Sir, - The chief executive of the Dublin County Board, John Costello, responded to a question concerning the intervention of the players in the choice of the Dublin team manager by saying that "the duty of the players is to play for the team".
While it is reasonable to argue that the choice of manager should not be the preserve of the players, to seek to reduce their role to one of duty (defined: behaviour due to superior, deference, expression of respect, obligation), is truly breathtaking.
It is striking that after a summer of outstanding performance by amateur Gaelic football players which gave pleasure to record attendances, the attitude of officials to the GAA's greatest asset - its players - is rooted in an old command/obedience model long discredited elsewhere. Nobody paying into Croke Park does so to watch John Costello or the chairman of the board John Bailey for that matter. - Yours, etc.
Martin Conry, Clontarf, Dublin 3.