GAELIC PLAYERS ASSOCIATION:THE GAELIC Players Association (GPA) have added their concerns to the increasing financial pressures facing the GAA, admitting to a notable increase in applications to their benevolent fund and they are now "inundated" with inquiries about employment assistance.

Last month saw the GAA agree the final recognition protocol with the GPA, with the initial five-year agreement being funded to the tune of €8.75 million. In a sort of bucking of economic trends, this funding will be incrementally increased each year for the term of the agreement – beginning with funding of €1.5 million for this year, and rising to €2 million in 2015.

While this essentially secures their player welfare programmes over the next five years, GPA chief executive Dessie Farrell yesterday highlighted some of the increasing financial demands being placed on those programmes, particularly when it comes to the players’ benevolent fund.

“What we’ve seen in the last few months is a dramatic increase in applications to the benevolent fund,” said Farrell. “Some of them take a bit of time to be processed, but we’re streamlining that and trying to make it more efficient.

“There is a direct correlation between the unemployment rate and the ones who are coming to us. Our unemployment figure was around 15 per cent, it’s hovering around 14 per cent at the minute. The six counties aren’t too bad. Wicklow, Donegal, Louth, Monaghan, they’re among the few black spots. Some of them are genuinely struggling to put food on the table.

“An example would be players who are in mortgage arrears, which can happen for those lads. We’re able to intervene there and put them in touch with a financial adviser to do a bit of budgeting and planning for them.

And then if there’s a requirement for benevolent assistance, it just gets fellas back on their feet so there’s a support there that wouldn’t have been there a few years ago.

“So behind the PR and the facts and the figures and the stats around the money, there are real live stories and real impact on the ground for players, and which is the manifestation of this five-year agreement.”

It is uncertain how much of the GPA’s overall budget will be diverted into the players’ benevolent fund: “It just depends on a case by case basis,” said Farrell.

“But we have put certain parameters on it. For example, the maximum payout is €3,000 but if there is a very difficult case and someone needs more help, it is hard to turn them away.

“I’m thinking specifically of a player at the moment who’s recently had a child and is out of work. The sense of pride takes over as well and you don’t want to be seen to be taking hand-outs so there’s that sensitivity around it as well.

“What we’re trying to assess at the minute, are there more of these cases? I’m convinced that there are, they’re just not coming forward. This is very much a learning curve for us.

“You have the past player element now, as well. The word is out there now that the GPA is willing to assist them, though they also come in through the business mentoring programme or the scholarship programme, lads who are going back to college or going now for the first time.”

What is certain is that the GPA are experiencing a notable increase in the amount of inquires from their overall membership of around 2,200 regarding possible employment assistance:

“We have a lady working with us now who’s inundated, going round visiting squads and setting up appointments with players who are unemployed or under-employed, because a lot of fellas are part-time.

“We’re going to work hard in the next months to work on a specific strategy to try and get fellas back into employment.

“In Waterford and Kildare we set up pilot projects to work in conjunction with them because you need people on the ground who can open a few doors in the business community.

“It was a useful template that we might be able to roll out in some of these black spots. It’s a very difficult market-place, obviously, the jobs aren’t there, but where best we can find them we will, and hopefully the GAA will row in behind it and do what they can to keep players at home.”

Farrell was speaking at yesterday’s announcement of GPA funding for 450 scholarships, which are being distributed among inter-county players for the current academic year as part of the Player Development Programme.

It has reached the stage where the GPA are now providing financial assistance to student players from every squad competing at inter-county level.

Students at second and third level, along with postgraduate students, are included in the scheme which covers nearly 70 educational institutions.