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Club Players Association promises to be "the voice of the club player"

The Club Players Association (CPA) has taken a step forward in recent days as they look to bring ...



Club Players Association promi...
Football

Club Players Association promises to be "the voice of the club player"

The Club Players Association (CPA) has taken a step forward in recent days as they look to bring players on board to form the basis of their new organisation.

The move to make meaningful changes that will benefit the club player, rather than just the inter-county player, has been getting support from all corners of the country.

Declan Brennan, a former selector for Monaghan, has been vocal about the pressures that club players are under, and spoke to Off the Ball recently about the support that he and those involved have been getting after they stated that they would be setting up the CPA. 

"We think that physically and mentally, [the schedule is] to the detriment of the club player. Now, people do forget that county players are club players, so I've got as many messages from county players throughout the country, past and present, delighted with how we've moved forward and are very enthusiastic about getting behind it."     

Recently, Roscommon club Kilmore announced that they would be forming the first branch of the new organisation, as a result of their intermediate side being forced to play two games in the space of less than 24 hours.

Speaking to Newstalk.com, Kilmore Club Chairman Tommy Kenoy said: "We've had the same reaction [as Declan Brennan] here in Roscommon [...] people are coming up to me and coming up to other club officers and saying 'that needs to happen. It's time the Association took greater account of club players and put a proper structure on club fixtures across the association'."

The newly-formed association said in a statement on Friday that they would be welcoming players into the fold in the coming weeks, once they had launched a presence online. 

The association already has a presence on Facebook and Twitter, where they have invited club players from all over the country to get in touch and express their views and concerns. 

The CPA, whose primary concern from the outset has been creating a fixture schedule that will ease the pressure on club players, outlined that they will step up operations shortly.

"The Club Players Association intends to be the voice of the club player, to protect their well-being by delivering an unchangeable meaningful fixtures programme within a shorter season for every club player," read the statement.

"The newly formed organisation is currently developing a website that will welcome all GAA club players across the country to register their support for this long overdue change. Details of this will be announced in the coming weeks."

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