Balancing club and county biggest challenge, says McCague

ONE of the biggest challenges facing the GAA will be to strike a balance between inter-county and club activity in a manner that will not undermine financial stability.

President, Sean McCague expects these issues to be approached in 'a very calm manner' when an overview on the qualifier competitions will be taken later in the year.

Not surprisingly, he believes the most important thing to have happened over the three years of his term was the change in the championship structures in hurling and football.

"It will be very interesting when the new formats are settled because people will be able to take decisions in the light of how they have affected the club structure, the club games programme, the profile of the games generally and the cost factor," he said.

He warned that clubs can't afford to maximise inter-county fixtures to the point where the club scene "is totally diminished".

"The vast majority of our players are club players and we must have a set programme in place for them. Progress has been made in that regard, in ensuring that committees fulfil their obligations in relation to club programmes and that they get them played on a regular basis and completed on time.

"That's ongoing, but there certainly are problems that have been thrown up by the new system and they are going to have to be addressed."

Mr McCague accepts that while the current championship structure has its flaws, the varying numbers of teams in the provinces means competitions cannot be finished at the same time.

Some teams may have to wait five or six weeks for possibly their most important match of the year, but Mr McCague feels there is no easy solution to this problem.

"There has to be an acceptance that we have got to cut back on some of the dates that were given for inter-county games. In doing that we would need to be careful to avoid a financial disaster if we cut back to the point where we would destroy our intake from the championships.

"If that were to happen we would not be able to meet our financial commitments across the Association," he said.

Mr McCague does not share the view that the Special Congress called to debate the SRC report was a waste of time because so many proposals were rejected. He said most proposals in the report do not require rule changes and will be dealt with in "a structured way".

"I would say that the vast majority of the report will be implemented in the course of time. I wouldn't regard the Special Congress as a useless exercise. A lot of the issues discussed dealt with terms of office and matters that could be personalised.There is so much more in the report that deals with the welfare of the Association and I believe that they will be looked at in a totally different light."

In his 'time-consuming' stint as President, he said he gained great satisfaction from changes that occurred and the general workings of the Association. "But, you get to learn that there is so much more to be done all the time. No matter what you think you have achieved, there is far, far more to be achieved."