IT MUST be of considerable gratification to anyone genuinely interested in sport to learn that the Gaelic Athletic Association continues to prosper. As someone who comes into contact, frequently, with administrators from other sports, it is increasingly obvious to me that the successes of the GAA and the manner in which it runs its, business continue to be admired, even among people who might, otherwise, be inclined to be antagonistic to the GAA.

It must be said that the GAA, over the years, contributed greatly to its unpopularity. We all know the reasons for that and there is much in the history of the GAA which cannot be a source of pride within that organisation.

More recently, the ethos of the GAA and its attitudes has been more widely understood as the organisation dragged many of its dinosaurs into the 20th Century. The Grim Reaper has also played a part in this time is a great healer.

Now, as the bastions of amateurism such as the Olympic movement and rugby union succumb to the depredations of the greedy TV moguls, the GAA, to some extent at least, stands as a beacon of decency on the Mount Olympus of amateurism, illuminating the Corinthian concept upon which the Olympic Games were founded.

It is vital the GAA remains faithful to its amateur ideals and that it can, and will, continue to thumb its collective nose to those who seek to have payments made to players who have made it to the top.

Everybody understands how players who work (sorry - train and play) so hard in wintery conditions and often at considerable expense to themselves may consider that, when they get to play before a crowd paying more than a £1 million in Croke Park, that they deserve some recompense.

Of course they do.

As someone who has been watching football and hurling in a professional capacity for more years than I care to remember and who has seen near on 100 All Ireland finals, I can say that I never met anyone who had experienced the thrill of playing on such an occasion who regretted that there was no cheque or brown envelope at the end of it.

There are a number of motions on the agenda (pompously called An Clar) for the Congress suggesting that the central council should make a grant to the All Ireland finalists each year to help pay for a foreign holiday.

For what it is worth, I hope that this motion will be thrown out by the delegates at Congress. It would represent, without any doubt, a break in the dam. Why would it not be followed by demands from beaten semi finalists, provincial finalists and semi finalists, county champions and defeated finalists?

Nobody would dispute the fact that the players, and members of the families and friends make sacrifices year after year. Counties like Clare and Wexford in recent hurling history, Clare in football, Donegal and Derry in football have all had their days of glory. Nobody who wore those county jerseys with pride wore them because they wanted a free holiday.

They wore them because they wanted to. Once money becomes a matter of importance the whole idea of team spirit and commitment to the county goes out the window. If this idea seems silly, why not ask people in Derry and Donegal how personal antagonisms were fuelled by thinly veiled professionalism.

And if such is not convincing enough, just take a look at the performances of the Ireland rugby team in recent times. Where has the spirit and the power and the passion of Irish, rugby gone? I would suggest that it has more to do now with bank accounts than with the pride of wearing an Irish jersey.

No one I have come across at any level in the game has played because they thought they might be financially rewarded. That was not why Sean Purcell played, nor Tony, Doran, nor Ring nor Rackard nor Molloy nor Kelly norm O'Malley nor Murphy nor Smith nor Jones. On many walls, or hidden in dusty drawers, there are tarnished and worthless bits of tin or copper which when won, were of, huge value to those who won them.

Down the years the little bits of metal diminished in brightness, but the memories remained gleaming and fresh. No financial reward can match those memories. The camaraderie which winning those significant or insignificant trophies engendered will never fade.

Of course, players who devote many hours and effort, often at considerable expense in both time and money, should be cherished.

But the day that the GAA considers that money from its coffers, however substantial, will improve the game will be the day when the myriad voluntary workers will back off and when what seems now inevitable in all professional sports - greed - will become paramount.