Has the GAA run too far ahead of its membership in streamlining everything from revenue generation to the commercial exploitation of Croke Park, asks Sean Moran?

THE MARCH of Croke Park continues. No sooner had Wicklow ended their long barren spell at the venue than a major disarmament conference moves in. The Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions intends, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs website, "to negotiate a new instrument of international humanitarian law banning cluster munitions".

For many, even in the GAA, it wouldn't be the first place they would recommend to the international community for a crackdown on unacceptable behaviour, but the flagship stadium now reaches far beyond the concerns of the association's core activities.

In the past the outreach was reflected in events like the Dublin Rodeo of 1924, complete with "Cowgirls' Trick Riding" (good value at 10/6 and 8/6), and, more fervently, in 1959 the massive rally for the 60th anniversary of the Pioneer Movement (poor value for, among others, Gill's and the Dergvale). But these days Croke Park is a thriving business, which recorded an 83 per cent rise in profits in the last financial year.

It was noticeable to anyone attending the launch of the TV3 championship schedule last week how busy the stadium was, with various companies holding seminars and presentations in the executive suites dotted around the sweep of the stands.

What was initially an act of faith nearly 15 years ago when the bulldozers moved in on the decrepit structure of the 55-year-old Cusack Stand has now become a remarkable investment for the GAA, whose Central Council has seen distributions from the stadium company more than double, to €13.5 million, in the past year.

Yet there's an unease at the heart of what should be a narrative of unqualified success. It's as if the stadium has taken on a life of its own and one that sometimes appears at odds with the association at large.

Some years ago the report of the marketing task force expressed alarm at the evolution of Croke Park's public image into something that was beginning to outshine the GAA's own "brand". In the spiky words of one Croke Park official: "The stadium gets the plaudits for being modern and inspiring and we're left with the discipline problems".

Arguably it's a distortion to saddle the stadium with all of the blame for the problems of modernity, because the commercial and marketing arm of the GAA is also striking new ground in optimising revenue for the association, and that creates its own friction - as the great Longford Hoardings Stand-Off indicated.

It would be fairer to speak of Croke Park in both the figurative sense of the GAA's administrative headquarters as well as the concrete reality of a super-stadium.

To those looking around the ground on Sunday, the stadium was resplendent. Sun-spangled in the early summer brightness, the pitch looked as well as it's ever done and the stands were liveried with the signage of the new multi-sponsors.

Again, this has not been without cost. The work that has gone on over the past few weeks has clearly delivered a great surface, but there was a deal of grumbling at the unavailability of the stadium for the NFL finals at the end of last month, even if the cumulative attendances at the four divisional finals would scarcely have filled the Hogan or Cusack stands.

One action taken to address the reservations of the marketing task force was also visible. The decision to move away from title sponsors means the championships will be firmly branded as the GAA's and the association's new logo was prominent.

The presence of seats on Hill 16 always looks quite well, even if, permanently installed, it would probably detract from the heaving spectacle when the Dubs enter the lists. But the purpose of the seating is to accommodate this weekend's soccer international, visible evidence of the open-door policy the GAA is extending.

Although this was in keeping with the views of a decisive majority of members, as expressed by congress in 2005, the accommodation of other sports has created flashpoints when access to the stadium has been denied to GAA members, such as the club finalists' training sessions in March, regardless of the welfare of the pitch.

With one eye on the busy concert season about to start, Wicklow manager Mick O'Dwyer has kicked up that their match against Laois will be in Carlow and called for all Leinster championship matches to be in Croke Park - which has never happened and would drain many fixtures of all atmosphere.

Two years ago the provincial council opted to take a revenue hit for the Longford-Dublin match and move it out of Croke Park for promotional and developmental reasons, a departure that was judged a success.

Juggling the big days out with the need to bring matches to other venues is one of the jobs the Leinster Council does well.

But the message is a pervasive one: Croke Park now cares about - and prioritises - things other than playing the national games.

Has the GAA run too far ahead of its membership in streamlining everything from revenue generation to the effective commercial exploitation of Croke Park? It's one explanation for the growing antagonisms between the association at large and the national administration.

Both the stadium company and Central Council publicly issue annual accounts, and they outline in detail how the money raked in by the various commercial functions is processed and distributed. But this good news struggles to make an impact. Even a progressive stance like the refusal to maximise broadcast fees by granting championship rights to subscription channels gets lost in the discontent.

Central Council - the body that supposedly represents the counties - agrees matters, from the Government-backed players' awards scheme to the new multi-sponsorship model and its impact on local advertising, but there are those among the grass-roots membership and officialdom who react as if there's been some corporate sleight of hand that's only just come to their attention.

Wexford try to pull a fast one - they might have believed in their case but it was unsupported by the rule book - to avoid the consequences of poor NHL performances and, when the case is correctly thrown out, the county resorts to extraordinarily abusive public criticism of Croke Park.

It will be a vitally important task for director general Páraic Duffy's fledgling administration to explain to the membership that they are as much part of Croke Park as the full-time administrators - a message that has become strangely lost in the surging success of the stadium that should be a monument to the association.