GPA won’t take blueprint rejection lightly

Rejection in any form is a wretch. The GPA are no strangers to it having been outside the GAA tent for so long. But denial is a relatively new experience now that they are inside it.

Tue, 01 Dec, 2015 - 00:00

John Fogarty

John Fogarty is the Irish Examiner’s GAA correspondent, with unique insights into the action on the pitch and in the Gaelic games’ corridors of power.

During their official recognition negotiations, the GAA turned down some of the demands but at least the “no” was said in the secrecy of the boardroom. Sadly for them, the same can’t be said for how their blueprint for the football championship, backed by 31 of 32 county panels, has been publicly consigned to the dustbin by GAA president Aogán Ó Fearghail.

Their structure would have seen a Champions League-style All-Ireland SFC on the completion of the provincial championships. Although staged over a more concentrated period, it would have entailed 40 more games. “We don’t want any more games at inter-county level so we’re not going to move to a championship system that does that,” Ó Fearghail said Saturday.