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OK this is something that I think has been getting out of hand lately but after the IR team was announced I wanted to see what everyone else thought. Basically I think its a joke the amount of time off work the modern day GAA player is expected to take. Here is the list as far as I can see:

# So firstly during the winter you'll have a training week away with your county team.

# Then if you are lucky enough to do well in the inter-county championship by your county's standards you'll get a weeks holiday for that as well.

# If you get to the All-Ireland final you'll have to take a few days off before the game and probably a week afterwards with all the celebrations\commiserations.

# If you make the All Star team you're off for the guts of a week to play the game in Singapore or wherever it is this year.

# If you get to the final of the inter-pros you're off to Boston for the guts of a week to play that.

# If you make the international rules team you're either over in oz for the guts of a month, or taking a week off to go on a training week to France and then prob expected not to work while you're playing with the team.

# That takes you nicely up to the winter when lo-and-behold you are off for a training week again.

# Also if your club team wins a championship you'll prob take that week off afterwards if you win.

# And then there is the holiday with them that you'd be going on.

# Also there is the possibility that you might get injured in a way that means you can't work.

# Plus you have all the times where you can't stay late to get something finished because you have training on that night.

Now I know that this is the extreme and most players would not be effected by some of these but there are a few players who would be looking at that scenario.

I just want to see what people think, Is it unfair to ask employees to ask their employers for this much time off or am I over reacting.

Its unlikely that we will see somebody like Dr Gerry McEntee play for as long as he did again. I know Brendan Murphy is still hurling but when he finishes in UCD will he still be available to put in the time needed to compete?

As the age profile of GAA players drops you will see less and less professionals balancing GAA and a career. Its no coincidence that a lot of very good inter county players spend so long in Uni.

Its a good question though. I'd like to see the profession breakdown of inter county teams to see if players have chosen careers that will facilitate their playing commitment. I'd also like to know if their commitment has restricted their career development.

Surely this is something the GPA have looked at?

ballymanabroad wrote:Surely this is something the GPA have looked at?

Doesn't really suit their agenda, because the current mood is for that commitment to be scaled back, and when your ultimate goal is pay for play, this would be a retrograde step.

If the GPA did represent the players, they would be currently highlighting the madness that is intercounty teams returning to training now as opposed to doing some weights in December before training again in January. They would be looking for distinct club and county seasons, but then they might actually get what they want and suddenly a salary wouldn't be an option.

However the problem with all this is that so many counties want to be this committed. The morning after Armagh won the All Ireland in 2002, Kieran McGeeney got up and went to the hotel gym for two hours. I've no doubt this is setting an example for other players etc., but ultimately when players are as driven as that, they won't be happy until they do have someone driving them on.