Gpa launches new fair play campaign

The Gaelic Players Association today launched a new ‘Fair Play Campaign’ aimed at encouraging and rewarding good on-field behaviour among county players.

Recent consultation with the GPA membership revealed growing concerns among players about the rise in incidents of cynical verbal abuse, general breakdown around the awarding of frees, diving and feigning injury. It was felt that the establishment of a player-led initiative would help raise awareness of this behaviour and reduce and even eliminate its occurrence.

When asked about on-field behaviour in a GPA membership survey, just over half of respondents said they had personally experienced verbal abuse while 70 percent witnessed a team-mate experiencing similar abuse. 81 percent of players who responded felt managers turn a blind eye to verbal abuse where it does exist while over three-quarters believed a player's wellbeing could be damaged by this abuse. Nearly 60 percent of respondents also felt 'diving' was an emerging threat within our games.

To help counter cynical behaviour, the GPA will establish a new Fair Play Awards Scheme which will reward players for positive actions on and off the field. It was felt that the most effective way of tackling and isolating the issue of negative behaviour, was to focus on positive displays of sportsmanship from our players and management teams through the establishment of a scheme recognising this behaviour.  

GPA Chief Executive Dessie Farrell commented: “We want this new campaign to be practical and player-led. Players believe they have a responsibility to promote good sportsmanship. During the course of a game there are many moments of truth for players on the sportsmanship issue. While flashpoints do and will of course continue to occur in the heat of championship battle many of our players have the ability to do the right thing in those moments. By recognising these important qualities we will pave the way for this more of this in the future.

“Our games are physical and we want to keep them that way. However, the intention of the campaign is to educate about cynical behaviour, to raise awareness of individual player, team and manager responsibility, of protecting reputation and the importance of leaving a positive legacy for future generations of younger players.”

The GPA promotes county players as active and positive role models for their communities, particularly for young children, and believes that the Fair Play Campaign will complement that activity.

For generations the GAA has prided itself on the great players who displayed exemplary character and substance, footballers and hurlers who played hard but fair, were seen as diligent athletes, competitive, courageous, respectful and humble.

This current generation of county player can build on that legacy and assist in creating a positive culture not just at county level but at club level too and particularly for our younger players, their parents and coaches. A top down- bottom up approach can have a profound impact on creating the right environment and philosophy within our games and we hope this campaign encourages everyone within our games to reflect on how they can make a difference in this regard.

A video has been compiled and will be launched publicly today to promote the campaign and the key messages associated with the initiative.

 

GPA Fair Play Awards Scheme

The GPA is initiating a new Fair Play Awards Scheme which will reward good behaviour by players and squads on and off the field. Following engagement with players, a steering group of former players and media analysts will be assembled to scope out the Scheme and determine the winners for 2015 while also developing criteria to expand the scheme in the 2016 season. The Fair Play Awards Scheme will be complementary to the GAA’s Respect Initiative.