GAA President Nickey Brennan is all too aware of the threat of losing some of the game's top footballers as Australian Football League clubs and agents try to attract players with lucrative deals Down Under, but Brennan maintains the GAA has no intentions of cutting ties with the AFL and insists the International Rules must continue.
Brennan was speaking after several scouts from AFL clubs have been in Ireland recently with one in particular holding a trial. Gerard Sholly has been a renowned scout for many leading AFL clubs, including Collingwood in Melbourne, and was in Cavan recently holding a trial at Breffni Park without permission from the Cavan County Board or the GAA.
Another agent Ricky Nixon was also in Ireland on a scouting mission recently but Brennan said at least he was more up front about his visit to Ireland.
"In fairness to Ricky Nixon he was totally up front and spoke to Páraic Duffy (GAA Director General) and myself on Monday morning and explained what he was doing," said Brennan on Newstalk 106. He also insisted it's better to have lines of communications open with the AFL rather than not at all.
"We are far better off dealing with a problem which is there and having a relationship with the AFL. If we had no relationship with the AFL, in other words if there was no international Rules Series, what would happen then is that we are out of the equation," added Brennan.
"We simply have no hand, act nor part. These young lads that are considering travelling, we've no control over them per se, it is ultimately a decision for themselves and their families.
"But if we have a relationship with the AFL we can perhaps and this is my hope, that we can put some controls in place whereby clubs are obliged under the auspices of the AFL to adhere to certain standards of conduct in relation to how they deal with these young men and with how they look after them during their time in Australia.
Brennan said the GAA would use the International Rules Series in October as an opportunity to discuss the matter further and has also asked Nixon to document his plans for attracting Irish footballers to the AFL.
"We have asked him (Nixon) to document all of what he is going to do now in a communications document to us. We can use that to discuss the matter internally and it will also be used as the basis for further discussion in Australia in October when we are at the International Rules, at which we will be asking the AFL themselves to attend," said Brennan.
"In fairness to Nixon, while we mightn't be happy with what he is doing, at least for the moment it appears that he is upfront where the other guy came in and seems to be doing everything behind closed doors."
At this stage there are at least nine Irish footballers on the books with AFL clubs, including names like Tadhg Kennelly, Down's Martin Clarke or Armagh's Kevin Dyas competing Down Under. The notion of AFL clubs attracting GAA stars is hardly a new phenomenon and has been going on for over 20 years. Anthony Tohill spent time in Australia before returning home to win an All-Ireland with Derry in 1993.
By priding itself on being an amateur organisation the GAA realises that if a player decides to join the AFL's more lucrative arena, then that's a matter entirely for the individual. At best all the GAA can hope for at this stage is to put structures in place and keep communicating so they can at least monitor the situation better.