GPA get official status with the GAA

The GPA have been given official status with the GAA, following an agreement at the GAA Games Development Conference.

Following months of talks between the GPA and GAA, Croke Park now has afforded the GPA official status and recognition as the Association's Player Representative Body.

As part of the agreement, the function and objective of the GPA will be to represent the views of senior inter-county players and to act as the vehicle for delivery of them.

Gaelic Players' Association Chief Executive Dessie Farrell said: 'Recognition for the players' association will provide a platform on which the GAA and the GPA can work together to secure a better future for our games and our players.

'This interim arrangement is the culmination of years of hard work on both sides to establish trust and understanding.

'I would like to thank the many people within the GAA and GPA who contributed to that process to date and the players who strived to have their distinctive voice heard within the GAA.'

GAA President Christ Cooney also welcomed the development.

He said: 'This is an important day for the Association and one that I believe will lead to a brand new working relationship with the GPA, a body that has been in existence for the past 10 years.

'We are confident that we can forge a relationship with our inter-county players that will be for the betterment of the GAA as a whole.

'We have always been committed to our amateur and voluntary ethos and the belief structure that has underpinned the values at the heart of our Association. With these proposals we have stayed true to these ideals while at the same time coming to a position that recognises the important role that our inter-county players play in the promotion and commercial well being of the Association.'