And Gaelic Players Association CEO Tom Parsons in this clip discusses the red herring of cost being an issue for integration.

that might come out from some GAA representative that they can't afford the 40 million to go to 80 million.

I worked on a subcommittee of the steering group and we developed a minimum standards charter for inter-county players and the cost was an additional 5 million per year over two years.

So already with the work of equalizing the funding from government, when Minister Jack Chambers equalized the funding, we've gone a long way in funding the female charter.

And so it's, you know, there's like, that's smoke and mirrors to say that this is a cost issue.

You know, the GA released their own report from Sheffield University to say that when you consolidate the revenue, Not that the clubs make, but the counties, provincials and centrally, when you consolidate that revenue, it's 250 million.

And we had solutions developed.

The GA management has stated yesterday in an email that it cannot commit to a definitive timeline and it must pause and reflect, which goes against the motion to prioritise integration.

It goes against their very public statement to integrate by 2027.

It goes against a very public statement in an Oireachtas committee meeting in June of this year, And it goes against any form of position that has been presented to their own governance structures.

So, you know, I'm very proud of our democratic structures, but I just can't get my head over how or who can decide this.

Tom Parsons, did you also have those sort of concerns around September or perhaps even earlier when it came to the cold feet that the GAA started to develop on this whole process?

To be honest, I didn't see this coming on and this is a big shock and that's very surprising because I'm meeting the GAA leadership on a weekly basis and this has surprised me.

To be honest, when you look at the timelines, June of this year, the Steering Committee met very publicly in an Oireachtas Committee meeting and committed to integration.

I'm also a member of GA Central Council.

And in August, this wasn't challenged.

So this is a real governance issue for me because we're meant to be very proud of our democratic organization.

And GDA Congress is meant to be the supreme governing body.

You know, you talk about finances, you talk about fixtures, like they have all been rumblings at various stages during the last four years of this process, but no member of leadership on the GA side have actually come out to quell those concerns.

Yes, I'm six foot seven, which is an inch taller than the average girlfriend.

Yes, that's right.

So I think the iron sharpens iron.

I mean, obviously the nice thing, because we're, you know, I'm, I'm part of a family of five of us and the lovely thing is about friendship.

I think CS Lewis made this point about friendship.

It's lovely to see the way different people are in friendships.

And I love that with our family and seeing the different relationships that there are with you within our, our family.

I need I need I need to work on my forgiveness muscle when I enter the Parsons household and the mocking just begins or when Katie the wonderful Katie who is like so sweet and innocent will then like absolutely destroy me with a line I'm not ready for and make me feel like the most arrogant egotistical like nutter that's ever existed I don't know how you

And the worst thing that you can get with an injury is kind of false hope from a doctor, isn't it?

Yeah, you can.

And I suppose doctors need to give you the worst possible prognosis.

They're not going to tell you to walk again and then all of a sudden you can't walk and then you go back to the doctor and say, hold on a second, you painted an expectation.

So, you know, I think expectations probably need to be kept low or kept fear.

So there's certainly no blame there.

But You know, it's amazing, you know, since all the surgeries, I've often had pain in the knee and I've never went to get a scan because it will probably show, you know, a load of damage.

Am I supposed to be moving on to your role now in the GPA? How did that come about? Was it always something you wanted to stick with in football after you retired?

For anyone that doesn't fully understand what the GPA is besides when they see GPA awards or All-Stars, could you kind of give a quick overview o- of, of what the organization does as a whole? I know you've touched on a bit so far.

Yeah.

Well, look, I mean, like every other sport in, in the world, major sport, they have rep- the, an, an athlete body that represents the collective voice of players, you know.

And that's what we do.

You know, we represent the intercounty players who are also club players, and we advocate to make sure that they're protected and their interests are protected and they, that, and that they have a voice in Gaelic Games.

You know, so the representing the players' voice is first and foremost, and then I suppose advocating with government in terms of funding and advocating with the GAA in terms of a, a deal to make sure that, um, players are protected.

Because, you know, when I was playing, we were talking about the international rules of 18, 19, um, you know, I remember playing my first two or three seasons, uh, picked up a chronic groin i- injury, was told you can't play for 18 months.

[chuckles]

okay so how did that progress take me through that

Yeah, just it was one of those things I started doing.

And then I was doing some shows and stuff.

I would ride some Supercross for fun, do some shows in the rest of the year.

And then in 20, I think it was 2011, I came out to do like Anaheim's, the Anaheim's and stuff like that.

Okay.

And I've always been, I've always known the renters.

so sketchy so sketchy um so your, your property you have now, do you have land where you have jumps and you can ride on your own property?