Colleges and the GAA - the case for

Diarmuid O'Flynn talks to UCD GAA's development officer, Dave Billings, about the thorny issue of third level colleges playing senior championship.

FAIR COMMENT - that was the reaction of UCD's Dave Billings to suggestions that his star-studded inter-county side should not be allowed take part in the All-Ireland club championship.

"As long as it's not personal, I have no problem with people expressing their views; in fact, I could argue the case from the other side of the fence as well. I played against UCD with St Vincent's, we were in eight Dublin county finals, won six, they won two. They also won two All-Ireland club championships, we won one.

"But it's not for me to decide on the rules of the GAA, I'm not in the political or administration end of the GAA. We are entitled to take part in this championship, we're not in violation of the rules of the GAA, morally, spiritually or de jure. All I'm trying to do is promote the game in college.

"My job as GAA development officer is to have Gaelic games to the forefront in the college as much as I possibly can. With all our sister sports - rugby, soccer, hockey and so on, 50 in total - this gives the GAA people an advantage, something to be proud of. I'm not trying to claim an ascendancy over other sports, but it means we're up there, that's all. I need to broadcast that message."

Despite a reluctance to get drawn into an argument about the legitimacy of their challenge, the UCD man did make some salient points.

"If I thought we'd win the Dublin championship every year, I would not play in it, simple as that. But look at Ballyboden, whom we beat in the final, they had eight or nine of the Dublin team and St Vincent's and Ciaran's the same. People say we denied Ballyboden, but why didn't they win it last year, why haven't they ever won it? Surely that's a bigger question.

"UCD have won only seven Dublin championships in 85 years of trying, or however long they've been in it. We lost three matches in the League this year, won one match by a point, against Crumlin, and if we hadn't done that, we wouldn't even have qualified (for the knockout stages). If we'd lost the county final to Ballyboden, the same way we lost the previous three years, everyone would have been saying, isn't it great, they're really upping the standard of Dublin hurling. But we won, and we get this."

What about that there isn't one Dub in the UCD side, the team representing Dublin in the club championship?

"The rule in Dublin is, if you're from an intermediate club, you can play senior with UCD, but if you're from a senior club, you can't, you must play with your home club. That puts us in a very awkward position. We have scholarships here, Paul Griffin has one, for example.

"I would never dream of asking him to leave his club and play with UCD. If ever anyone tried to bring such a rule, it would cause chaos."

Ah yes, those scholarships, bringing in all those high-profile successful players. Sorry, says Dave, cart before the horse.

"All this stuff about scholarships; you have to qualify to get into UCD in the first place, then you can apply for a scholarship. That's the way it works."

No one driving the highways and byways then, on recruiting drives in Kilkenny, Tipperary, Cork, Wexford and so on, just a guy trying to promote the game he loves, in the best way he can, in the circumstances in which he finds himself?

"We have six hurling teams in the college, fellas just want to play. That's what I want to encourage. I need an outlet for my players to express themselves. They get it in the Fitzgibbon Cup, the Higher Education League, but they're all over so fast. We need something else, and if the GAA is to be successful, and by success I mean keeping fellas involved in the GAA all their lives, they have to encourage that sort of thing.

"It's up to those who make the rules of the Association to make the decisions. If they ever say, right, the colleges are out, I can accept that, I'll play within the rules."

Well, what of the rule that allows guys to represent their college in the year after graduation?

"That's a strange one, but it's in the book, and I'll play within whatever rules the GAA puts in place. There's nothing perfect. I'd love to see Maurice Fitzgerald allowed play in the All-Ireland club championship (South Kerry won the Kerry championship, but divisional sides are not allowed in the All-Ireland club championship), but we didn't create this situation. Now we're in it, we're trying to make the best of it."

UCD are indeed a star-studded outfit, the likes of David 'Doc' O'Connor (Wexford), Stephen Browne (Offaly), captain Mick Fitzgerald, recent winner of an intermediate title with St Catherine's in Cork, Brian Hogan and David Prendergast of Kilkenny, Limerick's Stephen Lucey and Wexford's John O'Connor, to name but a few.

On Sunday, in the Leinster club final in Portlaoise, they meet James Stephens. The Kilkenny champions, as Dave Billings quickly points out, aren't devoid of big names either.

"You look at players like Philly Larkin, Peter Barry, Brian McEvoy, these are icons, and for some of our lads to play the likes of those, it's fantastic. These are the teams I want our lads to play against. We were beaten by Graigue-Ballycallan a couple of years ago in Leinster, but fellas made friends for life that day.

"I want to win, but that's only a by-product. I played Fitzgibbon Cup with Matt Ruth, whose son is now on the James Stephens panel; Brian Cody won a Dublin U-21 championship with UCD, his son Donncha is corner-back. There's great pedigree in that club, and it's a real honour for us to be playing them, to be on the same field as men like them."