Time for lateral thinking as GAA inequity grows
€1.5 million is quite a chunk of change spread out evenly among 10 clubs around the county, particularly when just one other GAA club in the country — Dundalk’s Sean O’Mahony’s — also received the top €150,000 grant.
But dig a little deeper. For a county with a population of 1.4 million, 134 clubs is not enough.
Consider Cork has a population total of close to 600,000 and is serviced by more than 250 clubs.
The idea of splitting Dublin is fanciful (as it would be self-defeating) but where amalgamations are a sad reality elsewhere in the country, there is an argument that dividing the catchment areas of clubs by establishing new clubs would be a more reasonable, healthier move. Money, of course, would be required but there are less stumbling blocks in the capital. For one, the parish rule doesn’t exist.
Castleknock benefited from a €145,000 capital grant and they could be considered worthier than others when they will only be celebrating their 20th anniversary next year. They have carved out a part of west Dublin for themselves where they would have been some resentment from rival outfit, St Brigid’s. If anything, as Castleknock have developed into a flourishing dual club, they have prompted St Brigid’s to up their game.
For now at least, the beauty about a club like Castleknock is their presence ensures there is less of a drop-off among younger men and women playing Gaelic games. In time, they could transform into another super-club where the distillation of talent is such that teenagers and early twentysomethings give up the games frustrated at the lack of opportunity because of the competition for places.
That Dublin — at inter-county football level — has realised its potential should be considered a success story for the GAA but when the association has no mechanism that truly engenders equalisation, like the draft in AFL and NFL there is a problem.
The inter-county winter training moratorium might be considered an attempt to instil fairness but when there is so much anecdotal evidence that it is being flouted — we saw for ourselves back in 2010 when Cavan contravened it — you can’t say it is effective.
The GAA’s finance committee has begun the process of ensuring the disparity between the funding that Dublin receives and the rest of the country will lessen — last year Dublin benefited from €1.463m in development funding and Cork were next in line, with €249,000. GAA director of finance Tom Ryan, however, has admitted it will take time.
But what can the GAA do to level the playing field, so to speak? It’s been inadvertent but some of their recent initiatives have contributed to polarity. The introduction of six substitutes in Gaelic football suits the stronger counties far more. The bump in additional time does so too, as will the increase in the number of championship matches from next year, when the depth of squads are exercised more.
Add in the fact that weaker counties’ senior teams might not be able to call on their best 19-year-olds from 2018 and the margins between the leaders and the peloton widen.
As far as funding goes, Croke Park could take it upon themselves to establish a jersey and franchise deal with a manufacturing company so that the likes of Leitrim and Louth could benefit from the bumper sales of Dublin and Cork kits.
Sixty-minute inter-county matches might sound retrograde but after all the decisions taken that have further distinguished the haves from the have nots, it would be a move in the opposite direction.
The idea of a tiered senior football championship might not appear to be a form of equalisation but it would certainly be a better reflection of the state of the game.
The Super 8, tiered championship by stealth, mightn’t be the right way to go about it but it should make tiers a reality in the coming years. Permitting provincial councils to dictate the structure of their championships, as Leinster attempted to do, so that weaker teams can build up a head of steam in a round-robin format before taking on stronger sides, should be encouraged.
What’s there to say that there won’t be county amalgamations/divisions in the coming years? Four years ago, Offaly great Tony McTague suggested Laois and Offaly should unite. Is it beyond possibility that Laois and Offaly could play championship football in a lower tier as independent entities but come together to take on the likes of Dublin for the Sam Maguire Cup?
Fairness is not in fashion. As competitors, it’s not Dublin’s job to bring it back into vogue but their dominance should have everyone donning their thinking caps.
