Ballinderry has voted in favour of grants for county players ahead of a DRA hearing on the issue on Friday night.
“We support the principle of our eight county players being recognised with an award from the Irish government,” said Ballinderry chairman Camillus Quinn.
The club agreed unanimously that the grants scheme does not breach the rules of the GAA’s amateur status.
However, the county board is set to vote against the grants next month.
The vote on players’ grants will be taken at the GAA’s Annual Congress but a motion opposing the scheme has already been passed at the Derry county convention.
The annual payments to county players would range from 1,400 to 2,000 £ (2,600 euro).
County players Enda Muldoon, Kevin McGuckin, Conleith Gilligan, Michael McIver, Raymond Wilkinson, Colin Devlin, Niall McCusker and James Conway have indicated they may may give a portion of their grants to the club.
 |
Quinn told the Irish News: “It’s not GAA money. It’s not coming out of Croke Park - it’s coming from the Irish government.
“We are very proud of the large representation of our club on the Derry senior football squad and we accept their generous offer to contribute a proportion of any award to our adult players’ fund.”
At Friday night’s meeting opponents of the grants will say that the GAA’s Central Council acted incorrectly in forwarding a motion to Congress.
Grant opponents, under the One Belief Banner, have been buoyed by comments by GAA presidential candidates Sean Fogarty, Liam O’Neill and Christy Cooney who all appeared to express reservations about the proposed grants scheme.
Those against the scheme have been accused of hyprocrisy, given that many GAA managers are believed to receive payments from clubs and counties.
The GAA’s director general Pauric Duffy insisted that the revised document on grants to GAA players did not contravene the GAA’s amateur status.
Duffy has been assured that revisions to the draft document ratified by Central Council last December, will not change the ethos of the GAA.
He conceded that if Congress did not pass the grants motion, it would open up a host of problems for the GAA.
Source: BBC.co.uk
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.