Dark heart of hypocrisy by Jarlath Burns

[Centre Half]

Dark heart of hypocrisy
The debate over payments to managers will only serve to highlight the hypocrisy which reigns the GAA and money

By Jarlath Burns

Over the next four weeks, counties have been asked to put together a submission as to their proposals for the future of how we deal with the issue of paid managers. We’re living in interesting times. Watch this debate become a competition to see who can be the greatest Gael. Men whose clubs shell out large sums with abandon to managers, coaches and gurus, squandering the lotto money in a futile search for success, will give orations about the amateur status, values, and this scourge called ‘creeping professionalism’. They will take tears out from your eyes with their laments for a GAA which adheres to the principles of the amateur status. They will lambast those ‘fat cats’ in Croke Park for even suggesting an option under which any GAA man should get paid, never mind managers, without even a nod to the fact that this is one problem which has been created and nurtured to the extent that it is now a monster, not by HQ, but by the grassroots themselves. And anyone who would dare to even mention the reality that this genie is well and truly out of the bottle and ain’t going back in for love nor money (well maybe money), will be hounded out of the hall for daring to commit such blasphemy.

And every solution suggested will be shot down for the simple reason that there is no solution. This is the GAA’s biggest conundrum. It is our Middle East; a real gumtickler that no man or beast can solve. The discussion document makes three proposals; Option 1 which advocates that we retain the status quo and remain hypocritical, claiming managers don’t get paid when they do, Option 2 which proposes we retain the status quo but police it better, or Option 3 which suggests we regulate the black economy of manager payments. It looks like we’ll all plump for Option 2 and decide to go after the ones who are being paid with a new energy and report them to the revenue, suspend counties who are paying them and take a real proactive approach. I wouldn’t hold my breath. Let’s take the scenario where the first county has received a suspension for paying their manager and takes their case to the DRA? It would win hands down through lack of evidence. And let’s not for one moment suggest that counties would take their medicine and leave it at that. We’re living in a world where if one player kicks another in the face, the response is not that he has disgraced the GAA, but ‘how do we find a loophole to get him off?’ And I look forward to the treatment the first Ulster GAA official gets when he announces he is about to report a paid manager to the tax crowd. The GAA universe is quite a twilight zone, full of the best and the worst of everything Irish. Each year we vote for a closed season to give everyone a much needed rest and then turn a blind eye when it is blatantly broken by all the counties. Yes, we are really good at saying one thing and then going off and doing the direct opposite the very next day.

We will also hear from those managers themselves who say it is a fulltime position, with all the associated tasks, pressures and time lost as a result of taking a team, but no one in the GAA has decided it should be so. The prizes for winning an All Ireland are as same as they always were, Liam McCarthy and Sam Maguire and there is no monetary or other incentive that should drive a team or manager towards working any harder to achieve it. I don’t remember a motion being passed at Congress that stated teams should now train at 6.30am, or do six sessions a week. In fact, if anything, the GAA is trying to protect players from over zealous training regimes, but the training ban is broken serially by the very people who claim their job is too onerous to be done voluntarily.

It is in the area of team management where our values collide with reality to the greatest extent. You should see the look some chairmen would get from a prospective manager if they suggested that the rules of the GAA state he cannot be paid anything above travelling expenses and that his coach should have the same arrangement, particularly if this individual has tasted success with other teams on the managerial merry-go-round. And often, those with influence within the county who want success, will very quickly remove a county board who they believe are ‘backward’ and not ‘progressive’, which is code for ‘not willing to break the rules to achieve success’.

Yes it is a difficult one. Under the current system – the ‘blind eye’ approach, where counties know their manager is being paid, but not by them, is a real ‘Russian Roulette’ scenario because it means the county board is not in control. Remember the old proverb ‘He who pays the piper calls the tune’ and whoever is giving the manager his few pound will always demand more power than he is entitled to. This then leads to the inevitable conclusion that control of the county senior team is devolved to the men who are bankrolling the manager with the county board peeping in and occasionally being told to mind their own business. Under this approach, new bank accounts are set up and an ethos of secrecy prevails. Very nasty. But many counties go along with it because it serves two purposes; it pays the manager and means the county board aren’t out of pocket, or open to the charge of paying their manager.

And you can’t really blame clubs and counties for paying in these times, because everyone seems to be at it and sometimes there comes a time when a bit of freshness and a ‘new face’ is required to sort out a team and get them back playing with a bit of energy again. An ‘outside man’ can bring a sense of renewal and excitement to a club set up and get men out training again who might have become bored with the previous regime. Therefore, making every club have to appoint a member to take the team might not work. Besides this, I’m sure all clubs could share horror stories of the fallout within a community if a club member is removed from the job because of bad results, training methods, or relationships with players. It can cause strife that lasts for years and break communities. Many small clubs also just don’t have the resources to keep their senior team managed by a club member every year. However, a change in rule to insist that only club members can take teams might usher in a change of culture and force clubs into prioritising a coach induction programme that ensures they have plenty of people within the club who are capable of taking the senior team.

It is also important to note that in most cases, county managers in particular aren’t getting paid either over or under the counter. The problem is that when a few are getting rewarded financially, it makes suspects of all of them, or creates scepticism of their motives and and an ‘is he, isn’t he’ scenario.

Either way, this is an exquisite dilemma for the GAA. It will get plenty of hot air, aspirational rhetoric, guff about culture, values and amateur status from people who will turn round and commit the very crime they are condemning. Yes, the GAA is the most Irish thing we have, there’s no doubt about that.

Gaelic Life
Thursday January 26 2012

[Sinner]

Fair play Jarlath, plenty to discuss in that!

[sliothar]

A lot of sense from Jarleth on the nonsense being spouted from within the higher echelons of the GAA. I don't always agree with Jarleth but on this occasion - Nail On Head

[green flag]

Jarlath shines a bright light on what has been a bone of contention within the G.A.A. for some time, both at club and county level. Is there any answer to the dilemma?.I think there is, first of all the powers that be must admit a problem exists, then a rule must be passed at congress and added to the offical guide. This rule would set out the terms of a contract, including the remuneration which any county or club wishing to employ the services of a professional manager must adhere to. Like many rules a penalty would be incured for any violation. The main point is it would provide a proper structure, and would eliminate the present subterfuge which undoubtedly seems to exist.

[PatMustard]

Never mind payments to managers, what's that beard all about Jarlath?!

[sliothar]

Frightening and the curly, waxed/gelled hair, would go well in one of those Hair Loss/ Replacement ads..You too can have hair everywhere like Jarlath's