Inside Track: Revenue are on the chase and counties and clubs need to take note

There was a time when GAA teams, county and club, were selected, trained and sent out to play, backed usually by three or five people. (It would have to be an uneven number.)

They’d be responsible for picking the team, and often times it would come down to a vote on whether this or that player should get the nod. Majority ruled.

READ NEXT: Inside Track: Naomh Máirtín carry county’s hopes into Leinster

In most cases, one of the selectors would act as trainer. Another might be the one to give an injured player a rub, either on the field, if the injury wasn’t too severe, or, if it was, on the following Tuesday night (This and Thursday night were the usual for training.)

It wouldn’t be unknown for the one who tended to the injured on the field to first of all tell the victim to ‘stay down’ before giving him a rub and then a squig of water.

The idea would be to give the referee the impression that the tackle that had been doled out was more serious than it looked, the hope being that the wrongdoer would be booked or maybe sent off.

The water-carrier – now known as maoir uisce – might be one of the selectors, or if not, a devoted club member who wouldn’t miss a game, let it be underage or adult.

If that is how it was in club football, I can vouch for it that it wasn’t any better for county outfits. In the years between 1973 and 1975, I was one of a trio that had charge of the Louth seniors.

Jimmy Mulroy was manager, I had the grandiose title of assistant-manager, and Liam Leech looked after training.

Patsy McArdle was bagman, and Charlie McAlister tagged along on match and training days until he succeeded Patsy. More than that, for years after, he saw to it that kits, for all county teams, were always in pristine condition.

It can’t be estimated the money Charlie saved the County Board doing the laundry and all other work.

We, the management team, never looked to be paid – not that we’d have got anything had we asked. Like the players, we were on four very old pennies per mile travelling to Ardee for training sessions, and, on occasions, carrying players to away league matches.

It’s how it was at the time, not only in this county, I’m sure, but throughout the country, management and players doing it for the love of the game, and adhering to the GAA’s amateur status.

Compare that with how it is today – and has been for years. County management teams have swollen to become nearly as big as player panels, and clubs are following suit.

None of the work, especially at county level, is being done for nothing. There is probably still many who are doing it as a service to their clubs.

It’s never disclosed what’s been paid to individual county team managers, but not long after taking office, GAA President, Jarlath Burns, put the figure of €44 million into the public domain, the combined amount counties had paid managements last year. Look at it, an average of well over €1 million for each county.

Clubs wouldn’t have paid anything near to that. For starters, there are some who are drawing from their own ranks for someone to look after their team – this county included – and it’s unlikely they are being paid.

But, overall, there’s a huge outlay, and it’s creating a huge burden on the clubs that are forking out.

Burns made it one of his missions in his time in office to put a rein on the ‘galloping horse’. Assistance has already come his way. Indeed, himself and the association he leads, might no longer have a say in the matter.

For some time now, the Revenue Commissioners have been taking stock, already looking at three counties’ books.

They’re sure to be spreading their wings, and when finished with counties, will, as disclosed at a recent meeting of the Louth County Board, be looking how clubs go about their business.

It can be argued that to be competitive, a team has to have expertise in its preparation. But the question is: In an association built to be what it is today, the country’s flagship, on the back of volunteerism, can become a gravy train for the many who care little about crossing borders, and are backed by an army of names?