GAA has put conservative past firmly in the rear view mirror
Go back just a couple of decades and the GAA is unrecognisable to what it's become
Remember how it used to be? It's not that long ago, really, so just take a moment.
Think of the time when the GAA was dismissed as backwards and reactionary and conservative. We were told again and again that there were three traditional pillars to Irish life - the Catholic Church, Fianna Fail and the GAA. The spin was that all three had kept the country in the Dark Ages.
But go back just a couple of decades and the GAA is unrecognisable to what it's become. Up until 1997, when the back door came into hurling, Championships were always straight knock-out and that was seen as the GAA way.
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Now we've had a series of changes to the systems used by both, and another tweak is coming next year.
It's not that long since police officers in the north weren't allowed to play GAA. That rule was binned.
The doors of Croke Park were opened to soccer and rugby too.
The GPA is part of the mainstream now. Inter-county players get government grants. Drug testers take the piss - and blood. Hawkeye has the last word.
Helmets have become compulsory in hurling. The black card came into football. So did penalty shoot-outs.
New football rules are on the way too. We may well have to get used to four point goals and something that looks like an imitation of soccer's off side system.
Croke Park hosts the Eid-Mubarak festival, which is sacred to Muslims. The GAA takes an active part in the annual Dublin Pride march.
The rate of change over the past 25 years in the GAA has been extraordinary.
It puts many professional sports in the shade. Look at the backlash to VAR in soccer.
One thing's for sure, the GAA's appetite for change hasn't been sated.
Games in the pre-season competitions are often played on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday evenings.
That is the case with the Under-20 Championships too.
Championship games on Fridays may well be part of our future.
Sure, it puts pressure on players and managers to take at least a half-day off work because of a game that evening.
But the reality is that, with Saturday games, many players take Fridays off at the moment.
Jim Gavin, during his time managing Dublin, was right to point out a few years ago that there is a case to be made for compensating players for loss of earnings.
There is a lot of merit in fixing games for Friday evenings. It's seen as a perfect time to attract spectators.
Just look at how successful the Leinster rugby team's Friday evening games are, and the buzz at many League of Ireland grounds.
They're seen as an ideal place to go to unwind from a week's work.
The money game is the next great challenge for the GAA. Inevitably, inter-county players are going to demand more and more of the pie.
The GAA is keen to embrace every commercial opportunity out there.
But they'd have nothing to sell without the players. The players know that. Interesting times ahead.
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