GAA stars go proactive

THEY were there alright. They turned up, but they haven't signed up yet. John O'Leary, D J Carey and Jason Sherlock rubbing shoulders with soccer's Andy Cole, Tony Cascarino and Andy Townsend and rugby's Victor Costello. Soccer, rugby, GAA. One happy family - except that the GAA players still can't get paid.

Contracts in the back pockets perhaps, but no ink on the page. Still, they were gung ho at the Proactive Sports Agency launch last night in Dublin. Gathered for a jamboree involving more sports stars than you could shake a stick at, the GAA were well represented.

Carey and O'Leary were careful to say that they haven't signed anything yet that might jeopardise their amateur status but they know that the push in GAA towards semi-professionalism is on track and they were there to keep an eye on it.

"Let's be active about this. Let's talk to a couple of guys and get a framework together," said Dublin goalkeeper O'Leary about the future of GAA and the role of payments to players. "Let's try and organise some sort of package. Ifs the real world now. It's going to come at some stage.

"I think that it's inevitable. that it's going to go that way. Hopefully they (GAA) will do it] in an innovative way. I'm not going to benefit that much from it because I am nearing the end of my career. But others will.

"It's still an insular game," he continued "There are no fortunes to be made, but I don't see anything wrong with the suggestion of something like a players' pool or performance-based packages."

Kilkenny hurler D J Carey was more circumspect but of the same opinion. "Maybe the top brass should talk to the players and work it out so that everyone knows where they stand. If I do sign a contract with Proactive, which I haven't, I don't know what D J Carey will gain out of, it. There may be something to be got and maybe not.

"I don't think the GAA are being hypocritical, because they are in a nervous position now. Ten years ago they'd no sponsorship. Now it's in. Maybe the GAA are just nervous about individual sponsorship. Maybe in five years time every individual will have a sponsor. But the change will only happen properly if everyone can sit down and talk it out."

While O'Leary and Carey may not have signed up, Proactive, in their release, claim to be representing both of them, as well as Sherlock and Cork footballer Mark O'Connor.

How does this sit with Rule 12 regarding amateur status within the GAA? Well, you'd have to see the contracts that they haven't yet signed, wouldn't you.