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"A slap in the face to our proposals" - GPA reveal disappointment with GAA Council

The ‎Head of Communications of the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) has expressed his disappo...



"A slap in the face to our...
Football

"A slap in the face to our proposals" - GPA reveal disappointment with GAA Council

The ‎Head of Communications of the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) has expressed his disappointment with the GAA Central Council motions on championship structures which ignored the type of proposals which have been long called for.

One of the GPA proposals made last year which received the backing of the vast majority of inter-county squads (31 of 32 in fact) was a Champions League-style restructuring of the All-Ireland championship.

But the headline motion from Saturday's Ard Chomhairle was the creation of a B Championship for Division 4 (and possibly some Division 3) teams and "a revised proposal to create a developmental U20 championship that would eliminate some of the difficulties currently facing elite players in the U21 grade".

GPA communications chief Sean Potts joined Off The Ball to share his reaction to the motions released on Saturday and stated that there is a level of disappointment within the organisation and among its members.

He went as far as to say that it was a "slap in the face to our proposals". 

"We're very disappointed and somewhat frustrated as well. We put an awful lot of work in over the last year with our membership in developing what we felt were coherent proposals," Potts told Joe Molloy and Colm Parkinson.

"The central tenets of those proposals was trying to move away from the training culture which pervades our games and there's an awful lot of debate around what needs to be done for the games. But from our perspective and certainly the perspective of our members, they're simply fed up with the imbalance that exists there."

Potts also said that players have never previously stated being in favour of a B Championship model.

"In effect what's really happening is bar the introduction of a B Championship, which from our discussions with players, they don't want, and we've been having that discussion for many years now with players from Division 3 and 4 counties and they simply don't want to be detached from the All-Ireland series," he said.  

Potts also spoke about the possible avenues left open to the GPA if they revive their championship structure proposals.

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