Revealed: GAA Managers On The Take

Primetime, RTE 1's flagship current affairs programme, will this week blow the lid off the GAA world by revealing that top inter-county managers are receiving 'money' for training their teams. The revelations are set to rock the Gaelic games scene, as RTE insiders have revealed that the show features secretly filmed footage of several well-known names accepting this 'money' (which is usually used as a method of reward in exchange for goods and services) from shady county board members at various top-secret rendezvous.

These 'payments' have long been regarded as a cancer on the games, and the GAA moved quickly to voice its concern yesterday. "Managers are already sufficiently rewarded by way of petrol money, luncheon vouchers and the glory of managing your own county in our great national games," scolded GAA president Nickey Brennan yesterday. "And for those not managing in their own county, well, there is the glory of managing someone else's county in our great national games. And they get more petrol money."

The Primetime special claims that one inter-county manager took receipt of several payments of 'money' merely in exchange for driving several hundred miles and spending 10-15 hours at training sessions per week, conducting video analysis and preparing dossiers on future opponents while at home, attending press conferences and conducting media interviews and partaking in meetings with selectors and county board officials.

"If this is true," confided a Croke Park source yesterday, "then this has huge ramifications for society at large. The payment of 'money' in exchange for work done could bring the whole country to its knees!"