Martin Breheny: Players’ support for payments to managers – is it part of a longer-term strategy?

Players’ support payments for managers – is it part of a longer-term strategy?

GPA chief executive officer Tom Parsons is interviewed by media at the launch of the findings of the GPA’s Annual Membership Survey 2025 at Radisson Blu Hotel in Dublin. Photo by Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile

The figures are self-explanatory, pointing to a trend that appears to be in the formative stages of a pay-for-play movement. That’s a valid conclusion to be drawn from the GPA’s annual membership survey, completed by 3,676 players (2,320 male, 1,356 female).

It reveals that 64pc favour retaining amateur status. That’s a sizeable majority, but majorities don’t always hold, and certainly not in a rapidly changing

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