Kelly wants end to suspension loophole

GAA PRESIDENT Sean Kelly wants an end to ‘the farcical’ situation of suspended players being able to play games during the months of December and January.

The president also admitted yesterday that the GAA is losing the publicity battle to weekly televised games of rugby and soccer and believes there is a need for at least one floodlit venue in each county, if the Association is to better promote their games.

Mr Kelly, speaking on the opening day of the Vodafone Allstar hurling tour to Arizona also expressed hope that more financial help will be forthcoming from the Government to fund the Croke Park redevelopment.

On the issue of discipline, he made it clear that he wanted to get rid of the rule which enables players under suspension to play during the months of December and January, commenting that it was both problematic and complicated. “It came up at Management Committee level last week and I said I thought it was a farce,” he said. “Nobody seems to know how it works. And, now there are so many games being played during these months. We had an appalling situation in Kerry, where fellows were suspended for 48 weeks for attacking a referee and, when it came to playing championships in December, they were able to play. It’s the same all over the country.

“There’s not much point in having rules if people can’t understand them and that’s what it amounts to.”

He also revealed that proposals will come before Congress in April in relation to a proposed division of responsibilities of the GAC between fixtures and discipline.

“I looked at the Australian Football League system when I was out last October. It’s far more efficient and far less bureaucratic than ours which is convoluted and very difficult to justify. It’s unfair to players and everybody involved, because it can take weeks and weeks to finalise a case.”

In relation to having more live television games at night, the president said it was clear that players were interested in playing all year round. However, having two floodlit grounds in the country (in Cork and Kerry) was of little use if they were talking about playing inter-county competitions. “Ideally you would want a proper standard of floodlights in every county that you could play games right throughout the winter. That and all-weather pitches are the priority.”

On the day after one of his predecessors, Jack Boothman, launched a spirited defence of Rule 42, Mr Kelly repeated that he would not be getting involved in the debate about opening up Croke Park, because that motion would be coming before Congress.

“I would like to be able to contribute to the debate, but it’s for others now to carry it out. When it comes before Congress, I’m quite sure there will be a good debate on it. People are now looking at the pros and cons and that was all I wanted all along.”

“On the issue of finance, we have had some meetings with the Government recently. We have put our case fairly strongly to them, particularly when we knew there was movement in relation to the proposals for either Abbotstown or Landsdowne Road. We will be awaiting their response.

“We also pointed out that we were very unhappy with the Sports Council funding for the GAA, compared to rugby and soccer over the last number of years, that we have two major sporting games, hurling and football and that the combined total we are getting is less than soccer and probably 70% or 80% less than rugby. In fairness, they gave us a good hearing.”Mr Kelly said there were two major areas of concern arising from the report of the task force on fixtures, one that club players were ‘peeved’ at not getting enough games - particularly during the summer months. Second, it was surprising to learn that some of the weaker counties weren’t too enthusiastic about the proposed secondary competitions as he would have expected.

“We have taken that on board and we would hope to come up with an offer they can’t refuse,” he commented. “The players and the management I spoke with in every county think it’s a great idea. Hopefully, the weak counties will see the benefits and go for it. Playing the matches prior to the major games in the All-Ireland championships should be a major attraction.”

Mr Kelly admitted that it had proved difficult to come up with a Players Committee that had general backing. For that reason he was of the opinion that they would need to consult with GPA Chief Executive Dessie Farrell. Having considered criticism that the outgoing committee hadn’t been elected, his proposals for an elected committee didn’t go down well.

“What I want is to do good for players. To do that you need a constant feedback from players and they must have access to the president. I don’t want to be forcing any players into a situation where it’s ‘them and us.’ Some players were willing to go forward but withdrew because it was said that the GPA were against it. The players don’t want to get involved in any hassle and neither do we. As it stands, the players don’t have any official representation and it’s something we discussed with the county officers before Christmas as well as Management Committee level.

“Even though there has been a vacuum, there was probably more progress made last year in terms of player welfare than ever before.”