GAA President insists: "We ARE chasing illegal payments to managers:"

Cooney: a lot of talk but not much action

            GAA president Christy Cooney insists that the association remains committed to eradicating illegal payments to team managers, despite the long delay in devising a plan to counteract it.  

            Paying managers has been a controversial issue in the GAA for many years and it appeared as if they were ready to tackle it vigorously when director-general Paraic Duffy was asked to prepare a discussion document in April 2010. He delivered it a year ago but it has never been acted upon.

GAA Director General Paraic Duffy

            Cooney referred to managerial payments as a 'cancer' at Congress last April and promised to call Central Council and senior county officials together within two months to gather their views, after which a set of proposals would be formulated.  So far, no plan has emerged but, speaking in Gold Coast yesterday, Cooney said that work was ongoing. He also reiterated his opposition to outside managers.

            However, it's clear from country-wide experience that outside managers are still an attractive target for clubs and counties, with many casually ignoring the GAA's rules on illegal payments.