The Gaelic Players' Association (GPA) chief executive, Dessie Farrell, has branded the new Croke Park-controlled players' body as "undemocratic" in its nomination process. Gavin Cummiskey reports.
Farrell said yesterday he felt compelled to escalate GPA opposition towards president Seán Kelly's proposal for the new body because it would entail county boards hand-picking players as representatives without consulting other panellists.
"To claim that a haphazardly assembled committee with a Croke Park-appointed chairman is democratic is misleading," said Farrell
"There is democracy and there is GAA democracy, and the players have no desire to amalgamate with a system that has all too often and very publicly imploded on the bigger issues.
"This proposed new committee cannot and will not represent all players, despite Seán Kelly's assertions," he added.
Kelly, meanwhile, stood by the new in-house body, which was formally launched at Central Council last April. He said it was put in place because the GPA were aggrieved with the former lack of player representation within the Croke Park hierarchy.
"The idea actually came from the GPA, as they felt the players were not being represented correctly at all levels," said Kelly yesterday. "Nothing could be more democratic than having representatives elected by the players.
"I asked the counties to call all the panels together and elect (representatives) to provincial level, whereby two members would be elected to represent each province."
He said the idea of the body was to provide a widespread representation to include club players: "Everybody is a club player at the end of the day. We put emphasis on the formation of a club advisory committee, fixtures and development."
Farrell claimed that despite the emergence of the selection strategy, he was confident the playing majority would weigh in behind the GPA.
"We have sought and received assurances from player squads that co-operation will not be forthcoming for the proposed Croke Park-controlled body, so it is simply not possible to bestow any credibility whatsoever on this entity," said Farrell.
"We acknowledge that president Seán Kelly has, from day one, put players' welfare high on his agenda. We also concur that together we can make a difference. However, the creation of a second players' body is bureaucratic fudging of the worst kind. Therefore, we again call on him to push for official recognition of the GPA as an independent, autonomous body to oversee the welfare of the players."
Meanwhile, the GAA has clarified some disciplinary rules that were also introduced at Council.
The penalty for a suspended player will include the next game in the competition in which the suspension was incurred, even if the game falls outside the suspension period.
If the penalty is incurred in the team's last game in the competition, it is carried forward to the first game in the competition the following year.
Croke Park said the amendment was designed to eliminate possible anomalies resulting from the different time spans between this year's quarter-finals and semi-finals.
