DJ's recent comments about the newly-formed Gaelic Players' Association taking a more hard-line approach with 'd'Association' would seem to suggest he may.

Now, regular readers of the Chronicles of An Fear Rua will know that AFR yields to no one in his admiration of the same DJ as an exponent of the game of hurling. His All Ireland semi-final goal against Clare, at the Canal End of Croke Park last year, will be remembered - and replayed in their heads - until their dying day, by all who were privileged to see it. And, like many another GAA stalwart, An Fear Rua himself is all too familiar with the difficulties for anyone dealing with the bureaucracy of, for example, the Cork County Board or Páirc an Chrócaigh. It's a process reminiscent of the British Prime Minister Lloyd George's remark about negotiating with Eamon de Valera - 'It is like trying to pick up mercury with a fork... '

An Fear Rua doesn't need the great DJ, nor any other player, to tell him that there are many things that need urgent improvement in the GAA. But confrontation with either the elected or full-time officials of 'dis great Association of ours' is not the way to get them fixed. So long as the recently formed Gaelic Players' Association (GPA) recognises and accepts that approach, An Fear Rua thinks their advent may be a good thing. AFR was amused recently to see Dublin (and Na Fianna) footballer, Dessie Farrell, mentioning the GPA and the word 'strike' in the same breath, albeit stating that 'a strike was a long way off...'

Ah ya have to hand to the Dubs all the same... The oul traditions of Jem Larkin are not gone yet. Next time An Fear Rua strides up O'Connell Street he wouldn't be surprised to see a navy and blue jersey adorning the upraised arms of that great statue of Big Jim Larkin, near the GPO (or is it nearer the branch of British Home Stores? Poor Patrick Pearse and James Connolly would be surprised that the scene of their great stand against British colonialism in 1916 is now cheek-by-jowl with the ladies lingerie and tinned 'Spam' of one of Britain's major retail outlets). None a' dat oul talk of negotiations for yer Dub GAA players. We'll lave that to the culchies. Ah no, a strike is yer only man. An Fear Rua can picture the scene now some Sunda' mornin' below in Liberty Hall as Comrade Dessie (eh, Farrell, not Geraghty) urges the assembled 'brudders' to strike 'to restore dee expenses differential eroded by dee recently-conceded two-phase award by dee independent arbitrator to dee footballers of Leitrim...

An Fear Rua is concerned at some of the other sounds emanating from the direction of the GPA, and there are rumours of a possible sponsorship of the Association by Umbro or by a major Irish company involved in selling 'fast moving consumer goods'. These are what the pony-tailed lads and lassies in the advertising agencies and other marketing gurus call 'FMCG' products. God be with days when the fastest moving consumer good any GAA man had to worry about was the pint of stout being pulled in front of him by the bartender. And that had to be slow moving, not fast!

AFR is concerned that implementation of the Football Development Committee's proposals for a joint league/championship could become a trojan horse for the introduction of 'pay-for-play' in the GAA. Football All Star and captain of the touring team to Australia, John McDermott of Meath, recently asked 'What are we getting out of all of this?'.

Well, how about this for starters John, responds An Fear Rua:

enjoyment.. .health... honour... glory... recognition... adulation... camaraderie... unsurpassable memories... a great social life... travel abroad... expenses... access to business contacts and job opportunities... a chance to make your own dreams and those of others come true... In other words, John, a helluva lot more than the ordinary GAA fan or player could ever aspire to. You have it all, John, but you're willing to endanger it for a passing fad of 'pay-for-play' that will destroy the Association as we know and love it.

Indeed, it appears there may even be other 'consolations' in the life of some All Ireland winning players. An Fear Rua recalls the relieved comment of one recent All Ireland medal winner when his team was knocked out of the championship the following year: 'If we'd won it again, I'd have had to get a new mickey... ' Now there's something the GPA could help misfortunate players with, or maybe getting extra supplies of Viagra for the Irish Nationwide '25 Year' teams on the weekend they parade in Croke Park.

But being 'professional' is far being from a guarantee of better treatment of players. Bad and all as some of the players may think the GAA is, they don't compare with the story An Fear Rua heard some years ago about a Welsh soccer club - possibly Wrexham - who were due to fly to some God-forsaken part of the former Eastern bloc to play the local team in a European Cup Winners' tie, probably a crowd with a name like Lokomotiv Dinamo or Red Star Stalingrad. Anyway, this was in the days when a soccer team consisted of eleven players and a Twelfth Man. Apparently, the plane was overbooked and the footballing party were requested to leave one of their number behind. There was no question of it being the Club Chairman, Secretary, Deputy Chairman, Assistant Secretary, Correspondence Secretary or Press Officer. No indeed, the person left behind in the chilly Departure Lounge was none other than the Twelfth Man!

This whole issue of 'pay-for-play' is critical to the debate about where this Association is evolving. If it's not managed properly, it will destroy the GAA or turn it into a pale imitation of the Welsh Football Association. That is an outcome An Fear Rua is pledged to prevent. He will return to this topic again soon...