After the GAA’s special congress two weeks ago, when everyone had their say on changing the football championship, Tom Parsons let the weekend’s outcomes wash over him. The conversations he had as the Gaelic Players’ Association’s chief executive in the previous weeks suggested Proposal B was on course to pass.
It didn’t happen. But the motion had been strong enough to withstand attempts from some counties to get it pulled from the agenda late that week and the debate that unfolded over 74 minutes illustrated clearly that change was coming. The GPA’s red line has not moved since congress: a league-based championship replacing the provincial championships as the centrepiece of the competition. The only remaining issues for Parsons are what the finer points of what change will look like.
“There was frustration it didn’t pass and some counties went against the players’ voice, but then the players and myself have huge respect for so many administrators who fought for their players on the floor,” he said.
“After congress you couldn’t show huge anger against the GAA administrators. We need to work on the counties and investigate locally with players in those counties who would’ve went against the players’ voice and understand why. Was that warranted? Was it reasonable? What other factors among players were taken into account?”
The weeks since have brought more conversations and reflections. It was reported last week the GAA will bring proposals to congress next February, possibly more than one. For the GPA, the debate confirmed Proposal B is the basic template, nothing else.
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“What would be frustrating would be if we go to congress with two or three proposals,” Parsons said. “That just creates doubt. It needs to be Proposal B Revision Two versus the status quo, and go for it.
“The big test now will be congress in February. Everybody mandated change. Larry McCarthy reflected that mandate after [special] congress. That’s promising, but now is the time to walk the walk and make it happen. February is a huge date to really test where the Gaelic family are at.
“We’ve got the foundation of a proposal. What’s really important is that data is collected through a fixtures task force and acted upon timely, so we can start having that debate before February. There’s a lot of moving parts for that to happen. But that’s something that’s a must from a player perspective.”
The idea of the GAA hierarchy potentially bringing an alternative concept to Proposal B would have prompted concern in the past about where the players’ view might fit into their thinking but the mood is different this time. Even after some counties rejected the views of their own players at special congress, it is unlikely this knot gets undone without the GPA on board.
“A number of counties we know — the likes of Antrim, Cavan, Fermanagh — went against the wishes of players that were echoed very strongly,” Parsons said. “If that happens again there’ll be a real swell of frustration among players. I’d be very surprised if something was brought to the floor that wasn’t favoured by players. That would just leak way too much frustration in the game.”
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The GPA finding itself at a central place in such a landmark debate also provoked different reactions, from the usual resistance to a strong base of counties supporting their view that pointed towards an ongoing shift in how the GPA is being seen. Cork chief executive Kevin O’Donovan, member of the committee that created Proposal B, said the GPA “has come of age” during the debate.
“Sometimes we need to drop the term GPA for a minute and think it’s the 4,000 male and female intercounty players: that’s who we are,” Parsons said. “The GPA isn’t an elusive association pulling against the grain. I certainly felt there was respect at congress and we need to build on that.
“Good relationships need tension at times, alignment at other times, and above when you’re representing it needs healthy debate. As long as that tension is built on trust and honesty and integrity, the relationship will continue to build.”
Parsons’ relationship with GAA president McCarthy mirrors that evolution. Years ago McCarthy helped Parsons join the Sligo club in New York one summer. They reconnected again on different terms. Before he took office McCarthy had been critical of the GPA’s fundraising in America but the relationship now is good, while retaining a necessary edge.
“There’s healthy tension,” Parsons said. “I align myself with some aspects of what Larry presents. Another day it’s a healthy debate so he has a player’s perspective on a decision. It’s right where it needs to be in terms of what I need to represent the voice of the players and his willingness to listen, digest and take it on board.”
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It is what the GPA needs too. Having burned through three chief executives in four years, a merger with the women’s GPA ongoing and the usual million other plates spinning, all backdropped by a crippling pandemic, the GPA needed stability and commitment. Parsons had been a volunteer with the GPA since 2015, ripping through two years as secretary and chairman before taking over as chief executive in May.
As a player he had lived many different lives. He was the cross-country commuter training for Mayo landing back in Dublin after midnight and up again at dawn. He was the broke student. Getting let go by Mayo back in 2011 hit him so hard he realised how football had taken control of every part of himself. “I was all consumed by sport. I was mentally and emotionally on the floor. Just rock bottom.”
In 2018 he dislocated his knee, tore cruciate ligaments and wrecked his hamstring and calf in one go. His foot turned black. A doctor told him to forget football, he might not even run again.
“I’ve experienced injuries that put me out of work for seven months that made me reflect on whether I’d ever be able to play with my two-year-old baby boy again. I’ve experienced the emotional toll of deselection, losing All-Irelands. As a player I experienced since 2008 most of what most players experience.
“The GPA probably saved me from emotional and physical rollercoaster of being an inter-county footballer: in terms of helping my career, life focus, being there when I was deselected [in 2011], landing at my house when I was injured ensuring I had insurance in place with my injury. Hundreds of little things that will never make a headline but are really important.”
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Parsons runs through the unseen things he sees as the truest expression of what the GPA means, from intercounty players visiting schools and speaking about leadership to 5,000 children to the scholarships and developmental programmes which aim to lighten the burden on players.
Achieving proper equity and equality for female players and exploring the vast expanse of competitive balance — from sharing information and expertise between teams to pooling commercial money and achieving more even distribution across all counties — exist in tandem with reforming the football championships. How that competition looks helps fundamentally shape everything else. Every issue is a link in the same chain, one decision affecting another.
“It’s imperative their [players’] development as human beings is not compromised by committing a significant amount of time to the game,” Parsons said. “I want to make sure when players leave the game, they leave it not frustrated. We need to create a culture of caring for the players.”
It is what got him through in the past and keeps him happily lost in his work now.
