Revenue sharing not on agenda

GAELIC GAMES NEWS:THE GAA has emphasised they are not discussing an agreement with the Gaelic Players Association on the sharing of the association's commercial revenues.

The suggestion was made in a newspaper at the weekend after a television interview with association director general Páraic Duffy.

Commenting on the matter, Duffy said there should be no ambiguity about the association’s position and that the aim of securing a percentage of the GAA’s income from television and commercial revenue streams was no longer part of the GPA agenda and had not featured in the discussions between the organisations, which will be completed in the coming weeks.

On the Setanta Ireland programme i-Talk Sport, Duffy was discussing the problem of unemployment among GAA members and players and specifically an idea that the association should establish a fund to help create employment.

“Eugene McGee made a proposal in his newspaper (Irish Independent) column that the GAA should dedicate 10 per cent of its revenues to providing jobs for players who are out of work,” according to Duffy. “I said that the GPA were doing good work in this area in terms of helping guys to up-skill and also with other ideas that constitute part of the funding we give them.

“I was then asked would I give five per cent and I said we’d look at any ideas that were out there but the context of the interview was the rising incidence of emigration and support we are giving through the GPA. The concept of handing over a percentage of the GAA’s commercial income, whether that’s advertising or media rights – let alone the published figure of €1,300,000 – was never mentioned and I’m quite happy to clarify that.”

Asked on Friday by programme host Eoin McDevitt whether the GAA would consider McGee’s proposal to make available 10 or even five per cent for a fund to create employment, Duffy replied: “Yeah, I mean, we’d be open to it.” Whereas he accepted his response could be considered ambiguous, the director general emphasised he was talking about McGee’s idea to address unemployment and not the specific funding figure.

“The context of the discussion was the economic situation, emigration and its impact on the GAA. The first part of the programme was totally about that and the second part was about violence towards referees and the problems caused by that. There was no reference to the GPA and commercial rights. It just didn’t arise.

“My only reference to revenues was in the context of Eugene McGee’s piece. The GPA accept that the question of negotiating percentages doesn’t arise but we are concluding an agreement to provide funding for a number of very worthwhile schemes.”

Negotiations between the GAA and the GPA are close to finalising a permanent arrangement between the bodies. This will supersede last year’s interim agreement, which marked the coming together of the players’ group and the GAA.

In the lead-up to that announcement just over a year ago, one of the GPA’s negotiating priorities had been the agreement of a five per cent cut of the GAA’s commercial revenues (estimated at about €2 million for last year). In the end the sum agreed was a fund of €1.1 million for player welfare schemes as well as €250,000 towards the GPA’s administration costs. Although some way short of the figure originally sought, GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell said the amount agreed was “satisfactory”.