Tyrone's All-Star goalkeeper has claimed that some of his teammates are struggling with the financial hit of playing inter-county football.
The 2021 All-Ireland winner turned down a wage playing soccer with Dungannon Swifts in order to pursue his dreams of playing Gaelic football.
However, when speaking at the launch of a report which highlighted how county players are left with a EUR4,602 expenses tab each year, he admitted that if he was a student know, he would have to rethink that decision.
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“I know that now I couldn’t afford to be a student and to play county football when on the other hand I’d got an Irish League wage and, being a number one goalkeeper, I know I’d be able to afford a better life if I was playing soccer.
“I actually have that written down here in my notes for today - if I was to be in the same position, at 20 years of age I think I was when I was asked (to join Tyrone), I think I would be pushing it back at least four years. I’d be saying, ‘You know what, I’ll finish university and then I’ll revisit this’. I know as a student, I wouldn’t have been able to afford this now.
“If it was now, sitting as the 20-year-old, rent in Belfast is now nearly double what I was paying and then food, the costs have gone through the roof.
"As a county player, I started off at 10-and-a-half stone, which obviously wouldn’t work now. I was getting steak for breakfast, steak for lunch, steak for dinner and thankfully Mum and Dad were helping with a lot of the cost for that.
“The younger players now, people ask are they willing to give so much? And my question is can they afford to give so much?
“I suppose the big thing I would say too is there are players on our squad, as our player rep, that are genuinely struggling with the financial side of things and students are the most vulnerable within that.
“The cost of living, cars, insurance, rent, everything has gone up for everybody. For the new players coming up, like, eating steak three times a day to gain weight!
"One protein shake a day doesn’t suffice to make up all the extra calories.”
Morgan doubles as co-chair of the Gaelic Players Association and is a players representative, so he will often be the one who addresses issues such as this to the public.
As an amateur sport, players of course don't get paid, and that is one of the core ethos of the organisation, but this will certainly spark a debate, that a level of professionalism may need to be introduced in some capacity.
