Eugene McGee believes football and hurling will be professional sports in 10 years' time.

The Longford native claims in his autobiography, 'The GAA in my Time', which will be launched by Mick O'Dwyer in Croke Park tonight, that the GAA's amateur ethos has already being eroded by payments to managers and players who change clubs, as well as those who earn money from commercial activities. It leads him to believe that all inter-county players will be getting paid within a decade, adding that there is nothing the GAA can do to stop the onset of a professional game.

"Breaches of the amateur status rules are now seemingly being accepted by the GAA so the question that follows as we look towards the next 10-20 years is where will these developments that have occurred over the last 20 years take the GAA?" the former Offaly All-Ireland winning manager writes.

"What will the equivalent rule in the Official Guide read like in 2034? Will there be a rule there at all? Or will it lead the GAA towards the word that dare not speak its name: PROFESSIONALISM? I believe it will.

"The new wording has facilitated an influx of money into the GAA that was never allowed prior to then. And we can take it as read that the watering down of the former strict amateur code will continue, mainly because the GAA itself is unable to prevent it from happening.

"For example, it's a certain fact for many years that county and club team managers are being paid all over the country with millions of euro changing hands annually."

He added: "There could be a limited form of pay-for-play, rather than direct professional comparison with other sports. There could be payment for players without any possibility of transfers so that the present system would remain as it is."

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