Nickey Brennan has admitted that the GAA faces a bleak few years as the downturn in the economy is forcing young people to leave the country in search of work.
GAA clubs, particularly in rural areas, could face the same situation that arose in the 1980s, when the association lost huge amounts of players to emigration.
However, Brennan is hopeful that the impact on the GAA will not be as great as it was in those times.
“If you have no work and are a young man you will go somewhere you can get work – at least you’ll go if it keeps you going for a year,” said Brennan.
“Inevitably the GAA will be caught there. But we are not going back to the days when it was dreary a few years ago and clubs were decimated. I’m not sure it will be as bad as that.
“You are talking to me when the Government exchequer figures were fairly brutal. That is a concern for everybody. Hopefully it won’t affect us too much, but we won’t be immune from it.”