By Rory Gallagher

AT LAST week's GPA gala in Dublin, to mark ten years in existence, Dessie Farrell insinuated that it wouldn't be long until his group were under the official GAA umbrella. To me, that can only be a good thing.

At the time the GPA first came about, I would have been aware that players weren't being properly looked after, both within our own county and elsewhere. That was in regards to things like mileage expenses, physiotherapy, playing gear and stuff like that. When I was starting playing inter-county football in 1995 and 1996, you were generally well fed... too well fed some might say... but there were other important things which were being overlooked.

I would have been very much in favour of it. Our understanding at the time was that the GPA hierarchy were going to come around and speak to each set of county players. But they certainly never got the length of Fermanagh. I never saw Dessie Farrell up talking to us, but he did go to the likes of the Dublin footballers and the Tipperary hurlers. That was something that really stood out for me at the time.

I remember we had a situation at the time that despite the fact county players were entitled to four tickets for championship games, from my own experience that wasn't happening. It was grievances like that which I think were genuine concerns and problems for county players, which needed to be addressed. The GPA brought them into the public domain.

Since then though, the GPA as an organisation has evolved. In my opinion, they have been too unclear at times as to what their long-term objectives actually are. They should have knocked it on the head a lot earlier and said quite clearly that they weren't about pay-for-play. They should have said that a long time ago, and I think the GAA would have been much more responsive to them had that been the case.

There were also episodes which I think caused huge damage to the public impression of the GPA. Threatening to strike was a wrong move, and it lost a lot of public support. The Cork hurlers with their socks down protest, things like that cheapened the GPA in my eyes.

There was also unfair pressure put on players to get Club Energise onto TV. Players were wrong to go along with it, having it in the back of their minds that "If I take a few slugs from this bottle, I'll get myself a few hundred quid." That was ridiculous at the finish, and very, very petty.

All in all, I think the GPA is a good thing. Every sporting body has to have some organisation which represents the views of the players, and if the GAA had of had a proper players' body in place, the GPA might never had to exist. So you have to give credit to the people who pushed ahead and formed the GPA in the first place, I wasn't willing to go and get involved and to put my neck on the line.

At the time, there were too many people on county boards who were too traditionalist and were unwilling to give the players the proper representation they were entitled to.

The GPA filled that void, and has contributed to bringing about a situation where players are now properly looked after and getting the recognition they deserve for their efforts.

27 players can't be wrong

When you look at what is happening with Mike McNamara in Clare, I think you have to sympathise with the players.

They're giving up their time, and all they want is for everything possible to be looked after so that they can achieve the success they crave as inter-county players. They know that it's not guaranteed, and they obviously feel that Mike McNamara is not giving them the platform they need for success. Those players have a right to be heard.

It's not grumblings from one or two disgruntled players; It's 27 out of the 28 of a panel, the one being his own son.

It was much the same with Justin McCarthy in Waterford last year. The players felt they needed a change, and in my eyes they're entitled to do so. And I think that they were proven to be right, when you look at what they went on to do. Players have a limited window of opportunity, and if they feel a manager isn't up to it, then they have a right to say so.

Players have to look at themselves and take a degree of responsibility, but when it's on the mass scale that it is in Clare, or has been in the past in Waterford and Cork, then there has to be good reason. Maybe it's county boards and managers?

It's something which is here to stay, and I think unfortunately we're seeing it with managers in Mike McNamara, Justin McCarthy and Gerald McCarthy who are well noted to be old school. Players know that there's another way, they see it as a better way.

For any county to achieve success, you need the players, the manager and the county board all pulling in the same direction. Of course there's going to be rows; don't try to tell me there aren't disagreements in Tyrone or in Kerry, but they're able to deal with it because they have a common goal.

These players aren't crying for the sake of it, they're being proactive and taking action because they feel they're being held back from achieving success. If I didn't have the support of 27 of 28 of my panel, I'd know the writing is on the wall, and Mike Mac now finds himself heading into a no-win situation.