The Meath manager, Andy McEntee, granted a live interview to Newstalk's Off the Ball this evening, and among the many topics of conversation was one of the main controversies dogging the GAA at the moment: the plight of the club player. The evolution of the GPA, the formation of the CPA, and the latter's subsequent shunning at Congress before the passing of the 'Super 8' reformat of the Championship - something the club players were firmly against - means the discord between club and county player has grown to a chasm.
McEntee is now among the thrust of intercounty management, but has plenty of experience at club level, winning an All-Ireland club title with Ballyboden in 2012.
In spite of his current job, McEntee's sympathies lie with the club player:
I think it's really tough on the modern day club player. I mean, I've seen it in Ballyboden.
You train from January, you get one championship game at the end of April. Everything's on hold then. Dublin win the All-Ireland more often than not and then you have the sprint to the finish where you're playing four games in the space of five weeks to win a Dublin Championship and I'm just not so sure that's sustainable. I don't know how many players are going to do that.
McEntee later succinctly captured just how badly the issue affects the GAA:
You have something like under 2% of the playing population of the GAA dictating the full season for the rest of the playing population. I'm not so sure that's sustainable. I think eventually the whole fabric of the GAA world can become undone if club players don't want to play football.
You can listen back to the full interview on Newstalk's website.
