The Gaelic Players Association has been admitted to the ‘EU Athletes' Association and, after consulting with its members, has called for a ‘Yes' vote in next Friday's Lisbon Treaty referendum to help elevate the status of sport within the EU.

Following a period of discussions between both parties culminating in the GPA's participation in a recent EU Athletes conference in Poland under the auspices of a European Commission sponsored project, and a visit by EU Athletes General Secretary Walter Palmer to Ireland, the GPA has now been accepted as a member of the EU Athletes.

EU Athletes is a federation of independent athlete and player associations from all over Europe with member associations from 15 European countries representing over 25,000 professional and amateur athletes.

The move will enable the GPA to bring the issues affecting amateur inter-county hurlers and footballers to the European stage and, in particular, to the attention of the European Commission.

Speaking about the developments, GPA CEO Dessie Farrell said: "Strengthening relations with our counterparts in Europe is a really important step for the GPA as it allows us to examine the specific issues relating to inter-county players in a broader context. While our sports are unique and amateur, a lot of the issues affecting individual players, athletes and their representative bodies appear to be replicated across Europe, particularly, in areas such as anti-doping, image rights, welfare services, funding, corruption in sport and so on. These issues were all raised at the recent conference.

"Given that the status of sport with the European Commission is set to be enhanced if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified, we believe it is in the best interest of our members that the Treaty is passed. This would be good for sport in Ireland in general but particularly good for our members."

EU Athletes General Secretary Walter Palmer added: "We are delighted to welcome the Gaelic Players Association into EU Athletes and we look forward to working with the Association. Gaelic games are unique in European terms and we believe that both organisations will benefit from the shared experience of working together in the future."
Under the Lisbon Treaty, a supporting EU competence for sport will be created to encourage the exchange of good practice and other supporting activities at European level. The GPA believes this could prove particularly beneficial for sport in Ireland in general and Gaelic games in particular. Volunteerism is of particular importance to the European project and the Commission is preparing to declare 2011 as the ‘European Year of Volunteering'.