Age grades unchanged..for now???

Delegates voted strongly to retain the current underage age grades at Tipperary GAA's annual Convention in Thurles on Monday night.

With no fewer than twelve motions relating in some form to changing under 21 to under 20 and under 18 to under 17 (in line with inter-county grades), as well as subsequent amendments from under 16 and 14 to under 13 & 15, led to lengthy debate on both sides of the argument with the status quo emerging a decisive winner in the vote, 132 to 62.

In his address, county chairman John Devane highlighted the reason the minor grade was changed to under 17 at inter-county level was because minors were bring overloaded with games and demands across club, school and county level, playing sometimes on upto ten different teams in a year.

“Changing the age to under 17 and ruling them out from playing adult should mean far more games at their own level for these players,” he said.

Opening the debate, Drom & Inch's Padraig Butler spoke in favour of changing the age grades, highlighting that the club scene will be out of kilter with grades at under 16, 18 & 21, cutting across under-county grades of under 17 and under 20.

He added with a round-robin format in hurling being added to in football in minor level in 2019, few club games could be played from April through June and will only exacerbated if age grades aren't changed, highlighting that there are currently seventeen sixteen-year-olds on both the county minor hurling and football panels for 2019 at the moment, who could hold up both the under 16 and minor championships in the county, where as if the grades were changed to under 15 & 17, it would impact on just one with the under 15 competition unaffected.

 

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