The Gaelic Players Association has launched its strategic plan for the next three years, The Playbook 2026-2028.
Developed over the last four months, the document contains five key focus areas which the inter-county players body intends to home in on.
Those focus areas are; player-led movement, the elite-player experience, players powering integration, players growing the games and developing players beyond the games.
According to the GPA, work is underway to develop implementation plans to achieve each of the areas’ key objectives.
The data and information used to inform the document was drawn from a combination of sources; 3,676 player responses, the Indecon Economic Impact Report, GPA AGM 2025 motions, the GPA Staff Strategy Development Report and key one-to-one interviews.
Speaking at this morning’s launch, GPA NEC co-chair Aisling Maher opened by describing the current Gaelic games landscape as a ‘time of change’.
GPA CEO and former Mayo footballer Tom Parsons said at that launch that ‘We should do more than just protect the players, we should be looking to improve the standards and improve the conditions for players all the time’.
On the key pillars of focus, player led movement will deal with ‘strengthening the collective player voice’. The hope is that by 2028, ‘inter-county players are more connected, more confident and more influential with a strong and trusted squad rep network and a new generation of player leaders…’
The second area of focus, the elite player experience, seeks to ‘work towards a sustainable playing season’ as well as delivering ‘baseline performance standards across all squads.
The third focus area, players empowering integration, has the aim of making players ‘central to the delivery of integration’ of the GAA/LGFA and Camogie associations.
A key objective under focus number four, players growing the games, is that players are ‘more visible, more supported and more empowered to connect with supporters’ by 2028.
And the final area of focus, developing players beyond the games, sets out an ambition of players feeling ‘better supported as people, with stronger protection for wellbeing, clearer pathways for education and careers, and less long-term negative impact from inter-county commitments when their playing days end.’
