Sport’s Rich List
Amateur or Professional?
Now, the traditionalist will argue the fact, that the G.A.A. is an amateur organisation and players should play for the love of the club and the honour of representing their county. But why shouldn’t these men and women get paid to play their sports? They train as much as any other professional athlete in their respective fields, yet these athletes are all professional earners who train each morning and then go and have the rest of the day to themselves. G.A.A. players can be known to train at times, two sessions per day while working a full time job between times. The commitment and dedication these athletes put in is phenomenal.
The top players playing calendar can sometimes last twelve months. Take a county player, who is in college. Their playing season could entail playing for their club, their college team and depending on age, they could be representing their county at U21 and senior grades. Depending on how far their club goes in a county championship, or how far their college progresses in their competitions, their seasons may extend far beyond that of the average player. Wheres their break? Wheres their rest and recovery period? Where is their reward for their hard work and dedication?
Opportunity Knocks
The A.F.L.
Irish Down Under
The trend started back in 1982 with Sean Wight, a Kerry Gaelic Football minor, leaving Ireland for Australian shores to join the Melbourne Football Club. This trend continued up until the present day where the latest crop of Irish to be added to the ‘Irish Experiment’ totalled five players recruited in 2016.
The most successful Irish man in the A.F.L. to date is Jim Stynes, who left Dublin after winning a Minor All Ireland in 1984 to also join Melbourne. Stynes didn’t make his AFL senior debut until 1987. He endured an up and down start to his career down under but Stynes ended the 1991 season winning the Brownlow medal, which is the A.F.L.’s award for the league’s best player. Stynes was and still remains the first and only over-seas born player to do so. Jim Stynes also holds the record for consecutive AFL appearances which stand at a staggering 244 games. He was later inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2003.
The Club
Inducements
The average wage of an Australian Rules player was AUS$ 265,179 (€184,309). The average Rookie player earns around AUS$ 40,000 without even kicking a football. On top of this, players are paid per appearance which can be anywhere between AUS$ 3,000- 5,000.
Since former Irish Australian Rules star Tadhg Kennelly became an International Talent Scout for the A.F.L., he has secured a minimum figure in the contracts of Irish players which must be paid to them by their Australian club. The deal consists of AUS$80,000, three return flights home per year for the player and his parents as well as free rent and a free car for the first two years of his career. If the player makes it they will then be bumped up to the average league wage.
The counter argument for pay for play in the G.A.A. is where does it end? Do we allow players to transfer counties for sums of money like in other sports and lose the sense of community and belonging that is evident in the G.A.A.? Will it turn out like soccer where the wealthiest team will win year on year and peoples kids will want to grow up playing for another county and not their own team?
Fair enough, the money might not be there in the G.A.A. at the moment to match the pay that A.F.L. players receive and the demand for the G.A.A. is not yet of a world wide scale. But surely some money can be set aside to pay these top class athletes of ours in recognition their talent and endeavour and the entertainment they provide for the people of this country. The entertainment Dublin and Mayo have given us over the past few years is nothing short of amazing. Players of the calibre of Diarmuid Connolly, Dean Rock, Lee Keegan, Andy Moran, the list goes on, surely these players deserve some type of financial reward.
If afforded the opportunity, I know what decision I’d make…
Bibliography
Football. (2017, Friday 1). Retrieved Octobe 4, 2017, from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/sep/01/transfer-window-deadline-day-record-spend
Neville, C. (2014, October 2). Aussie Rules. Retrieved October 7, 2017, from Balls: https://www.balls.ie/aussie-rules-2/just-much-aussie-rules-players-earn-138726
O'Toole, F. (2017, February 1). GAA. Retrieved October 6, 2017, from The 42: http://www.the42.ie/gaa-gate-receipts-2016-3216526-Feb2017/
The World's Highest-Paid Athletes. (2017). Retrieved October 6, 2017, from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/athletes/list/#tab:overall
Author - Conor Browne
4th Year Recreation and Sport Management Student