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Declan Bogue joins Sinéad O’Carroll and Niall Kelly as the lure of Australia proves strong for many young footballers. The GAA, says Sinead, have been ‘getting their knickers in a twist’ about the prospect of yet more talented players swapping Ireland for a life of sunshine, flat whites and professionalism in Melbourne and other Australian cities.
But should they? With Kobe McDonald signed up with St Kilda, and combines in Ireland attracting top talent, while AFL clubs continue to target successful U20 sides, what can be done? Not very much, suggest our panel, adding that a more pertinent question might be why would you even consider ways to prevent professional opportunities to young people? Are suggestions of limiting the flow of players essentially illegal?
And is the idea of compensating clubs or counties antithetical to the GAA’s amateur ethos? And will the flow of players, in the men’s game at least, always be limited by the demand from Australia, where there are hundreds of thousands of players in the sport’s pyramid, most of them trained in the skills of the game from childhood?
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