GAA urged to see ‘bigger picture’ in residency crux

THE Hurling Development Committee (HDC) is still considering a proposal to relax parentage and residency rules that could solve the chasm in standards, particularly in Leinster.

A Louth motion to Congress, backed by 20 counties, sought the relaxation of the parentage and residency rules to assist weaker counties. Cork raised technical queries at the time and the motions were moved to the HDC at Croke Park where they still sit.

Yesterday, one hurling development officer in Leinster said that Laois, Offaly and Dublin would be the main beneficiaries of these reforms as all three would get enough extra players to make them more competitive.

With only 15 hurling parishes, Offaly does not have the resources to compete with Kilkenny and Cork while Laois (14 parishes), Carlow (9) and Louth (4) are further behind.

Another crippling obstacle to developing hurling in the weaker counties is the high percentage of players lost to the game between underage and adult levels. “There are six to eight top players not playing for Laois, for example, because they are demoralised at being beaten week in, week out. They prefer to play for their clubs in the county championship,” said the official.

“Laois shares borders with Kilkenny and Tipp where there are clubs like Urlingford, Castlecomer, Ballyragget, Roscrea and Templetouhy. There’s a good number of players playing for these clubs with Laois parents or grandparents who would be just short of playing for Tipp or Kilkenny but would be big additions to a county like Laois.

“If four or five of these players were to play for Laois then you would see a number of their top players coming back to play for the county as well. You’d see Wexford put to the pin of their collar if that were to happen.”

Offaly’s situation is similar, while the potential pickings for Dublin, where dozens of hurlers from the country live, are even more obvious.

The debacles in Croke Park last Sunday have again shown the need for such lateral thinking, but members of the Leinster Council’s own HDC warned of the dangers two years ago, one member remarking at the time that Offaly hurling was “going down the tubes”.

Opposition to the proposal has focused on how an influx of ‘outsiders’ would reduce places for existing players but a ceiling of five transfers has been suggested to offset that.

Fears that wholesale movement of players would lead to transfer chaos has also been eased by plans for a ‘transfer calming period’ whereby any player wishing to play for an adopted county would do so with the understanding that it would be for a minimum of two or three years.

“Let’s hope that the HDC now faces down the opponents of these reliefs and allows the smaller counties a chance to survive and prosper,” said the Leinster development officer.

“Time is running out. The problem is how to convince stone-brained elements in the GAA that it is easier to strengthen the weak than to resurrect the dead. Significantly, Kilkenny are strong supporters of the parentage/residency reliefs proposed for the small and weak counties. They see the bigger and longer term picture.”