An investigation into whether the GAA's embrace of professionalism is being hindered by it’s inherited culture

Abstract

The GAA, since its humble beginnings in Thurles 1884, has long been the bedrock of Irish sporting culture. Each summer teams and supporters alike follow the dream of capturing a place in history alongside the elite of sporting folklore. Far and wide across the world the colours of one’s county team are worn as a symbol of pride and heritage. The organization has prided itself on its ability to draw crowds and players from all around the country to play for merely the love of the games and to exact a sense of pride in a community. Yet as players become more and more entranced on a fixation of winning and success the boundaries for preparation would appear to be stretched to the limit. The GAA have always had a strict ethos of “playing without paying”, yet this status of amateurism has become more contentious over the past 10-20 years. Players are now expected to exert themselves for arguably the entire calendar year with the ultimate objective of winning. Thus this dissertation aims to examine the circumstances that have hindered the evolution of the GAA towards becoming a fully professional body and hence gain the opinions of other’s on the controversial and debateable issue.