THE GAA’S most senior official has spoken out strongly against under-the-counter payments to county team managers.
He said he believed Gaelic football had become a mainly a middle-class sport in Dublin and that he is “very comfortable” with sports sponsorship by drinks companies.
Páraic Duffy, director general of the GAA, was speaking at a NUI Galway Alumni Association event in Dublin last night.
He said “the biggest, the single most difficult issue we face are under-the-counter payments” to football managers. He quoted the example of an Ulster county where “a well-known mercenary manager’’ was being paid £30,000 “by two very well-known businessmen’’, who he described as “fanatical GAA followers’’.
The manager was once asked by the county board “if the 30p per mile driving expenses was okay? He said ‘Yes’. Everyone knew but no one said anything,’’ Mr Duffy said.Where the issue was concerned, “Ulster counties are the biggest culprits”.
Referring to the capital, he said: “I suspect that the GAA in Dublin has become a very middle-class sport. We have found it difficult to establish in working-class areas, where it is weak and there is a real threat from soccer.’’ Working-class Ireland was proving “a huge challenge”, he said.
Asked by Senator Ronan Mullen, a NUI Galway graduate, whether alcohol sponsorship was proving a problem for the GAA and whether “a little bit of help from Kildare Street” might be required, Mr Duffy said he felt the GAA was “being held to a higher moral standard than most’’ on the issue.
Speaking as a Pioneer, he said he was “very comfortable with Guinness’s as they currently are. Guinness’s sponsorship has been very positive for hurling.’’ Meanwhile, the GAA had a full-time substance-abuse officer who was working very hard to promote a positive attitude to alcohol, he said.
Commenting on recent education budget cuts, he said they had made it very difficult to provide substitution for teachers involved with away games. “Some schools will have to withdraw from competitions as a result.’’
He predicted that “the growth in ladies football will have an enormous influence on GAA, especially in management roles”.
Mr Duffy made his comments when responding to a lecture by Prof Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh of NUI Galway on The GAA at 125 – the Challenge of Change.
In the course of his talk, Prof Ó Tuathaigh said he felt the GAA had lost out by encouraging schools committed to the GAA to accommodate other sports. This had not be reciprocated in schools devoted to rugby and soccer. He attributed this to “a residual element of snobbery”.
