Congress to rule on revolutionary player transfer proposal

A REVOLUTIONARY proposal that would permit players from the leading hurling areas to play at inter-county level with “weak” counties will be put before next month’s annual GAA Congress in Killarney.

The thrust of the motion, submitted by St Moninne's of Louth, is that eligible players who would not make the grade in their home county would be free to help out counties like Louth. At the same time they would be free to continue representing their "home" clubs.

It's the second time this club has brought the motion to congress and on the last occasion it was referred to the Hurling Development Committee for deliberation. If successful, it would apply to counties which don't participate in the All-Ireland championship and no more than five players would be allowed to transfer.

Eligibility would be based on a player declaring for the county of birth of a parent, or the county of residence provided it's a designated county under the terms of the rule.

The motion specifies that the player's "home" county permission must be obtained and that the rule could only be availed of with one county.

Louth is predominantly a football county with only four hurling clubs.

County secretary Pat Toner also the Leinster PRO pointed out yesterday that the motion didn't receive unanimous support at the annual convention. "One of the (four) clubs was against it,'' he commented. The argument put forward was that if "outside" players were to be brought in, it could discriminate against native hurlers brought up through the ranks.

With just 27 motions submitted for discussion, it's notable that for the first time in recent years Rule 42 is not addressed in any shape or form. It means that the meeting last month of the committee of ex-presidents who vet motions passed by without any comment.

Delegates will be asked to take some important decisions, such as deleting the "arbitration" rule (recommended by the St Mary's club in London) and one from Down proposing a doubling of the penalty for head-butting to six months. The current rule specifies a 12-week suspension for striking with the head, hurley, kicking or stamping.

Dublin County Committee have brought forward a proposal in relation to the eligibility of players for the club championship. In a situation where a player's home and college teams both advance, he would be compelled to declare for his "home" club.

One of the more unusual motions comes from Kilkenny and it seeks a declaration that the current county boundaries should "continue to govern GAA eligibility". This is linked to the proposed extension of the Waterford boundary, which would take in a sizeable chunk of south Kilkenny.

* St Mary's, Rosslare, the home club of former Wexford manager Liam Griffin a member of the Hurling Development Committee want the senior All-Ireland championships to be completed in August. Their proposal is for the hurling final and football finals to be played on the second and fourth Sundays of the month, respectively.