Reading the Sunday Times last weekend, Donegal wing-back Barry Dunnion outlined how over a third of the Donegal football panel are out of work with little prospect of any in the near future.
And in yesterday’s Irish Examiner Clare hurling captain Brian O’Donnell admitted that he may be forced to emigrate after the summer if he can’t find a job due to the economic slowdown.
Unemployment is a major problem now for many county teams; for example, over a dozen members of the Clare panel who are in action on Sunday for their Munster SHC semi-final are out of work due to the economic downturn.
This isn’t only an issue for county set ups but also for the majority of clubs, the more rural, peripheral areas being the first and hardest hit.
While not as obvious as the impact of unemployment itself, the uncertainty over many jobs has also led to a fall off in player numbers. Understandably, there are a growing number of players who are opting out of playing due to the risk of getting injured and the subsequent risk to their job.
Some employers, already at the pin of his collar, may not be in a position to hold a job for six to eight weeks for an employee with a broken leg and what self-employed chippie is going to risk being out of work for a few weeks/months due to a sports injury?
There is an element of déjà vu to all this, where in the late eighties and nineties teams throughout the country lost valuable players through enforced emigration. While there is little the GAA can do to stem the economic downturn, it will again be the focus of the local organisation at club and at county level to maintain their membership and become proactive in trying where possible to find employment be it full-time or otherwise for those who are likely to have to give up the game in pursuit of a weekly wage.
“Championship Man” CD launched
Liam Horan is well known to many people who follow GAA from his extensive media work over the past 20 years, and the Ballinrobe man is a bundle of energy and creativity.
His recent creation “Championship Man” might describe him as “Some man for one man”.
Liam recently launched the CD of his championship man recordings which can be heard every Thursday evening on Drivetime Sport with Des Cahill between 6.30pm and 7pm.
According to Cahill, the Championship Man CD provides - “real, on-the-button GAA humour. If you love Gaelic games, you'll love this. It gets to the heart of what the GAA is all about”.
Drivetime Sport has gotten an enormously positive reaction from the musings of Championship Man over the past two years and if you feel like having a sample of what is on the CD, you can log on to Championshipman.com to check out a few of the recordings for free. And if you like what you hear or you know someone who would, you can buy the CD directly from Sideline.ie
