Provincial councils to hold separate championship draws
It has forced RTE to drop plans to televise the national draws on Friday night and it hasn't gone down well with Munster, Leinster and Connacht officers. While the Munster Council is looking at the possibility of making their draws on Thursday night, it looks like Ulster will be first because theirs will be done 'live' at lunchtime on Friday on BBC television.
It represents a significant break with tradition and denies the other three provinces the type of publicity which RTE's live coverage afforded them. Ulster chairman Micheal Greenan explained that having their draw on BBC (who have the rights) allowed more people to see them because 'RTE don't cover all of the province.'
Leinster secretary Michael Delaney said that they had everything in place for Friday night. He only became aware of the change when Croke Park PRO Danny Lynch rang him.
Mr. Lynch said that while he was aware of RTE's plans for a live telecast, it hadn't been formalised.
The earliest date the draws could be made was Friday next, before the departure of the President to Australia with the Irish squad for the International Rules Series, but it was never confirmed with the station.
"We don't see it as a massive issue. The priority is to have the draws publicised in the newspapers and that will be done in time," he added.
The Leinster and Connacht secretaries both criticised the Ulster decision to 'do their own thing', but Munster secretary Simon Moroney didn't comment on the issue. They are looking at the possibility of having their draw after a meeting of the Council on Thursday night, one reason being that chairman Sean Fogarty will be going to Australia as part of the Management Committee group.
Mr. Moroney said the draw would be made either way over the next week and that they were anxious to do it at a time that would maximise publicity.
Connacht secretary John Prenty said there was 'a willingness' among the other three provinces to make their draws at the same time but that it was unlikely to materialise. "It is disappointing that we're not going to have a national draw. It's not right that one province would go off on their own and deprive the other provinces of having one," he said.
The Leinster Council executive is meeting on Friday night to draw up new plans for their draw having already met last week to confirm the format for it.
"It's a pity that the draw could not be continued the way it had been done. We are all the one Association. It's the one All-Ireland for each championship, even if there are four elements to it," said secretary Michael Delaney.
He recalled that Leinster had always been media-sensitive about their draws since 1990, when Dublin and Meath were paired together in a preliminary round in senior football and 'it got lost' for a few weeks before it eventually became public.
Danny Lynch, meanwhile, pointed out that there was also a requirement for the four secretaries to agree 'a co-ordinated' fixtures programme in time for the GAA diary to be published and distributed in time before Christmas.
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