The GPA is stepping up its protest in the expenses row with the GAA with players now set to boycott all media.
For the last two weekends players didn’t engage with media on matchdays but, as of last night, a blanket silence has now been imposed - extending to GAA Championship launches and promotional events.
A number of these are scheduled for the coming weeks with the Championship fast approaching next month and this escalation will bring heat on the GAA from their sponsors if players are not available to promote the flagship competitions.
A meeting of GPA player reps from the various counties was held this evening and this was the action that was decided on. It had been mooted that throw-in times would be delayed at games this weekend but that line of action was put on the long finger for now, with a full media shutdown imposed instead.
At the heart of the row is the GAA’s decision to only subvent training expenses at 65c a mile for four sessions a week for 32 squad members, with players having to come to arrangements with their own county boards for any sessions outside of that.
The GPA insist that capping sessions at four per week all year round flies in the face of sports science and that players shouldn’t have to go cap in hand to their county boards in the event of there being more than that.
In a video message to his members last night, GPA chief executive Tom Parsons said the “GAA have reneged on our agreement” and “pushed an unagreed charter on players”.
“Players are not responsible for policing the number of training sessions scheduled,” he insisted. “The imposed charter now only protects 32 players which means inequality can start to fester between teams and players within squads.
“We cannot allow chipping away at the players’ charter to be tolerated.”
The former Mayo footballer said that “spot checks” have been carried out with regard to player expenses across the country.
“We have evidence to show that some players outside the 32 are being treated differently when it comes to receiving expenses. We have evidence to show that some players who are released from squads don’t receive expenses at all.
“We have evidence to show that some players who live outside the county for work or college are only being allowed to claim from their family’s address within the county.
“In one county in Connacht more than 25 players are being targeted to not be permitted to claim from their address outside the county at weekends, which is crazy.”
