The GAA hopes that a meeting with AFL will curtail the “wild west element” surrounding the recruitment of Irish players. 

In recent years, the Australian Football League has actively sought out players from Ireland to move down under and play AFL professionally. 

Training days have been held in Dublin and those who perform well are offered the chance to relocate Down Under. 

The practice has intensified in recent years and Maurice Brosnan of the Irish Examiner described the current protocols as “loose”. 

“[AFL] clubs are now conducting their own version of scouting,” he explained on The Hard Shoulder. 

“There's a couple of clubs who would have existed outside of that infrastructure anyway, but they have their own scouts and they have their own way of accessing players. 

“That means that there is a wild west element to this whereby you could have players being approached as young as 15, 16 and there's not necessarily protocols in place for that.” 

Mr Brosnan added that this has “always sat unwell with a certain section of people within the GAA”. 

“You're never going to stop this, you will never ever stop the recruitment process,” he said. 

“But could you put a bit more of a formal structure in place, I think you can.” 

Mr Brosnan suggested that one thing the AFL could do to smooth the GAA’s ruffled feathers would be to recruit an Irish player welfare officer, who could help with the “massive disruption” in their lives.  

“[Someone] who could actually deal, because as you know this is a huge ordeal for these men and women now,” he said. 

“[They] move across the globe and from an accommodation and a transport and even education perspective they need some assistance.

“Roughly about 72, 73 Irish players have made the move to the AFL and over 40 don't play a senior competitive game, so the vast majority are returning, they come back within two to three years.

“Is there sufficient support in place for those players when they actually come back?”

Main image: Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Picture by: Alamy.com.