GPA agm to hear motion on sourcing of sustainable and ethical playing gear and equipment

Another proposal calls for the appointment of a chief medical officer for Gaelic games

Wexford captain Róisín Murphy has proposed a motion to the GPA agm to review the sourcing of playing gear and equipment to ensure that suppliers are both sustainable and ethical. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho
Wexford captain Róisín Murphy has proposed a motion to the GPA agm to review the sourcing of playing gear and equipment to ensure that suppliers are both sustainable and ethical. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho

The Gaelic Players’ Association (GPA) has released the list of motions to be discussed at Saturday’s annual general meeting in Portlaoise. There are six in total, all but one proposed by the national executive committee. The one exception comes from Róisín Murphy, captain of the Wexford footballers.

This calls on the national governing bodies to review the sourcing of playing gear and equipment to ensure that suppliers are both sustainable and ethical. The intention is that no forced or child labour should be used in the production and it is also argued that such a stance by the NGBs would promote awareness of the issue.

Other motions, from the NEC, include distributing the 2021 (GPA) surplus to woman and vulnerable player initiatives, as there were no payments made last year to women players by the football or camogie associations.

There is also a proposal to appoint a chief medical officer for Gaelic games to help centralise player welfare and ensure standardisation across the constituent organisations.

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This will be the first in-person agm since the GPA combined with its sister organisation the WGPA, and there are also motions to reflect that amalgamation in the association’s governance.

Motions from NEC

1: To ringfence and distribute surplus generated in 2021 for woman and vulnerable member initiatives, to support players most in need.

2: To call upon the NGBs for the immediate creation of Chief Medical Officer post within Gaelic games.

3: To increase NEC from 16 to 20 members.

4: To update gender balance of the NEC

6: To change wording in constitution to update from Transitional NEC.

Motion from Roisín Murphy, Wexford football

5: To call upon the NGBs to review sourcing standards for all gear and equipment used for the purposes of any activity related to the intercounty game, with a view to implementing sustainable sourcing guarantees.

Seán Moran

Seán Moran

Seán Moran is GAA Correspondent of The Irish Times