Forbes calls for rethink on under-age players

OUTGOING Cork County Board chairman Jim Forbes believes that serious consideration should be given to confining playing activity at U-21 level to those aged between 19 and 21 and at minor level to players aged 17 to 18.

He did so in the context of the congestion of fixtures caused by “too many players being eligible for so many competitions”, at a time when the age profile of many club teams was being lowered.

It was not unusual, he said, to have many minor players and even U-16 players involved in adult club competition. It meant they were also playing at U-21 level and the end result was a fixture logjam which created major problems in completing competitions in time.

Mr Forbes also described the decision to take the All-Ireland minor football semi-finals out of Croke Park as “a backward step” and called for them to be restored to their rightful place. Minors deserved to be centre-stage and this should not be confined to All-Ireland final day.

He questioned the extent of “live” coverage of their major games, asking: “Do we have too many? Is there a danger of over-exposure? The televising of our games is a great promotional vehicle but we would want to be careful that we are not showing too many games live. It’s having a serious impact on attendances at local championship games.”

Meanwhile, new chairman Mick Dolan of Fermoy told delegates that he held strong views about clubs playing more games - including championship - in mid-week. The time had come to change some “old-age practices”, and this was one of them.

Apart from the chairman, four other new officers took over at convention. Jerry O’Sullivan is the new vice-chairman, defeating Mick O’Loughlin by 178 votes to 130. Diarmuid Gowen was elected youth officer, polling 186 votes, with 62 for Tony O’Mahony and 58 for Derek Connolly. PRO Bob Ryan and coaching officer Des Cullinane were unopposed.

Diarmuid Gowen is son of former chairman Derry Gowen, who was the Board’s first PRO back in 1978 and also served as Treasurer in the period 1964-1972.

Officers: Chairman - M. Dolan; Vice-Chairman - J. O’Sullivan; Secretary - F. Murphy; Treasurer - P. Murphy; PRO - B. Ryan; Irish Officer - D. Lyons; Development Officer - D. Walsh; Coaching Officer - D. Cullinane; Youth Officer - D. Gowen; Munster Council delegates - Frank Murphy and Con Murphy; Central Council delegate - B. Honohan.