningful change."

Replying To moc.dna:  "Your a man with his head buried in the sand, you will go far in the GAA.
Let's take a couple of lines from your post, firstly "I'd say they care more about the CPA than the CPA care about the GAA", well if that's the case how come they don't even officially recognise them as a group, how come they dismissed the motion at Congress on transparency & openly mocked motions from the CPA, seems pretty clear to all that the GAA have a hostile view of the CPA. Secondly, " if all revenue from the inter county structures stopped as well as advice on grant applications etc you'd find a high percentage of clubs would cease to exist " the majority of GAA clubs continue to exist without any funding from the GAA despite them paying over thousands in registration & affiliation fees. You were asked to back your other post that clubs are funded from the inter county scene, as of yet you have put nothing up to back that statement. As for the CPA coming up with proposals on how to stop inter county players heading to the American & London money, perhaps you should pose that to the GPA who are their representative body & who are funded with millions of GAA money to administrate.
You also state that "they also did not seek millions in public money to part build a new stadium & then waste that money" obviously pure denial on your part, how do you think Croke Park was built, remember the Bertie vote. Many millions of public money went into Croke Park & let's not forget the PUC mess, did you forget the €30 Million of public money there.
Lastly, you say "yes organisations within the GAA(Cork, Mayo,Galway) have issues on how they govern themselves & I'm sure the hierarchy will step in as required" well they are already in there & yet there continues to be controversy, yet no transparency from the GAA or answers to what they knew, when they knew, did they withhold information or advise to do so. So continue on with your deflection & defence of all matters such as GAA hierarchy & inter county scene. Demonise the CPA as the big bad wolf, yes they are responsible for destroying the GAA. If people of the calibre of Micheál Briody, Aaron Kiernan, Liam Griffin etc cannot get any traction from the GAA then you realise how bad it is. If I were them, for their own sanity they should disband the CPA & walk away & leave it to the autocratic dictatorship. They clearly have no interest or understand the level of discontent & apathy."

Replying To Whammo86:  "It really seems like the resistance to change is coming from the GAA hierarchy."

Replying To TheUsername:  "I think with accommodation there comes a certain inertia in compromise and subsequent lack of action and I think that is what we see over and over again and the real issues not getting addressed. It's impossible to be inclusive of the agendas of the GAA as business, the CPA and GPA all with contrasting agendas and accommodate everyone's needs. Thus compromise, leads to accommodation, inertia and a lack of real change for anyone. There just to many varying agendas and needs for real change to made inclusively.

I admire the CPA in someways in the strategy I mentioned above, the lad from the CPA in Galway took it as a slight, but I think the strategy is valid, influencing clever, self sustaining and radical when it comes to GAA politics.

They were involved in influencing but maintain their dissenting lobby for another day by withdrawing when the plan was done, win, win as change is very often incremental despite ideals."

Replying To Whammo86:  "I'm just disappointed that a time to act has been given up.

I don't think the inter county game is reaching its full potential.

I think it's increasingly catering for a select few of elite teams.

The club game is suffering at the hands of the qualifiers.

If there's one aspect that the CPA cannot compromise on it's the qualifiers.

They are a nightmare for being able to schedule club games.

There doesn't need to be a scaling back of the inter county game, it just has to stop being so inefficient and also impacting on the rest of the games."

Replying To TheUsername:  "There is very little to disagree with there and I'd broadly agree, the GAA are experts of producing malaise from the jaws of innovation, progress and common sense.

My own feeling on the GAA at the moment is it's not sure what it's identity is, if you look at many issues in the GAA there is a hybrid approach of volunteerism, amateurism and professionalism in the association. It's lack accountability and corporate structuring. It's evident in funding, commercial revenue but also in its structures and personnel politically in the association. Sooner or later there will be a story akin to the FAI or the NGO will come about about the GAA and that will be the catalyst for change in the issues I mention above.

In reality despite marketing the volunteerism and ammeter piece, the GAA in organization turning over 70 mill annually, that attracts many noses to the trough, we are seeing it's advent, CPA, GPA, US clubs talent draining., all looking for a piece of the pie and own little part of the empire. Skills aren't there in the association to manage that the way it needs to be in my opinion, the ammeter nature of the association means essentially these groups are trade unions. Something will give, just a matter of time.

The great pity, is if done right the game is really healthy, the inter-county game is producing record breaking revenue, interest in the league and latter stages of the championship is high. But more importantly their is huge interest in the club game, largely thanks to TG4 and that has also now moved to RTÉ, markets are widening, if somehow the whole thing became complimentary, less polarized and congruent the game would grow and support, future and self sustain itself in a way not seen before. Just my opinion mind."

Replying To moc.dna:  "Your a man with his head buried in the sand, you will go far in the GAA.
Let's take a couple of lines from your post, firstly "I'd say they care more about the CPA than the CPA care about the GAA", well if that's the case how come they don't even officially recognise them as a group, how come they dismissed the motion at Congress on transparency & openly mocked motions from the CPA, seems pretty clear to all that the GAA have a hostile view of the CPA. Secondly, " if all revenue from the inter county structures stopped as well as advice on grant applications etc you'd find a high percentage of clubs would cease to exist " the majority of GAA clubs continue to exist without any funding from the GAA despite them paying over thousands in registration & affiliation fees. You were asked to back your other post that clubs are funded from the inter county scene, as of yet you have put nothing up to back that statement. As for the CPA coming up with proposals on how to stop inter county players heading to the American & London money, perhaps you should pose that to the GPA who are their representative body & who are funded with millions of GAA money to administrate.
You also state that "they also did not seek millions in public money to part build a new stadium & then waste that money" obviously pure denial on your part, how do you think Croke Park was built, remember the Bertie vote. Many millions of public money went into Croke Park & let's not forget the PUC mess, did you forget the €30 Million of public money there.
Lastly, you say "yes organisations within the GAA(Cork, Mayo,Galway) have issues on how they govern themselves & I'm sure the hierarchy will step in as required" well they are already in there & yet there continues to be controversy, yet no transparency from the GAA or answers to what they knew, when they knew, did they withhold information or advise to do so. So continue on with your deflection & defence of all matters such as GAA hierarchy & inter county scene. Demonise the CPA as the big bad wolf, yes they are responsible for destroying the GAA. If people of the calibre of Micheál Briody, Aaron Kiernan, Liam Griffin etc cannot get any traction from the GAA then you realise how bad it is. If I were them, for their own sanity they should disband the CPA & walk away & leave it to the autocratic dictatorship. They clearly have no interest or understand the level of discontent & apathy."

Replying To sam1884:  "The CPA have pulled out of the consultation which gives an indication into the findings. The club is the integral part of the GAA and without it there wouldn't be an association. However whilst local fund raising is impressive the real money, the finance that provides the facilities etc come from the inter county scene. The GAA need the inter county scene no matter how controversial that is to the CPA. The April "club" month and playing of All Ireland finals hasn't worked.

Without a successful, well marketed inter county scene it's hard to see the GAA providing what they currently do in local areas - it's clear the money filters down.

Lets see what the findings are but if the CPA are not happy then to me it gives an indication the GAA are not prepared to dilute inter county scenes further which I think is the right decision.

It's getting to the stage where counties need to consider playing club league competitions without inter county players and using the window provided by the GAA to have everyone available for the club championships in most cases towards the end of July."

Replying To browncows:  "Your post displays a great deal of ignorance of how clubs survive / exist. The base of all GAA games is rooted in the clubs which is being ignored at the expense the county teams. A good example of how we manage our affairs can be seen by the non-transparent way votes are taken at congress and wage costs of our amateur organisations key personnel is not disclosed."

Replying To sam1884:  "There is room for inter county and clubs. Hence why this report has acknowledged issues at hand and came up with 29 recommendations. Lets see what is produced before we pass judgement on the full picture instead of getting distracted by one stakeholder jumping ship as the report goes to print. Clubs are vital in the GAA world and without them the association wouldn't exist however like all sports around the world elite is where the revenue, media interest and marketing comes from, it's not unique to the GAA world. I think this report should acknowledge the role of club and inter county side by side and I think it will."

Replying To sam1884:  "There is room for inter county and clubs. Hence why this report has acknowledged issues at hand and came up with 29 recommendations. Lets see what is produced before we pass judgement on the full picture instead of getting distracted by one stakeholder jumping ship as the report goes to print. Clubs are vital in the GAA world and without them the association wouldn't exist however like all sports around the world elite is where the revenue, media interest and marketing comes from, it's not unique to the GAA world. I think this report should acknowledge the role of club and inter county side by side and I think it will."

Replying To Hawkeye9212:  "So what are you suggesting? Should the GAA adopt the same model as cricket in England. An amateur club game and a semi-professional county game. I don't think that will fly within the GAA."

Replying To browncows:  "I agree there is room for inter county and clubs but unfortunately the room for the club is being squeezed continuously. Most clubs play most of their club football without county players- 40 years ago this was not the case even in counties who were winning AI's. Elite may be where the revenue is but ours is supposed to be ab an amateur game. Playing important matches under winter conditions does little to promote club interest, except to add considerable costs in lighting and maintenance of pitches."

Replying To sam1884:  "Sadly this isn't 40 years ago the world moves on. The world is a much smaller place and players have woken up from having life decisions dedicated by only football at home.

If the GAA and I'm not sure if the report will allow the vast majority of inter county teams to be out of their championships by the end of June with only the best playing games through July does people really believe this will result in the majority of clubs having inter county players giving 100% committment as was the case 40 years ago!

People should wake up to what would happen - it would mean the vast majority of our inter county players enjoying themselves, making money and playing in the American and London Championship through the summer and who could blame them. The inter county game is mostly played by guys in their early to mid 20's these days so it would take a lot for them to turn down offers to be professional for 2 months.

If they want to travel fair play but we shouldn't have this notion if we stop most inter county games by the end of June we'll have all our inter county players at their clubs during the best time of the year - we simply won't.

Hence why I suspect this report will encourage clubs to play league games with fixed dates without inter county players if need be whilst the inter county season is ran off. Then also allowing elite players the opportunity to play the elite form of the game but also have the time and structures to compete and try and win a Club Championship where clubs have their own dedicated championship window.

I don't see the issue if this is what the report entails."

Replying To sam1884:  "I'd love a career in the GAA but it's unlikely to happen sadly but thanks for the compliment. Firstly I don't think anybody called the CPA the bad wolf, if anything the CPA have come onto the stage banging the drum against everything GAA. The GAA from what I've seen opened their doors, give a platform to the CPA so I'm not sure how they've dismissed them. The prespective of being listened to can take different avenues - someone listening, taking on board your views and bringing that information into the bigger picture along with the views of other stakeholders is a lot different to the spin of "we're not being listened to" because we didn't get everything our own way.

In terms of funding 84% of the GAA's wealth is distributed - a large percentage of this is distributed to clubs, counties and schools where a significant sum of money is filtered down to counties and club grants. This filtering down happens every year and is a significant sum of money in the context of what the GAA earn. The standard of facilities in rural/urban areas of Ireland is a credit to yes local fundraising but mainly to the amount of grants being distributed from Croke Park. Of course not every club benefits every year but would these clubs be able to provide everything they currently do without the amazing facilities they have in some cases they can make money from these facilities to help with running costs - it's unlikely these clubs could operate in the same way and without modern facilities would struggle to survive.

In terms of Croke Park and comparing public money to the FAI - the FAI portion of the Aviva is still not paid off - in fact interests are rising and money effectively has ran out at the Association. The GAA on the other hand yes took public money to assist with Croke Park but it was a small portion of the overall cost and they stuck systemtically to their business plan to ensure they didn't need the government to step in again - the GAA as a whole which includes the CPA and all members have now a world class, self sustaining, debt free stadium - one of the best stadiums in the world - a far cry from the mess at the FAI.

I don't know a lot about the Cork situation but this looked to be a local vanity project where costs spiralled. Croke Park have effectively in the last couple of months taken over the running of that stadium and I have every confidence in the same way they did with Croke Park will overtime make it a self sustaining debt free stadium.

Like every association especially the GAA which has 32+ county boards, Provincial councils etc etc will have goverance issues of course, it's particulary difficult for the GAA as they have a system which gives local ownership but at the end of the day have overall responsibility, this warrants a lot of trust and it would be almost impossible to have a day to day eye on every county board, provincial county decision etc but when needed appear to step in quite quickly - audits and accounts could be improved locally and scruntised better by CP maybe not sure in the context of what's happening out west.

Nobody knows unless you do that the CPA couldn't get anything from the GAA - the report hasn't been published but the sounds are 29 recommendations are being put forward. Maybe the CPA will have room to be annoyed but that is a lot of recommendations from a process the CPA were always a part of - it's hard to see how they didn't have some influence in those outcomes.

Nobody on here is against the CPA or accused them of not caring but opinions appear to be the CPA didn't get everything their own way, didn't get the outcomes they wanted in their entirety, have been left with a report that in all likihood the GAA and media can market as progress which clubs will be able to live with - and for that reason jumped ship before publication to bang the drum against the GAA's intentions.

But let's see the report as opinions may change and the CPA might be vindicated for walking away."

Replying To moc.dna:  "So many inaccuracies in your post, it's quite obvious you have never being involved at the coalface at club level & particularly when it comes to seeking funding. You failed to answer the questions put to you & your replies are so obviously from an internet search engine. If this is where we are at in GAA, things are actually worse than I thought. So many armchair GAA experts now armed by their search on the internet. Your whole tone towards the club scene & obvious support of all matters Inter County smacks of someone either trolling, incapable of understanding the situation or driving a particular agenda. At this stage I am beginning to question why I am wasting my time reading your posts.
As for a career in the GAA, keep up your level of public disdain for clubs & you will be recruited very fast, if not there already."

Replying To sam1884:  "Compromise in the inter county game, increasing the number of club only weekends to 15 and putting in place an oversight committee. There are issues which require clarification especially around inter county competions but on the face it's hard not to see some improvement in these competion structures - also clarification required on genuine power of oversight structures.

I'm not sure if playing two All Ireland finals within 7 days would be good for marketing the GAA's biggest events so some compromise there for clubs from the task force. A few questions will be asked in the consultation period before it's passed or rejected but in my opinion there is enough substance to start a debate so I find it hard to see why the CPA jumped up and down so much and walked away from the process prior to publication."