It has to be said there is never a dull moment in the GAA.

Such is the profile and popularity of our games that every week there are discussion points aplenty. Last week I had planned to focus my column on the simmering feud between the GAA top brass and the GPA.

Thankfully I changed my mind as my fellow columnist Joe Brolly articulated his views on the subject much more eloquently than I ever could.

Even though I agreed with much of what Joe had to say I felt the subject was important enough to give it further focus this week.

Personally, I have always struggled to make my mind up about the GPA.

They deserve huge credit for ensuring inter-county players are looked after in terms of expenses, gear etc. It was a shame it took their intervention to make the GAA accept better conditions for players and I speak as someone who came from an era where you were made to feel very privileged to get a stick or a pair of boots.

They also do great work supporting players with their career and providing mental health support when it is required.

However, they do have a habit of shooting themselves in the foot and fuelling the perception that they are only interested in money and promoting the elite.

I thought Paul Flynn, the GPA Chief Executives statement in response to Tom Ryan’s report to Ard Comhairle was both arrogant and unnecessarily confrontational.

What particularly disappointed me was I previously interviewed Paul Flynn at a club function and thought he was articulate, intelligent and a great role model for the association.

I fear however that since becoming CEO of the GPA he has lost the run of himself and forgotten what is really important in our association, namely the club and its volunteer ethos.

Any attempt to undermine that must be resisted at all costs and if Flynn thinks the inter county game is being portrayed by the association as the “problem child” then his statement did nothing to change that perception among rank and file members.

How he was unable to recognise that current expenditure on inter county teams is unsustainable is beyond me. Training load and demands on players should be a concern for his association. Indeed, instead of looking for more they should be demanding less by pushing for a reduction on training but that is wishful thinking I am afraid as the genie is well and truly out of the bottle in that regard.

It’s mind blowing to see the amounts being spent every year particularly by those teams aspiring for the top honours. From a hurling perspective Tipperary spent 1.7 million Euro in achieving Liam McCarthy success. That’s not a problem when you are successful and I am sure they would spend the same again and more for a similar outcome, as no doubt would every other county in the country. But where does it all end? Like most elite sport the rich will get better and the rest, with limited access to funds, will at best stand still. I think this is particularly the case in hurling which is more expensive to develop and sustain and shows no sign whatsoever of the lower tiered teams breaking through to seriously compete at the higher levels.

Carlow, Laois and Westmeath’s struggles in Division One of the newly structured National Leagues are testimony to that. A similar gap is evidenced in Division 2A where Mayo, Meath and Wicklow are distinctly off the pace. That’s not all to do with funding of course but it is a factor that can’t be ignored.

I read Lenny Harbinson, the Antrim football managers view on the need to introduce a cap on expenditure and reduce the volume of training sessions to help bring some balance to the whole thing. I thought that made a lot of sense and Lenny is putting words into action by reducing the number of collective sessions he has with his squad this year. I don’t hear the same sense coming from the GPA who seem to be of the view that the top inter-county players should be the associations top priority. Whilst I don’t know of many members who begrudge players being properly looked after I do increasingly get a sense of enough is enough. Clubs invest considerable time in player development to then be dictated to by County management set ups as to when players can and cannot play for them. That’s the sort of thing the GPA should be having a look at as opposed to continually being seen to look for a bigger slice of the financial pie.

I sincerely hope I am wrong, and their motives are beyond money, but it is my view that they have a job to do in terms of changing the hearts and minds of the GAA membership. A good starting point would be to drop the “poor me” approach and be more realistic in terms of the available funding. Most people in their heart of hearts realise that the current model cannot continue and as discussion points go it would appear to be one that isn’t going away any time soon. I expect many more column inches and opinions to be aired before it reaches a satisfactory conclusion.