time to step back in time?

While out for a few pints, I decided to play the role of devils advocate in the debate of the Cork Gaa players v the Cork county board. The anger surrounds the board’s decision to appoint selectors without the input of the county manager .Feeling pissed upon, the players revolted and have gone on strike in protest, no training, no matches, no Cork.
This is manna from heaven, for anyone looking to stir some shite in a bar-room setting . The public debates, as always in the pub, are not an area for the centrist amongst us. It’s a black and white discussion with the loudest speaker usually coming out on top. After watching the two sides go at it, I then joined the crew which was losing and proceeded to throw some diesel on the fire.
If the players side was winning, I would immediately call them spoiled rotten bastards and invoke the names of Ring, Lynch and Barry-Murphy and position them with the county board side, If the board dominated proceedings they were lambasted by me as worthless hangers on whom just got their thrills by putting themselves ahead of the likes of Ring, Lynch and Barry-Murphy as the real heroes of the GAA.
I found myself really enjoying the verbal's, seeing people getting bent out of shape, willing their side of the argument on you is a fascinating sight. Taking a rough survey on the debates I would say the players held sway by 60%-40% margin. Not a great win but a win none the less, but even at that, both sides seemed to feel that representing your county was a gift not a right .I did notice though that after the bitter battles of board vs players the conversation usually turned to the oncoming specter of payment and contracts for players, even though the players trained like pros and the game was presented in a very professional package, we all felt that the games of the seventies and eighties were better entertainment. People liked straight knock-out championship games and meaningful Munster finals, the players themselves were closer to us, we would see them in the pub or in the streets not locked away in a gym or another endless training session. Football has morphed into a hybrid of basketball and long distance running, and hurling into a game of pick and drive for greyhound tee-total bachelors.
I know times have moved on but unlike other sports the GAA has always been part of the Irish people., The culture of the game is just as important than the actual game on the field. I even surprised myself by staying stum and just enjoying the talk of big farming full-forwards battling big farming full-backs and tales of ground hurling and overhead pulling plus some catching and kicking, which seem to be lost arts at inter county level .I don't want to come across as a degrader of the modern player. I really admire their dedication and sacrifice for club and county, but I do think that as amateur players they shouldn't have to make this huge sacrifice of pro training ten months of the year.
Maybe just maybe the players union rather than fighting for money, can instead turn it around and fight for their lives back. Make a maximum squad training rule of two nights a week for inter-county sides .Fight for less games in a season and more time for the players club, which after all is the unit the GAA is built upon, more time to your own career and job. Sure the players won’t be as fit but is that a bad thing? Slowing down hurling and football would be a good deal for the spectator. The skills will still be there and players might have more room to show them. Let’s bring back our national games from the precipice of contracts and commercialism, there is no demand for it by the spectators. Surely if they can get the playing and living balance right, we can return to the day of representing your county as the ultimate reward. Its a cultural thing as much as a sporting thing. Let’s start enjoying ourselves again.