John Fogarty
THE estimates vary but Sunday’s All-Ireland final will be worth approximately €30m to the Dublin economy.
JJ Delaney will play an integral role in that revenue generation but sometime next week he is likely to draw the dole.
He’ll be joined in the queue by members of the Tipperary panel. Some of their pen pics describe them as students but that’s just a euphemism for being unemployed. It’s a sad and more than unfortunate situation that men who contribute so much to the game never mind the country’s ailing accounts are without work.
Earlier this year, a number of Tipperary hurlers along with Cork’s All-Ireland winning footballers appeared on The Late, Late Show to discuss their predicaments.
Contrary to some opinion, they weren’t sob stories. They weren’t looking to skip any lines either but given their profile it made sense to utilise the bother they found themselves in. Here were fit and able men who have demonstrated their aptitude and work ethic on the field of play every time they’ve taken to it.
If sport was just sport, captains of industry wouldn’t ask the likes of Brian Cody to speak to their employees about motivation and the benefits of working together.
On the programme, Lar Corbett spoke about his pub venture and sure enough he has now followed in the footsteps of another five in-a-row stopper Seamus Darby by opening up a pub.
As anyone who has worked in the bar trade knows, it’s not the greatest profession in the world while Corbett has spent endless hours meeting and greeting people at the door. But faced with the prospect of drawing the dole having worked as an electrician, he has maximised his popularity and the business is said to be going well.
Few are as fortunate or as well-known as Corbett to be so entrepreneurial and yet they will do their bit in making millions for the GAA and the city of Dublin.
Nobody can put a price on the glory of winning an All-Ireland title but behind Sunday’s 70 minutes there are bills to be paid and mouths to be fed.
When Cody speaks of his players knowing they are privileged to be doing what they’re doing he is right but there should be more fringe benefits.
Certainly, players should never be out of pocket for what they give to football and hurling and more often than not aren’t. If they are successful enough they will enjoy end-of-season holidays and pick up a bit of sponsorship work.
There’s also the still very live possibility the 2,500 given to each player under the GPA awards scheme will be incorporated in the new merged All Stars, details of which are shortly to be announced.
This writer abhors the idea of the GAA ever losing its amateur status but our greatest footballers and hurlers shouldn’t be scrambling for work when they offer so much both financially and spiritually to the country.
Yes, they play their sport voluntarily, they make the sacrifices willingly and are fully aware they will attain no monetary reward for it. But there has to be some sort of quid pro quo. While their training and other preparatory demands for matches may require understanding employers, their CVs glitter every time they take to the field.
The GAA has long been a great network. Being a successful inter-county player was once akin to having a fully paid-up membership of the stonecutters.
It’s not such an auspicious club to be a part of now – nor does it pretend to be – but it should be extremely grateful for what the hurlers of Kilkenny and Tipperary have given them these last three years.
As you assume the now officially recognised GPA is actively looking around for work for Delaney and the Tipperary players, it is hoped they are pointing to the sold-out hotels, jammed pubs and thousands of jerseys sold on the back of these men.
They’re not looking for hand-outs; they just want to emulate what they’ve done so many times in the county colours. That’s graft.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/Ja1hn4sx4bY/post.aspx
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