Looking at the current landscape of inter-county GAA, it's fair to say that the organisation surrounding teams at the highest level is almost unrecognisable to what it was only a couple of decades ago.
Gone are the days of a manager, a handful of selectors, and a physio being on hand to look after the team at training and on matchdays. Inter-county backroom teams now contain a huge number of people, focusing on quite a few different areas.
Of course, while the GAA remains an amateur organisation, quite a few of those involved in this aspect of the sport are not volunteering their time for free. They are paid professionals brought in with an eye towards improving the team on the pitch.
While everyone wants to see the best possible product on the pitch, there are questions over how sustainable the current product is. The costs associated with running an inter-county team have spiralled in recent times, something the GAA may look at addressing in the near future.
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Wexford legend calls on GAA President to tackle inter-county issue
With quite a few county boards around the country struggling to cope with the financial demands of the modern inter-county game, some feel that measures should be put in place to ensure the long-term health of the sport.
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Wexford hurling legend Tom Dempsey called on incoming GAA president Jarlath Burns to limit the amount of people an inter-county side could have as part of their backroom team.
I don’t know anyone in the GAA that doesn’t feel that the players should be treated properly and should be treated better, that’s a given. But on the flip side, €40m to prepare all the county teams is not right.
We should keep the players treated properly and professionally but we should look a little bit back to our values of amateurism. Part of that is reducing backroom teams to 10 people and that should be a rule.
Why not go with your manager, your two selectors, two coaches, a physio, a doctor, S&C, maybe a stats man and someone to keep an eye on how lads are doing, a psychologist or that? Ten people should be enough.
We need to remember where we have come from because this thing is going out of control. It’s gone to the stage where if one county has a tiddlywinks expert then everyone else has to get one as well.
This argument makes a lot of sense.
Many county boards are find it increasingly difficult to meet the costs associated with running an inter-county team, an issue that could be eased if backroom teams were to decrease in size moving forward.
It is something that the GAA might take a look at moving forward.
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