Central Council ‘should take control of Croker’
Addressing delegates at last night's convention at the Mount Brandon Hotel in Tralee he said that if Croke Park is to be 'opened up', it must be in the best interests of the GAA.
"Croke Park is a stadium with massive potential and that potential must be utilised," he said. "That is why control should be in the hands of Central Council who meet on a regular basis."
This would ensure the GAA's "greatest investment" was used for the betterment of the association and not to satisfy other people's agendas, he said.
He added: "We should also bear in mind that we have a stadium worth showing to the world and proving what an amateur organisation can achieve.''
Mr Walsh said the Special Congress would have been better off discussing the matter than the issue of awarding 30 medals to panel members for All-Ireland finals.
"When Central Council gave permission for panels to be increased from 24 to 30, it was never envisaged that it would also mean 30 medals. I believe that awarding 30 devalues All-Ireland medals. It would be better to award medals to players that participated in the championship, rather than picking a magical figure
It is a decision that should be
reversed in the best interests of the
Association, but more importantly to regain the value of winning a senior All-Ireland medal.''
Of the Strategic Review Report, Mr Walsh said the committee tried to move the association forward "too fast and not always in the right direction".
Too many "petty" issues were discussed at the Special Congress, he felt. It would have made more sense to have debated fewer motions that dealt with specific issues.
Mr Walsh expressed concern about the level of performance by some non-club teams in the senior football championship: "If the standard and the preparation by group teams continues to fall, and fall at an alarming rate, the county championship as we know it may cease to be. The dream of the player from the small club team of being part of a divisional team on county final day may be no more.
"The next few years will prove crucial for the survival of divisional teams and it must be made clear that their participation in the county championship is not guaranteed if standards continue to fall.''
Another concern was the cost of running teams, which has prompted the decision to have a root-and-branch examination carried out externally.
Mr Walsh said: "The message must go out loud and clear that there is not a bottomless pit available when it comes to spending money.''
He referred to the controversy over the date of the Munster championship replay, following the death of Micheal Ó Sé. He said comments from the public and media that Kerry should have boycotted the match as a way of "getting at the Munster Council" were "cynical in the extreme".
"If the Ó Sé family were prepared to be in Cork to answer the Kerry call, then they deserved the support of every Kerry follower,'' he said.
As disappointing as the defeat in the All-Ireland final was, what should be remembered was the response of the Armagh players and supporters at the final whistle, said Mr Walsh.
"To see grown men and women cry openly after their victory showed just what winning their first title meant and probably softened the blow for even the most hardened Kerry supporter,'' he said.
Calling for a better system of distributing tickets for the big games, he said they had to cater for genuine supporters who were not club members. He added the time had come when county committees should be compensated for selling tickets.
Describing it as a momentous year, Mr Walsh said 2002 would be remembered as the "year of the first" the first time the county contested an All-Ireland final after losing in Munster, the first Kerryman to be chosen as president and the first woman to be elected as officer of the board.
He praised retired county secretary Tony O'Keeffe as "one of the most respected GAA administrators in the country".
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