DUBLIN MANAGER JIM Gavin has broadly welcomed the decision to sell Championship rights to Sky Sports but admitted that he would walk away if GAA ever sacrificed its amateur ethos.
The Dubs take on Cork in the National Football League semi-finals tomorrow, a repeat of the All-Ireland quarter-final between the counties last summer.
If Dublin successfully defend their Leinster title again, taking their provincial haul to nine in 10 years, their quarter-final this time around would be one of the 14 games exclusively live on Sky.
Gavin has “mixed emotions” about that but rather than paint the new TV rights deal as the ‘thin end of the wedge’, he called for members to trust that the Association’s leaders will protect its core values.
He said: “It’s great now we have our Gaelic footballers and hurlers on a par with those professional sportsmen, but I still think we need to keep our amateur ethos.
“That’s up to our leadership to ensure that never happens, that we never cross that Rubicon of going into professionalism.
We certainly have engaged with commerce and that Rubicon has been crossed in terms of sponsorship on jerseys and having commercial partners of the GAA associated with the Championships. That’s been managed well.That’s the big change we all had to adapt to but I think it’s been to the benefit of the Association, so I think we just need to trust our leadership in the GAA.
“[The Sky deal] is up for review in three years’ time and I’m sure if there is any wavering from the core principles, then the membership will come down heavy.”
Gavin has no fear that the partnership with subscription TV could lead to demands for pay-for-play.
“I’d be loath to see us going away from our amateur ethos. I think we’d all walk away if that happened, to be blunt about it.
“I know the players do it for the right reason. They have a passion for Gaelic games.
“Players just want small, fringe benefits. It’s a duty of care that county boards have to their players that they’re looked after in a small way. Players don’t look for much. It’s just looking after them so that they can perform for their county.
“The bridge we can’t cross is pay for play, that’s just not on, but anything that county boards can do, or commercial partners can do for players, needs to be welcomed.”
He added: “Guys do it for the right reasons. The sacrifices they put in on a daily basis is all for the love of their parish, their community and, ultimately, their county. That’s what’s unique about Gaelic games.
If we ever deviate from that, then the games will be dead.”
Gavin has a strong deck to choose from as he looks to avenge the defeat against Cork in the round robin series. Paul Flynn is still unavailable after suffering a concussion against Mayo a fortnight ago.
But Bernard Brogan is expected to feature for the first time this season. The 2010 Footballer of the Year was originally named in the team that beat Tyrone last week but was a late withdrawal before kick-off.
“We hope to get him some action,” Gavin said. “He’s trained very well and has shown great leadership, both on and off the field. So we’re delighted with his progress and we’re looking forward to seeing him on the field.
“He was due to start and we just took the decision not to start him. For a host of reasons, we had a lot of changes, for player welfare really. We were just looking out for players who were carrying knocks that we hoped would clear up but didn’t.”
Cork come into the game as the league’s form side with just one defeat from their first seven games and a 10-point win over neighbours Kerry last weekend.
“Cork have been the standard setters for many many years,” Gavin said.
“They won the last couple of National Leagues before we won last year. They’ve been in the semi-finals of the All-Ireland series.
They lost seven or eight players, maybe more, from last year and it just shows the depth of talent that Cork has, to lose those quality players and still be so strong.
“They might be more attack-minded [this year] but I think the new rules promote that and allow teams to attack more.
“We’re satisfied with our progress. We take it that we’re in bonus territory, we don’t have anything to lose on Sunday, and we’ll ask the players to really go at it.”
