Aiming at the wrong target

Tackling the issue of travelling expenses for female Gaelic games players almost seems like the poor lad in the movie “Flash” who had to test his courage by sticking his hand into a tree stump where a poisonous creature lurked, courage proved if you removed your hand untouched, madness and death if the scorpion-like monster struck!

Eighties movies references aside, I've been wondering if I've lost my sanity by promising last week to come back to this issue but the more I've thought about it, the more I think I've got to do it - even if it feels like stepping into a proverbial minefield because when it comes to the “United for Equality” campaign, it seems like one wrong word or thought might lead to disaster.

First of all and unequivocally, I completely support the campaign for equality of funding the GPA are waging on behalf of female footballers and camogie players. Everyone representing their county should not be out of pocket if they're asked to go above and beyond in the pursuit of sporting excellence.

Harsh lessons now may yet bear fruit

THE LAST POINT

You almost feel as if you shouldn't have to assert that but a simple fact isn't that simple when you delve into it because the “United for Equality” campaign feels to me as if it is aimed at the GAA and not the LGFA or the Camogie Association and that is where it starts to get tricky.

Are the GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association all parts of the wide Gaelic games family? Of course they are but they are also separate entities with their own rules, hierarchies, customs and playing rules and each group  is right to be proud of their accomplishments down through the year.

Camogie remains a niche sport but in the counties where the Ladies small ball game rules, it far outstrips Ladies football as the game of choice for female sportspeople - much the same way as gaelic football is a poor second to hurling in Tipperary, Kilkenny, Wexford, Clare and Limerick.

Ladies Football is one of Irish sport's greatest success stories over the past 50 years - the way that the Ladies Gaelic Football Association has grown the game all over the country, turning what was regarded as a novelty and then a nuisance to some before becoming arguably the biggest female sport in the entire country has been nothing short of miraculous.

It hasn't always been easy - Ladies football had to fight for almost everything they've got, be it access to pitches or even the right to just play the game and it is easy to forget that right now. 

Attitudes have changed too - it wasn't that long ago that the most common complaint the Observer got about our coverage of the Ladies game in the county was that there was far too much of it! Nobody says that now and while the Ladies game still has to attract the same level of support as our county's men's team, there is not just an acceptance but a desire out there to make the game as accessible as it can be for the female footballers in Leitrim.

There are still hurdles to be overcome - the fact that so many Leitrim fans left Echelon Park in Aughrim during the National League double header  in March rather than stay and watch the Ladies play or that so few made the journey to Chadwicks Wexford Park for an All-Ireland Quarter-Final shows there is still a long way to go but the position the Ladies game finds itself in is very different to what I encountered when I first joined the Observer.

Back in the early 90s, there may have been a handful of clubs and the county situation was much better - I remember in 1997 or maybe 1998 seeing Leitrim wallop newcomers Galway in a Connacht Junior Championship clash in Dunmore as the Tribeswomen were fielding an adult team for almost the first time.

Every part of Leitrim is now served by a club - some are amalgamations, some standalone efforts, but the growth in the Ladies game is reflected by new clubs continuing to join the fold, Bornacoola reforming this year,  with Leitrim Gaels last year, and it is likely to only grow in the years to come.

This isn't some roundabout, subtle way of telling the Ladies inter-county players to be happy with what they have - anyone who knows me will tell you I tend to bluntness but it is an important point to remember the progress that has been made; progress at the time that seemed interminably slow and tedious but progress has been made all the same.

A strange evening in Drumshanbo

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It is why I wonder if the female inter-county players are shooting at the wrong target right now? Of course, they want to be properly looked after and with the rising cost of fuel and travel, playing for your county has never been more of a challenge financially and it requires a solution. But again, I wonder if bracketing the GAA in the crosshairs is aiming at the wrong target?

Out of the three organisations, the GAA are undoubtedly the one with the largest coffers and if you go by the crowds attending games, both county and club, the LGFA and the Camogie Association have little chance of ever meeting the same level of travelling expenses the male footballers and hurlers are able to access.

Even with a full Croke Park two or three times a year, the GAA are groaning under the weight of financial commitments to the inter-county game - just consider that Leitrim spent just over €800,000 in 2022 on its inter-county teams, half of that on the Senior Men's footballers, and it is easy to envisage that the breaking point is not that far off.

Could Leitrim sustain adding the cost of the Ladies county team's to their finances? They're finding it so hard to meet their current commitments that I've begun to wonder if County Boards and even Clubs are more fundraising vehicles rather than sporting organisations, all to keep the show on the road.

I've heard tentative suggestions that if the proposed amalgamation of the three bodies comes to pass, maybe Men's teams might consider reducing their mileage rates in the way that the Irish Soccer Men's teams reduced their match fees to bring parity for their female counterparts who start their World Cup campaign this week. 

But before that idea even got floated, the GPA and Limerick hurling manager John Kiely shot it down, making you wonder when reality might finally bite in this conversation. Looking for parity with their male counterparts is a noble cause but the agreements the Gaelic Players Association made with the GAA reflects the financial resources available to the men's association, through gates, through sponsorship and through TV revenue.

Bluntly put, our two Ladies games don't have the same resources and if the money isn't there, they can't conjure it up out of thin air, no matter how worthy the “United for Equality” campaign truly is.

It's incredibly simple to say that the GAA should simply stump up the cash but if they did that right now, without a union in place with the Ladies groups, what would the incentive be for the LGFA and Camogie Association to merge with their older and more prosperous brother if the GAA are already picking up the biggest tab of all?

We need both the chicken & the egg!

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The news on Wednesday evening, after this column appeared in our print edition, that the female players were calling off their non-cooperation protest with the media on foot of an agreement to have a players’ charter in place for the 2024 season is welcome news but the devil is in the detail with the GPA, the LGFA & Camogie Association looking for financial assistance from the GAA to fund the implementation the proposed new charter.

Does that mean funding the work simply to draw up the charter? Or is it the LGFA and Camogie Association asking the GAA to fund the implementation of the new players’ charter - which seems to have been the rationale behind the recent campaign all along. 

Not sure how that is going to work to be honest but I can already see the GAA being cast in the role of villain if the requested financial support is not forthcoming. And remember, it wasn’t that long ago that Leitrim's pleas for Croke Park to take over the funding of men’s inter-county travelling expenses was rebuffed so where does the money come from?

Progress has been made and not without cost - in Leitrim, the GAA's decision to bring the Leitrim LGFA on board with the 50 Miles in January fundraiser cost them quite heavily I'd imagine but it was also a reflection of the reality on the ground in the county, the close connection between Ladies and Men's clubs, between supporters and teams of both sexes.

The “One Good Club” model has been an outstanding success and the reality is that union has been achieved in many clubs in a practical way. There are challenges -  LGFA players pay a much higher affiliation fee than their male counterparts and age groups, eligibility rules and structures are very different but clubs are truly one entity now and that is the way it should be.

Do we really know what we want?

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So when it comes to the “United for Equality”, there is no quick solution but if I were to advise the female county players,  push your  own Associations to achieve amalgamation as quickly as possible and then we might be a lot closer to finding a solution. It will take time but then, it always has.