GAA and GPA reach agreement

NEWS ROUND-UP:THE GAA and the Gaelic Players Association will today announce a breakthrough in their discussions on recognition for the players' body.

A briefing has been arranged for lunchtime in Croke Park, where the association’s National Coaching Conference takes place this weekend.

Croke Park officials declined to release details, beyond a notice convening an “important media briefing”, but a framework agreement is expected to be presented to the public this afternoon.

One of the sticking points was the question of funding for the GPA should it agree to be brought under the auspices of Croke Park, with the players looking for a fixed percentage of the GAA’s commercial income.

It is not clear what financial details have been agreed, but these will be laid out at the press conference today.

Although the discussions between the two sides will continue, the dispute between the players and the GAA is expected to be declared over.

Meanwhile, Tadhg Kennelly has revealed how a combination of threatening letters and phonecalls to his family’s home, as well as the economy here, helped persuade him to return to the AFL.

Kennelly claims the phonecalls and hate mail from Kerry supporters continue following the comments made in his book, Unfinished Business.

“I’m still getting hate mail and some phone calls, but it’s mainly been from Kerry people, I have to say,” Kennelly said.

“I suppose it’s because I’m one of their own and they feel like they can. There have been phone calls to my mother’s house phone, and that was hard to swallow.”

“The whole country is on its knees at the moment,” Kennelly said. “Ireland has been in a recession for a couple of years now.

“There are a lot of people leaving, a lot of people out of work and losing their houses.

“It’s very hard I suppose to try and stick around in that environment with few prospects myself when I had the opportunity to come back and be a professional footballer again.”