Players are to be given a say in the future of the Railway Cup competitions. Jarlath Burns, chairman of the GAA's Players Committee, expects to have the collated opinions available in the new year. "We have finalised a questionnaire on the future of the inter-provincial competitions. All the interprovincial panellists - football and hurling - in each province are being surveyed."
The Railway Cup competitions have been in a state of suspended animation for the last decade or more. Although players have demonstrated a certain loyalty to them, the public appears to have long ago lost interest. Burns' questionnaire is a simple document, five or six questions and not according to him, "like the Strategic Review questionnaire, pages and pages long". It is the first organised survey of players' views on the matter.
"It's to find out how they feel about the commitment and the merit of the competitions, the time of year they're held. At least it will give back to players control of the debate rather than restrict it to the week before an inter-provincial match. We'll look at various things, like the possibility of trips abroad and the marketing of the competitions. It was something we decided to do after a number of players expressed concern that the competitions might be taken away."
The exercise is open to the charge of pushing an open door as players have tended to defend the Railway Cups but Burns believes that the comments and suggestions of participants may assist the GAA in finding some sort of an accomodation for the competition.
He also feels that the lack of public interest isn't as irrelevant as sometimes depicted. The argument has been made that if players are content to play the tournaments, what does it matter if there isn't a big public interest in the events.
"From playing the competition myself," says Burns, "I'm familiar with that what-does-it-matter argument. But I remember playing in a couple of big matches and noticing the difference. If you're going to ask players to play, you have to market it better. But that goodwill is there and I know that management (the GAA's Management Committee) is interested to see the results."
This has been a hectic year for Burns who was appointed by new president Sean McCague to chair the Players' Committee last Easter. Under pressure from some high-profile stunts by the rival Gaelic Players Association (GPA), he has nonetheless succeeded in negotiating a number of advances on behalf of all players.
Since the election of a number of well-known players as officers of the GPA, a certain thaw has taken place in the previously glacial relations between Burns' committee and the GPA which is now represented by Dessie Farrell, James O'Connor and Seamus Moynihan.
"I would hope that the GPA will come in behind us when we complete this survey which is giving a voice to players. I would be very confident that relations will improve. I'm waiting for the GPA to come to Croke Park and I will be more than happy to do business with the likes of Dessie Farrell."
Next week, Burns will launch an information booklet for all players. It will set out details of the GAA insurance scheme, how players can benefit under the terms of the Amateur Status report and other entitlements. He believes that for all the high-profile status of the £250,000 endorsement deal announced in September, his most important achievement was the minimum mileage rate of 30 pence which he piloted through Management and Central Council.
On the delicate question of the GPA's influence on the progress made by his committee, Burns is candid: "Yeah, people may ask where the move for change came from but that's just conjecture. I'm not going to speculate on whether it might have happened differently without the GPA. The fact is it happened."
TG4 will broadcast live coverage of Sunday's Munster club football final between Nemo Rangers and Glenflesk. The programme begins at 1.50 p.m. Highlights of the Na FiannaO'Hanrahan's Leinster final will be shown the following night at 10.35 p.m.
