CONGRESS AFTERMATH/GPA's response: The GPA have responded strongly to remarks made at the weekend by GAA president Seán McCague. Dublin's Dessie Farrell, chairman of the unofficial players' union, was commenting on McCague's dismissal of an opinion poll in the Sunday Independent, which suggested a large number of inter-county players were in favour of the €127 weekly allowance being proposed by the GPA.

"It demonstrates how out of touch GAA administrators are with inter-county players. They have said that only a minority of players are in favour of that allowance. The poll rubbishes that argument. There's an overwhelming majority of players who support it."

At the end of this month the GPA will convene an extraordinary general meeting in Portlaoise to consider their position in the light of Croke Park's flat rejection of their allowance proposal.

The meeting will be addressed by the Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy, who received a delegation from the GPA last week to talk about his planned tax breaks for professional sportsmen.

The scheme came in for heavy criticism from the GAA who said that it represented a slight to amateur sportspeople.

Seán Kelly, the president-elect of the GAA, forcefully re-emphasised this point of view in his acceptance speech at last Saturday's annual congress.

Another speaker will be Brendan Batson, the former West Brom player who is an official with the English professional soccer players body the PFA.

"We met Charlie McCreevy last week to highlight our anger and frustration at the Finance Bill proposals. He accepted what we had to say and said he fully understood our contribution but that he couldn't compromise his proposals by extending them to amateur players. He said it was up to Croke Park to address that.

"He agreed to come to our e.g.m. to explain his plan and clarify his views."

In relation to the possibility of a players' strike, Farrell was non-committal. "What we do next will depend on the members and what they suggest."

Last November's a.g.m. of the association was a fairly militant gathering that agreed after discussion to hold off on any action until after officers had met with Seán McCague and Jarlath Burns, the chairman of Croke Park's Players' Committee. According to Farrell, those negotiations have not gone well.

"We raised the subject of player endorsements and the topic of Murray Consultants (official agents to GAA players) and expressed dissatisfaction.

"It was mooted that perhaps the GPA could tender for the agency when Murray's term was up. After initial talks we received the information that Murray's had been reappointed - which was very disappointing from our point of view.

"Then on the drugs issue we asked for a 24-hour hotline seven days a week so that players could pick up a phone and talk about it (drug testing) and they haven't got back to us on that.

"The €127 a week they just point blank refused to discuss. So we have decided to call the e.g.m."