2005 has just arrived and already the preparations and training for the new season are underway. But the lucky few, players and mentors, and more importantly the wives and girlfriends, are off on well earned winter break and holiday abroad. Now is the time when all the efforts over the past twelve months are rewarded for those players who enjoyed success in 2004 and also for those players who may not have won anything, but still made serious progress in that period. Flights are on the way to New Zealand for the All-Ireland champions Cork, with other teams heading to South Africa and the Canaries, to name just a few destinations. Two things immediately spring to mind when these holidays are organised. Firstly, who pays for a three week break in New Zealand for a total party in excess of 60 people? Secondly, is it possible for players and their partners to get three weeks holidays from work? To answer the first point, the cost of the Cork party's tour is in the region of ?150,000 to cover flights, accommodation and spending money in the form of a daily allowance to cover meals and a few ice pops. It is a huge undertaking for any team to generate that type of cash but when you are All-Ireland champions, it should make it a lot easier, even if it still does take a huge amount of effort at the end of the day. I am using Cork as the example here as I know their circumstances the best. They are fortunate that the players and county board have such a good relationship with their sponsor, O2. The mobile communications giant make a sizeable contribution to the player's fund, based on the progress the team makes throughout the championship. So in a nutshell, the further the team progresses the bigger the pot for the players. However, this alone does not cover everything and the county board is obliged to make a contribution. This in most instances in the past would have been a thorny issue with a huge debate on the level of contribution. I am glad to say that since player power has arrived on Leeside, this does not appear to be a major issue anymore and I am delighted that this is now the case. But what does disappoint me in this day and age is that the players still had to fundraise for the balance of required funds so that they could make this a very enjoyable and remembered trip, but also so that there was no financial burden on any individual. Toyota generously contributed a car to the winners and this was used in turn to sell tickets at ?20 a pop to enter a draw to win the car, but the onus was left to the players to arrange this. Also team photographs were sold at ?250, mostly to the business community and public houses where, they now take pride of place on the wall. This is a treasured item but the pressure again is on team individuals and mentors to sell, sell, sell in order to finance a well deserved holiday. The people who are buying these car tickets and photos are the same people who contribute to their own GAA clubs fundraisers and take part in various GAA golf classics, year in year out. When you take into consideration All-Ireland final day in isolation, with a crowd of 80,000 paying spectators handing over on average ?50 per head (I will let you do your own sums here), then a holiday contribution of ?150,000 should only be a drop in the ocean to the GAA. It would mean that along with the sponsor's contribution, all costs would be covered without the players having to go around themselves raising money. The players' lot has improved with the situation much better now than it has ever been in the past but there is a still a bit to go. As I said at the outset, I am using the All-Ireland champions as my example, but I have no doubt that is probably the same in all other counties. Secondly, it is now more difficult for players to get all their holidays together and to take three weeks at one time can be very hard on employers. Trying to get someone to cover for you can cause problems and lead to frustration with other staff members who might not have any interest in the GAA. Credit must be given to all employers who accommodate trips of this nature and some will even grant some special leave to allow intercounty employees an opportunity of taking another break later on in the year. Players certainly appreciate the efforts made here but unfortunately that is not the case for everyone and Cork players who cannot make this trip will be given a holiday voucher to the same value to be used at a later date. Lets hope that they all enjoy their breaks and I hope there is not too much emphasis put on training while they are away because there will be plenty of time for this when they return. We must remember that this is still an amateur sport and there will be plenty of early mornings and late nights ahead of the players in the months ahead. Tweet

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