At Saturday's special congress in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin, the GAA took its first tentative steps away from the Corinthian absolutism of amateur status and voted to allow players benefit from ancillary activities such as product endorsement and media appearances.

Discussion centred on the report of the Amateur Status Committee which had recommended a comprehensive package of measures at last April's annual congress. Committee chairman and former GAA president Peter Quinn said that the report "unequivocally says that the association will continue to be an amateur body".

He explained that it was intended "to reconcile the amateur ethos with changing social circumstances and changes in the sporting world", "to give players what they can reasonably expect" and "to increase the clarity and reduce the ambiguity" of the rules governing amateurism. "Doing nothing," he said, "is not an option."

In conclusion, Quinn stressed that responsibility for managing these changes rested with GAA members. "It will depend on the willingness of the membership of the association - particularly those in authority - to enforce the principles we adopt."

A number of issues relating to the report were discussed after an enabling motion, generally approving the recommendations of the committee, had been passed.

There was a brief debate on the subject of players receiving money for product endorsement. Down delegate Dan McCartan, a former chairman of the Games Administration Committee, objected on principle. "The outstanding player," he said, "was made great by voluntary workers in his club and his team-mates. Funds should be lodged in a panel fund."

Kilkenny's Nicky Brennan disagreed. "The profile of the games raises the profile of the players and they shouldn't be asked to lose out on these opportunities. They are entitled to remuneration."

Sean Kelly, Kerry county chairman, concurred. "In the world we live in today, I would prefer to see our top players advertising in public rather than the players of other codes. It's not a bottomless fund. No-one's going to make their fortune out of it."

A vote was taken on the principle of product endorsement and it was passed overwhelmingly with only about 10 votes out of approximately 200 delegates opposed.

The most lively exchanges of the afternoon concerned a Cork motion seeking to protect the right of county boards to strike their own deals with sports equipment manufacturers.

According to Frank Murphy, Cork county secretary and chairman of the GAC, no Irish firm would be capable of supplying the quantities necessary to fulfil an equipment deal at national level and that the contract would have to go to a foreign company, in contravention of Official Guide Rule 4 (c) stipulating support for native industry.

Opposition to this proposal came from Roscommon chairman Tom Kennoy who said that whereas he admired the commercial acumen of the stronger counties, neither he in Roscommon nor Tommy Moran (county secretary) in Leitrim could earn much out of sports equipment deals.

A national contract was necessary to provide funds which would enable weaker counties to meet obligations - principally the recommended mileage rate of between 18 and 30 pence - specified in the report.

"Our mileage rate is 14 pence and I'm embarrassed to say that," said Kennoy, "I'd love to pay 20 pence per mile, but I can't afford it. There have to be concurrent decisions to redress the financial burden on those categorised (financially) as weaker counties."

Peter Quinn made his most forceful contribution on the subject, stating that aside from the initial, enabling motion, this was the most important item on the clar. He observed that the experience of other sports was that the two main threats to amateurism came from television companies and sports equipment manufacturers.

He added that whereas the GAA was insulated from the threat of television, this was not the case with equipment manufacturers. In addition to central control, there were financial reasons for negotiating a national agreement.

"We concluded that only five, six or seven counties were capable of contracting major deals with equipment manufacturers. Leitrim and Roscommon are no weaker than Fermanagh or Longford or many of the other counties. This is a way of giving them support."

Motion 13, calling for congress to take cognisance of the lack of resources available to some counties and urging measures to redress the imbalance, was passed and a motion from Leitrim asking for a derogation from the proposed mileage rates was noted and withdrawn.

A further Leitrim motion seeking recognition of the difference between managers and players was withdrawn after a debate during which Quinn drew applause by affirming that he regarded players as more important than managers, but it was agreed that all reasonable expenses incurred by managers should be met.

Hovering over this debate was the occasionally-mentioned subject of club managers, widely rumoured to be in receipt of payment. It was, however, never directly addressed.

The morning session approved the report of the Congress Review Committee with occasional argument on the subject of mandatory under-age delegates and the competing merits of electing and selecting delegates.

From next year, annual congress will be organised on the basis of workshops rather than the conventional mass meetings which have gradually atrophied into dire parodies of a decisionmaking process.