GAELIC GAMES: In another move to enhance player welfare, the GAA is set to abandon its restrictions on players' endorsements. Under current rules, players are only entitled to a 50 per cent cut of any endorsement or sponsorship, with the remainder split between the county panel fund and the players' hardship fund, writes Ian O'Riordan

A motion to amend that division so that a player who enters a sponsorship agreement will receive all the monies involved will be considered by Central Council at their meeting in Croke Park on Saturday. The chairman of the GAA's players committee, Jarlath Burns, who drafted the motion, is confident that the amendment will gain the necessary support.

"It would be great to get this restriction out of the way," he said. "And it would definitely be another positive step forward for players' rights. I'm hopeful now that it will all work out on Saturday and get the support from Central Council, and it should because the big difference here is that it's not costing the association anything."

With the motion already cleared by the management committee it is unlikely to face much opposition. Though the numbers of players currently benefiting from such endorsements are limited, Burns still believes in the need for the amendment.

"I would be very happy that it would be another little blockage for players that has been removed. Like the improved situation with gear, the mileage and meals after games, and more recently too the increase in panel numbers for the championship matches, any little thing that is achieved is another step forward."

Problems with the current rules also inspired Burns to seek the change. Under the last GAA amateur status report it was recommended that individual endorsements be split, with 50 per cent going to the player, 30 per cent to his county panel players' fund, 10 per cent to a hardship fund for players and former players, and 10 per cent to the county board. Subsequently the county board contribution was dropped, with 40 per cent going to the county panel fund.

"There was a problem with the mathematics of that system," he added. "For a start it became too bureaucratic. Companies as well ended up having to give out huge amounts of money if the players were to get any real benefit.

"And the other half was disappearing without much trace as well. On the whole it just didn't add up and that was the main reason behind this motion. I suppose we discovered as well that the market for player endorsements was not as lucrative as we first thought. This year at least, most corporations had a lot of their money tied up in World Cup deals."

There was a further catalyst for the change in that the GAA is soon to announce a new deal with Golden Vale Easi Singles, who intend to use a player from every county as part of a new promotion. Burns expects this will be the first new deal where the players involved will benefit fully from their endorsement.

"I would hope this would help attract more companies to offer endorsements," Burns said. You could have had a case in the past where some company might have had €1,000 to spend, and would rather give it all to Miss Ireland than have only half of it go direct to a GAA player,"

The unofficial players body, the Gaelic Players Association, had been operating their own sponsorship deal, with 80 per cent to the individual player and 20 per cent to the organisation but their biggest deal, with the Malborough Group, ended up in the courtroom.

Two years ago, the GAA announced details of a £250,000 fund available for players' endorsement and sponsorships, initially subscribed to by 10 companies. Though that deal is ongoing it has up to now been restricted more to raising the local profile of players rather than their profile at national level.