The GAA has launched a wide-ranging consultation with its membership as part of one of the most significant reviews of its amateur status in the Association’s history.

The move comes amid growing concerns over rising costs and demands within the inter-county game, and signals a willingness to explore reforms while reaffirming one of the GAA’s core values.

The consultation is being led by the Amateur Status Review Committee (ASRC), which was established in March 2024 by GAA President Jarlath Burns.

Chaired by Professor David Hassan, a former Derry footballer and respected academic, the committee has spent recent months gathering evidence, analysing past reports, and engaging with stakeholders to understand the pressures facing the GAA’s amateur ethos.

Following a presentation to An Coiste Bainistíochta, the GAA’s management committee, it has been agreed that a major survey of members will now take place.

From today, surveys are being issued to focus groups including county secretaries and inter-county players, with plans to expand it to all GAA members via the organisation’s website in the coming days.

The survey is set to cover a wide range of issues, including:

Whether a governance oversight unit should be established to help enforce amateur principles.

Attitudes toward the possible introduction of agreed allowances for senior inter-county team managers, or alternatively, a stricter adherence to current expenses-only policies.

Opinions on reducing weekly time demands on inter-county players, the appropriate length of a closed season, and the permissibility of overseas training camps.

Jarlath Burns said the review is essential to ensure the amateur model remains viable in a modern context.

“The amateur status is such an important core value of the GAA that it is only right that we carry out a review to ensure that it is fit for purpose in 2025,” he said.

“I know of no one in the GAA who feels that our amateur status is something to be abolished – yet within that, we have a situation where the preparation of inter-county teams is costing more than €40 million and placing unsustainable burdens on our volunteer-led county boards.”

“The time demands on players are also at an all-time high.”

Professor Hassan, chair of the ASRC, said the committee has carried out a thorough assessment to date, including gathering written and oral submissions from consultants, academics, and representatives from other national sporting bodies.

“Inevitably, much of the committee’s work concerned financial payments, the exponential growth in spending by many counties on their teams, and the pressing need to examine the demands placed upon our amateur players,” he said.

While the committee is currently focused on inter-county level issues, it stressed that this approach is part of a phased review. It does not indicate a lack of concern about amateur principles at other levels of the game.

The consultation period will run until July 25, after which the ASRC will prepare a report for Ard Chomhairle. Any recommended changes could go before a Special Congress later this year, with further proposals expected to be considered at Annual Congress 2026.

The outcome of the process could shape the future of the GAA’s identity, as it seeks to balance tradition with the growing realities of high-performance demands and financial pressures in the modern game.

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SPORT FOR BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE

The GAA could not exist without the amateur ethos being central to it.  Every coaching session, every playing performance, and every event put on with no external stakeholders to satisfy makes it a rarity.  That said, the services around the sport where payment is made put pressure on those areas and this is a timely look at how it can work best in the next 150 years.

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