RESEARCH SERIES NUMBER 76 PLAYING SENIOR INTER-COUNTY September 2018 GAELIC GAMES EXPERIENCES, REALITIES AND CONSEQUENCES ELISH KELLY, JOANNE BANKS, SEAMUS MCGUINNESS AND DOROTHY WATSON FO NCE R PO DE LI VI C E Y PLAYING SENIOR INTER-COUNTY GAELIC GAMES: EXPERIENCES, REALITIES AND CONSEQUENCES Elish Kelly Joanne Banks Seamus McGuinness Dorothy Watson September 2018 RESEARCH SERIES NUMBER 76 Available to download from www.esri.ie The Economic and Social Research Institute Whitaker Square, Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2 ISBN 978-0-7070-0465-5 DOI https://doi.org/10.26504/rs76 This Open Access work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. ABOUT THE ESRI The mission of the Economic and Social Research Institute is to advance evidence- based policymaking that supports economic sustainability and social progress in Ireland. ESRI researchers apply the highest standards of academic excellence to challenges facing policymakers, focusing on 12 areas of critical importance to 21st- century Ireland. The Institute was founded in 1960 by a group of senior civil servants led by Dr T.K. Whitaker, who identified the need for independent and in-depth research analysis to provide a robust evidence base for policymaking in Ireland. Since then, the Institute has remained committed to independent research and its work is free of any expressed ideology or political position. The Institute publishes all research reaching the appropriate academic standard, irrespective of its findings or who funds the research. The quality of its research output is guaranteed by a rigorous peer review process. 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The remaining funding comes from research programmes supported by government departments and agencies, public bodies and competitive research programmes. Further information is available at www.esri.ie This report has been accepted for publication by the Institute, which does not itself take institutional policy positions. All ESRI Research Series reports are peer reviewed prior to publication. The author(s) are solely responsible for the content and the views expressed. THE AUTHORS Elish Kelly is a Senior Research Officer, Joanne Banks is a Research Officer, Seamus McGuinness is a Research Professor, and Dorothy Watson is an Associate Research Professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). All members of the research team hold adjunct research positions at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), and Professor McGuinness is a research fellow at the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) in the University of Bonn. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The research undertaken in this report was funded by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and the Gaelic Players Association (GPA). We would like to thank the individuals within both organisations who provided support and assistance during the project. In particular, we would like to thank the former Ard Stiúrthóir of the GAA, Páraic Duffy, and the former Uachtarán, Aogán Ó Fearghail, along with the present Ard Stiúrthóir and Uachtarán, Tom Ryan and John Horan. We are also grateful to their colleagues Feargal McGill and Gearóid Devitt, who provided continuous assistance throughout the research process; and to Alan Milton, who helped with communications. Thanks are extended to the GAA staff members in each of the provinces who helped to organise the various workshops that formed part of the research, and to Niamh McCoy and Joanne Clarke in the GAA Museum who assisted with accessing archived player data. In addition, we are grateful for the support that the former CEOs of the GPA, Dessie Farrell and Dermot Earley, provided for the project, along with the GPA’s Chairman, Seamus Hickey. Thanks are due to the former GPA Deputy CEO, Aidan Gordon, and to present GPA staff members; in particular to Eamonn Murphy and Tom Dillon for their active engagement with the research. Sincere thanks are extended to the members of the project’s Oversight Body – Ronan Carolan, John Considine, Siobhan Earley, Diarmuid Lyng, Kieran McQuinn, Niall Moyna, Eamon O’Shea and Gerard Ryan – who gave generously of their time to engage in the project. We are also grateful to the 2016 players who participated in the study, and in particular to each inter- county team’s GPA representative. In addition, thanks are due to the 2016 inter- county team managers who engaged in the research, and to the County Board secretaries and Games Development Officers who attended workshops. We would also like to thank our former ESRI colleague James Williams, who offered helpful suggestions in relation to the initial survey work; and the individuals who reviewed earlier drafts of the player questionnaire. Thanks are due to Behaviour & Attitudes, the company that collected the survey data, and to our colleagues Louise Gallagher and Sarah Burns for their work in preparing this publication. Finally, our thanks go to the Director of the ESRI, Alan Barrett, and to one external and two internal referees for their contributions to the report. GAA FOREWORD Ardaíonn sé mo chroí an deis seo a bheith agam na focail seo a leanas a scríobh agus fáilte a chur roimh an foilseachán tabhachtach seo. The commitment required to play our games at the highest level has long been a significant one, and while this has been commonly accepted as part and parcel of our games, this report was commissioned with the intention of basing our thinking and approach in the years ahead on concrete evidence. In that context it is both welcome and timely. Working with the Gaelic Players Association and the Economic and Social Research Institute, we have produced a thorough and in-depth report that examines in great detail the full extent of what it means to commit to play football and hurling at senior inter-county level. As part of this process we heard directly from current players but also from those who work with them in their respective set-ups. Our players are wonderful ambassadors for the GAA and an intrinsic part of the success of the organisation, given the linchpin role they occupy at the heart of our games. They are the figures our young people aspire to be, and they are athletes whose skill, dedication and conditioning we all admire. However, they are also partners, fathers, sons, brothers, friends, with careers and commitments away from the field, and with all of this in mind this study is enlightening. None of us can be certain what the next decade will hold for our games and indeed our players. Every generation of players holds the view that their commitment is greater than the last, but with the ongoing advances in technology and their knock- on effect on sport, the bar continues to be raised. Similarly, the crossover in habits between sporting codes – some of them full-time – feeds the desire of players who want to be the best they can be. We are committed to the well-being of our players and we work in partnership with the Gaelic Players Association to ensure that important supports are made available to them over the course of their involvement with our county teams. In an ideal world, attaining the status of an inter-county player should help, not hinder, a person’s personal life and professional life. I sincerely hope that this body of work will inform our engagement with our players in the years ahead, safeguarding their important role within the wider GAA family. Rath Dé ar an obair, Seán Ó hÓráin Uachtarán Cumann Lúthchleas Gael GPA FOREWORD Inter-county hurlers and footballers are elite amateur athletes who play for the love of Gaelic games and the love of place. Following the increased commercialisation of Gaelic games in the 1990s and a growing commitment on the part of the players, the GPA was created by players to advance their welfare requirements and protect their interests. The GPA is now the officially recognised representative body for inter-county hurlers and footballers, providing supports to over 2,200 current county players across 67 playing squads, and a growing number of former players. Support is provided through the provision of freely available Player Development and Welfare Programmes in areas such as Life Skills, Education, Career and Wellbeing. The games of Gaelic football and hurling have experienced significant evolution in recent years. Our games continue to grow and provide great joy to many supporters at home and abroad. However, while many of our players continue to enjoy the games at the highest level, the commitment required nowadays is extraordinary for amateur players and probably not fully understood by most outside of the dressing room. Through our extensive regional engagement with players, county managers and medical teams, we are witnessing a change in the attitude of players on issues concerning player welfare. More and more players find themselves under increasing pressure – physical, emotional and financial – due to the exceptional demands being placed on them.