Mayo’s Tom Parsons front runner for top GPA job

by Aiden Henry

WITH the present CEO of the GPA (Gaelic Players Association), Paul Flynn, having announced that he was stepping away from the job at the end of January, the association is on the lookout for a new chief executive.

Indeed, with the date for applications for the position expired since last week, the process of selecting a new CEO is now very much at an advance stage.

While the list of applications for this prestigious job have not been released, it is generally accepted that the front runner for the position is Mayo’s Tom Parsons.

Only last September, the Charlestown native was ratified by the association’s National Executive Committee (NEC) as its new chairman, this after he had served as secretary since February 2019.

There is little doubt the former Mayo midfielder is one of the country’s most highly respected players and is held in high esteem by both his fellow players and GAA supporters.

Now, although it is expected there will be several candidates from within the existing ranks of the association, Parsons' is the top name being mentioned to succeed outgoing CEO Flynn.

Parsons, who recently retired from inter-county football and who resides in the capital, is the present culture manager for Europe in Jacobs.

Holding such a top-class job would not help in his decision if offered the top GPA position.

However, such is Parson’s passion for the GAA and the work the GPA does for its members, it is hard to see this opportunity to become CEO of the association passing him by.

While Parsons name is widely mentioned, there are plenty of others doing the rounds for the position, including former Antrim All-Star hurler Ciarán Barr, who became head of finance and operations of the association last March, Donal Óg Cusack, Seamus Hickey (who held the position on an interim basis in the past), Kilkenny star Richie Hogan, who knows the ins and out of the organisation having been a NEC member for the last five or six years, and Laois football star Colm Begley, who is a project coordinator in the GPA and has been a senior representative for the body.

With the successful vote to merge the GPA and the WPGA last December and with the formalities of that amalgamation now at a very far advanced, there are plenty of female GAA sports people more than capable of filling the position as well.

For now, however, the person most linked with the position is Charlestown native Tom Parsons.