Think about the players.
Don’t think about lining your wallet. Think about the players.
At the end of the day, the GAA is a hobby. Players get into the GAA because they love the game, they love playing and they love trying to win.
That’s enough for lads at the start. That should always be enough.
The corrupting influence of gambling is taking hold on the GAA more and more with each passing year. That’s because gambling is so accessible nowadays. With a few clicks on a smart phone, a man could lay their worth on the line with a punt.
That’s dangerous and it’s no wonder that it has caused damage. It wouldn’t be right to say that the problem is manifesting itself in the GAA exclusively because that’s obviously not true, but it’s something that is linked to the GAA more than it is many other sports.
Why the GAA? Why has gambling caused irreparable damage to many a GAA life, many a GAA player?
“When players go to their local club, in their own backgarden, they won't be subjected to gambling's influence at the one place that even some of the most addicted gamblers can find a temporary release.” https://t.co/ADYEu1WXdO
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) February 24, 2018
The main reason has to be that the GAA is so local. We think we know everything about it. As well as that, more focusing on the players, many of them are edgy, all in or nothing characters, and just like they obsessed with the GAA, they become obsessed with gambling.
The topic came up for discussion on Thursday’s GAA Hour Hurling Show and Wooly, Cheddar Plunkett and JJ Delaney all agreed on its perils.
“Gambling issues are very serious. A lot of conversations in the GAA are based around gambling nowadays. You tend to bet heavier on the GAA because you think you know more about it,” said Wooly.
Colm Parkinson played football at the very highest level with Laois. Many GAA players will relate to Wooly when he recalls the messages and the questions he faced from outsiders looking in, asking whether his team were worth a bet.
“I used to be terrified when I was playing, I’d get texts off fellas, ‘Well Wooly are ye going to win?’ and you’d have to be in the mindspace to think you’re going to win.
“So I’d always say, ‘Jesus, I think we’re going to win, we’ve a great chance.’ But then, you think. this lad loves a bet, and I’m after giving him this information. I just stopped replying for these texts, because you don’t want to be responsible.”
Players shouldn’t have to face these pressures. These responsibilities. The GAA was meant to be fun.
Former Laois hurling manager Seamus ‘Cheddar’ Plunkett believes the GAA should do everything they can to enforce a blanket ban on gambling.
“I’d ban all of this as much as I can. I know of some players that it has really eaten into their lives and caused mayhem in their family lives. It’s very difficult to sort out, and sometimes the pain that’s left behind is just savage, and very difficult to sort yourself out of.,” said Cheddar.
JJ Delaney’s story, based on a raft of bets on his club, Fenianss to beat Ballyhale Shamrocks in a Kilkenny club Championship game summed up the problem best.
“People think they know more about the GAA, so then they bet heavier on it.
“There was a situation there with my own club a couple of years ago. We were playing Ballyhale Shamrocks in a League Championship match. Nine times out of ten, we wouldn’t get near Ballyhale at all, but at the start of the week, we were 8/1. Then there was word going around that TJ was injured, then Henry was injured and then Colin Fennelly got injured.
Then, the whispers spread. Big money was placed on the line around the county.
“Then half the county was nearly backing us, just from people talking. ‘Oh we’ll get on this now because they’re 8/1.’ Sure it was backed into 3 or 4/1 and we only barely bet them by a last minute point. I’d say there was a lot of people sweating on that as well. It’s funny the way things escalate.
The worst of all – the responsibility was on the players.
“You’re meeting a couple of lads throughout the county within the couple of weeks after, and they’re like, ‘Jesus, I had ye, why did ye only win by a point?’ I was like, ‘we’re not doing this for ye, we’re doing it to win ourselves. It just felt funny, people, once they have money on it, they think they have ownership on it, they think they’ve a God given right to win.”
Worse again, is when the players get involved. But that’s a different story altogether. The moral of this one was nailed by Delaney. The bookies never lose.
“It is very local, you’d hear about it especially in club games, if a lad’s injured or whatever, ‘I’m going to go heavy on these…but you never see a poor bookies.”
The GAA came to a decision at congress on Saturday morning to prohibit betting companies from sponsoring any GAA team, any GAA competition or any GAA playing gear or facility.
That’s a good move. It should be the start of it.
You can listen to this discussion, and much more from Thursday’s GAA Hour Hurling Show right here.
