The Gaelic Players Association (GPA) has been working in the U.S. since 2011 when, under the direction of chief executive Dessie Farrell and chairman Donal Og Cusack, it set up an Advisory Board in New York to help develop a network of supporters for the work of the group, and to promote Gaelic games to a wider American audience.

Building on the visit of the Irish-based Gaelic Players Association (GPA) to Breezy Point earlier this year, when stars of Ireland's Gaelic games helped with the recovery and reconstruction effort after Hurricane Sandy, the GPA is hosting the Breezy Gaelic Sports Team Building Day on Saturday, June 8.

The Ireland Fund Young Leaders will host their Spring Party in Dublin on Friday, April 26, 2013 where they will honour, Dessie Farrell, CEO of the GPA with their 2013 Young Leader of the Year Award.

Irish American and New York City mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn has said in a recent video that she is thankful for the Gaelic Players Association volunteers who recently came out to Breezy Point in Queens to help rebuild in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

Tipperary hurling star Lar Corbett and former All-Stars Brian McGuigan and Ollie Canning are part of a GPA work party workin in  Breezy Point New York this weekend with the support of Aer Lingus to help with the reconstruction of the community’s youth sports facilities destroyed during last year’s hurricane.

Gambling is a major problem among GAA players say Gaelic Players Association
 
Football and Hurling players begin to come forward seeking professional help for their gambling and alcohol addictions
 
DARA KELLY
 
More and more Gaelic games players are coming to the Gaelic Players Association seeking professional help with gambling problems, according to Dessie Farrell.
 
The Association’s boss, Farrell, said the addiction is “like a steam train coming down the tracks.”
 
In the past year, three inter-county players have availed of the GPA’s services. Farrell says more are now “coming out of the woodwork.”
 
“In the last six months, this whole issue of gambling has taken us by surprise,” said Farrell.
 
"It's that severe and that widespread. But we're starting to ask more questions about it now. Gambling is so accessible. You can have fellas on a coach going to a Championship game and they're on the iPhone, making bets. It's become a big, big problem. We're trying to get people who are dealing with these mental health/addiction issues back on their feet and give them a plan.
 
"But we're finding that a lot of players are on this merry-go-round, just ghosting through their lives. They mightn't necessarily be the extreme cases where there is depression or alcohol abuse, but a lot of them are on this carousel and don't know what it is they want to do or where they want to go. There's this chaos in their heads and it's camouflaged by their inter-county career."
 
Speaking to the Irish Independent, he explained that now more GPA members are seeking help for their problems.
 
He said, “The extreme level is where players have to engage with our counselling service.
 
“We have a network of clinical psychologists around the country, which our players can access free.
 
"Some very extreme cases might require hospitalization or access to patient treatment clinics. In the last year, we've put three players into treatment centers for gambling addiction. Well, one was gambling/alcohol.
 
"But they're all coming out of the woodwork now with serious problems and the issues that stem from gambling, like significant debt and the upset in the home. There have been a lot of cases of that.
 
"This is going to hit us like a steam train coming down the tracks, that's how serious it is. We're actually talking to our counselors now to see what we can do about putting together an education programme around this."

Election of Officers

ICON plc, a global provider of outsourced development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries, and the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) have announced a new partnership which will provide funding for inter-county players engaged in undergraduate and postgraduate life sciences courses.

A motion tabled for the AGM of the Gaelic Players Association in Dublin next Friday calls on the players’ body to carry out a review of the current senior inter-county football championship and publish proposals for an alternative model.

The visit of the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) to New York last week represented the organization's first big step in establishing a support network for the GPA’s Player Development Program aimed at improving the lives of our amateur county hurlers and footballers.