Ahhh, Autumn. Nights draw in and the rub of an ice cube in the evening air. Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, as I frequently remark to anyone too slow to flee my cliche-ridden conversation. Everyone has their own emotions at this time of the year: sadness at the dying of the year; dread at going back to school; anticipation at the start of the winter sports' season; whatever.

For the reporter in this line of work, autumn can mean only one thing. Press nights. Neither the glamour of "Hollywood nights" nor the gloom of "the dark nights after Samhain", but somewhere in between. It's generally at these events that we first notice the fading light and creeping chill - but more of Castlebar later.

Last week the hurlers of Tipperary and Clare were our hosts in advance of next week's All Ireland. The routine of these affairs is familiar. Rather like an old-style dance or a singles bar (I believe), a reporter eyes up a likely interviewee and takes him to one side for an encounter of generally one-sided enthusiasm and vigour.

As long as you're not expecting to extract the meaning of life from a couple of these interviews, the formula works well. Sometimes, not all the players are there and this can affect the extent of your choice, but usually, everyone gets something.

Maybe the public wonders what exactly the players and management get out of this. There's only one major benefit for them: getting the whole thing out of the way well in advance of the big day. One or two intrepid reporters might fancy their chances of tracking down a player in the week leading up to an All-Ireland, but most would rather not be depending on the prospect, just as the players could do without having to spend time dodging inquiries.

There will of course be variation in the quality of the material quarried out of these sessions. That is natural because virtuosity with a hurl doesn't guarantee a silver-tongued assessment of that talent and its imminent application. Then there are some players who are articulate, but just don't care to share their thoughts with a wider audience. Happily there is also a healthy number of perceptive and talkative players who uninhibitedly discuss the game.

At the heart of all this ritual is, however, a vital consideration for the future of the GAA. It was Tommy Lyons, the Offaly manager, who made the point about football and hurling being "amateur games covered by a professional media" and as Gaelic games become more and more professional in virtually all other aspects, the amateurism of players is an increasing anomaly.

This anomaly exists regardless of whether you support or abhor the idea of professionalism. It arises because media coverage is vital to any mass organisation.

We tend to be misled by the dynamics governing relations between the media and sport by soccer players in England, dynamics that have occasionally spilled over into the international arena here, culminating in the outrageous invoicing of newspapers covering the World Cup, should their reporters have desired access to the priceless musings of the squad.

Globally, professional sports' recognition of the importance of media coverage is implicit in the authorities' insistence on players making themselves available to reporters. Talking to the public is part of your job as a professional.

The GAA cannot reasonably have such control over its players. Yet, access to players is important in promoting the games, albeit that the distinction has to be made between organised promotion and the incidental promotion that derives from journalism.

At post-All-Ireland lunches, the GAA president ritually thanks the media for their coverage of the games. This misses the point that journalists cover the games because their readers are interested in them, not out of a desire to promote the GAA. Certainly the ever-expanding coverage in all branches of the media promotes football and hurling, but it also reflects public interest.

Much of this coverage depends on access to players and the publication of interviews. Were access to players to dry up, there would be an inevitable shrinkage in the most positive aspects of coverage because player interviews tend to celebrate their subjects.

The much publicised departure of Mayo players from the semi-final press night in Castlebar was an issue only because it was a press night and reporters had been invited. Otherwise, there could be no reasonable comeback had all players declined to talk.

They have some sort of duty to the local media because it serves the community which supports and sustains the team, from attending matches in great number, to making contributions to training and holiday funds. There is no such obligation to national media.

It would of course greatly complicate matters for everyone, but what could the GAA do? As the players are not paid to play, their time is their own and their relations with the media are their own business. A case might be made that speaking to reporters is part of their duty to the association in general, but given the time and effort top players dedicate to playing, that would be an unreasonable extension of their obligations.

At present the matter has yet to come to a head. Indications in the aftermath of the Castlebar debacle were that the players hadn't decided to re-define their relations with the media. They were at pains to explain their actions as a misunderstanding.

For many players, dealing with reporters is a chore they are comfortable in discharging and they have no problems appearing in print. Some even regard it as one of the perks of their status - as one player privately remarked last week.

The one potential danger - much feared by reporters - is that a team with a completely unco-operative attitude to the media will win the All-Ireland and that this would spark copycat attitudes by managements desperate to emulate success.

Perhaps this fear is exaggerated as the process certainly didn't work in reverse. Wexford's All-Ireland win last year didn't trigger a rash of Liam Griffin-style garrulity the length and breadth of the country.

In the meantime, reporters are grateful for the co-operation they receive from most players and managers - whether we are milling around their dressing-room after a match or pressing telephone calls on them at work or taking up their time in some other way.

Nonetheless, everyone should be mindful that the system is dependent on the goodwill of teams and managements and should that, for whatever reason, be withdrawn, there's very little that can be done to ensure its restoration.