GPA to step up protests as expenses row escalates

The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) have taken a unanimous decision to escalate their current protest over the ongoing dispute around expenses.

Earlier this month the GAA said it would cover the expenses for up to four collective training sessions, but that individual county boards would have to cover anything above that amount.

In a release circulated to players this afternoon GPA CEO Tom Parsons highlighted "examples of disappointing treatment of you and your fellow players".

In one instance, it is claimed that players living outside the county are being told to use the address of their family home within the county to claim expenses, rather than the property they actually live in.

The GPA also said that some players involved in extended early season panels have been denied their expenses, while panels of more than 32 - which they claim is the majority of counties - are seeing some players being treated differently.

The association claimed that "local negotiations" - ie those with individual county boards rather than the GAA as a whole - are "going against the culture of treating all players equally".

The escalation of the protest will see all GAA players make themselves unavailable for media duties, both at matches and at sponsored events, until the situation is resolved.

Further action was threatened recently on RTÉ's Allianz League Sunday programme, when Parsons appeared to discuss the ongoing standoff.

"We feel the GAA get a very favourable deal and generate hundreds of millions of euros of the inter-county game," he said.

"In response players just don't want to to pay to play. They want to receive their eligible expenses for all sessions. If they are asked to train two, or seven times in a week, they just want to be