Members to choose in awards

The first major sponsorship deal of the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) involves a new player awards scheme which will be backed by Carphone Warehouse.

The GPA's new player of the month and player of the year awards will receive £130,000 worth of sponsorship over the next three years. The awards will be selected by GPA players from county teams at the end of each month from May to October, and will also include an end-of-year function in November where the players of the year will be honoured.

Yesterday's announcement at a Dublin hotel was attended by a dozen leading intercounty players. Four hurlers - Cork's Brian Corcoran and Tipperary's John Leahy, Declan Ryan and Conal Bonnar - were joined by footballers Ciaran Whelan of Dublin, Armagh's Oisin McConville and Enda McNulty, Louth's Stephen Melia, Roscommon's Derek Duggan, Kildare's Anthony Rainbow, Cork's Ciaran O'Sullivan and Tipperary's Mark Sheehan.

Donal O'Neill, the chief administrator with the GPA, was quick to deny any possible conflicts with either the GAA's own All Star awards or any other GAA sponsorship deals.

"There are no rules that I know of which state that players can't elect their own player of the month," he said. "And at the moment there are no other monthly awards at All-Ireland level that are voted by the players. That's what is unique about these awards and that's why they won't be in conflict with anything that the GAA present.

"In fact, I believe they're going to be complementary. There's certainly nothing here that will jeopardise the prestige of the All Stars. It's something players are entitled to and the GAA can't say with any credibility that it causes any conflict with them at the moment."

After being informed of the awards, the GAA made no comment on possible conflict with either their own sponsorship rules or their All Star awards - currently sponsored by Eircell. "We knew nothing at all about this announcement and certainly weren't invited," said the association's PRO, Danny Lynch. "and there won't be any comment made on it either."

Earlier fears that there would be a major sponsorship conflict appears to be watered down by the fact that Carphone Warehouse is one of the agents for Eircell. However, just what this deal will mean for the relationship between the GPA and the GAA's own players' group remains to be seen.

Jarlath Burns, the recently-appointed players' group chairman, reiterated yesterday that the door was open for the GPA to sit down for discussions, but a date had yet to be set.

O'Neill also explained that the voting mechanism for the new awards has yet to be finalised. Only players who are members of the GPA - whose membership reportedly stands at 450 - will be able to vote but the actual winners can come from non-GPA hurlers or footballers from any county. "If a non-GPA member wins then maybe they'll join up," he suggested.

The possibility of a non-GPA member winning an award but not accepting is a scenario which O'Neill "can't quite imagine". As well as sponsoring the All Star awards, Eircell are involved in the GAA's personality of the month award and the player of the year award, an honour that is also voted on by the 45 players in hurling and football who are nominated for an All Star.

This will be the first venture by Carphone Warehouse into a major sporting sponsorship but the mobile phone retailer was also behind the £1 million "bonus" offered to any Irish rugby player to score four tries in the Six Nations game against Wales this year.

It's unclear how much of the £130,000 will go directly towards the cost of the awards and how much will be available to the GPA.