IN ALL FAIRNESS - Moral victory for change at Special Congress

Moral victories, you either love them or hate them!

Certainly, while last Saturday’s Special Congress rejected the changing the structure of the inter-county football season, that is garnered over fifty percent of the vote can be seen as the starting point to finally bring about the change the senior championship is crying out for, sooner rather than later.

As tends to be the case with most things in this country, we have to reject it first become it is finally accepted and while Proposal B was defeated at Special Congress, it is merely delaying the inevitable and that possibly by 2023 and definitely by 2024, we will see a revamped inter-county leagues and championships.

However, this will be too late for those players in the twilight of their inter-county careers who may have been enthused at a new structure for 2022 and now that it won’t be happening, will have a decision to make about whether to commit for another season, particularly for teams that have nothing other than the National League to realistically have something they can win. The Tailteann Cup is coming on stream next year and while it is well-meaning, it is only when we get through the first campaign that we’ll know does it have value or will it become just another All-Ireland ‘B’ Championship or Tommy Murphy Cup that falls by the wayside after a few years.

While it was welcome to hear so many speakers at Special Congress accept that change is needed, there wasn’t enough bravery from those who said ‘no’ to have that change now. Instead, what we got was the majority of the strong counties, and particularly the provincial councils, being insular, more concerned about their own patch, rather than what was good for the game overall.

In terms of the provincial councils, we cannot be surprised by their stance as they have been the biggest single stumbling block to quicker change in many areas of the GAA, down through the years.Bar in Ulster, the provincial football championships are not fit for purpose anymore and no one province should hold the overall association to ransom.

However, it wasn’t Ulster on their own that saw this proposal fail. It was also the elite footballing counties such as Dublin, Kerry, Galway and Mayo who ensured change wouldn’t happen, as it didn’t suit them. I don’t ever want to hear Kerry whinge and moan again about having a soft run through Munster only for them to be ill-prepared for an All-Ireland Championship games against Dublin or one of the Ulster counties. They had an opportunity to have seven championship games win division 1 and they said no.

The soft run through Leinster certainly has suited Dublin in recent times as they haven’t had to peak until the All-Ireland quarter final stage, in comparison to many of their challengers, particularly in Ulster, who have to hit the championship running and sustaining peak performance for three months is more difficult than doing so for four weeks.

In terms of Mayo and Galway, how they can look the likes of Sligo and Leitrim in the eye in their own province and tell them ‘the championship suits us fine the way it is’. At least Roscommon, who more than most in that province would see a provincial title as being attainable in any year, saw the bigger picture.

With a 50.6% voting in favour of change, there is now a mandate for the GAA to go and do it and while GAA President Larry McCarthy’s comments on moving quickly were encouraging, that he wouldn’t speculate on having a new proposal to go before Congress next February is concerning. Now is the time to strike when the iron is hot. Never has there been so much engagement on what to do with the football championship among all stakeholders. It is now time for them all to get into a room and thrash things out. All four provincial bodies as well as players and managers need to be involved in whatever new committee is put in place as only through negotiation and the willingness to compromise on certain aspects, will a format that is palatable to achieve the sixty percent needed, can be achieved.

If you were to follow Proposal B, red line issues for some counties such as linking the provincial championship to the All-Ireland Series by guaranteeing the provincial winner a place in the knockout stage, can be easily done; you only have to look here in Tipperary and our club hurling championship for the template.

Those “strong” counties concerned over finishing sixth in division 1 and not making the knockout stages, while it seemed a petty argument to deserve to still be in a championship with a losing record, give them what they want and get change underway as once it is in, it can be tinkered with as there are always teething problems with new ways of doing things. There was in hurling and they were addressed and we now have the best championship in Gaelic Games. Gaelic Football can have it too if it really really wants it badly enough!