Counties may drop ‘weaker code’ teams

THE GAA must stand firm in ensuring that ‘equality of treatment’ is given to both hurling and football teams at inter-county level, according to Munster Council Chairman Christy Cooney.

He told delegates at annual convention in Adare last night that he feared economic factors would force some counties to abandon their 'weak' teams.

"There are some questions about that because of the spiralling costs where a code is considered weak that no inter-county team will be entered and concentration would be placed solely on the strong code," he stated. "Are we serious? Is it not our organisational policy to develop and strengthen both our games with the opportunity for our players to play at the highest level? I wonder how many inter-county hurling teams will we have? If this happened, would it be the first step in getting rid of provincial championships? Are we to become totally elitist?"

Mr. Cooney also emphasised the importance of club players gaining greater recognition in the organisation calendar, saying there was a need for a common sense programme of training to be put in place.

"Why do players at all times during their inter-county programme have to train with the county, why cannot they train with their club," he asked. This could achieve savings in expense, develop a stronger bond with the clubs and establish the fact that they are 'club players first' on loan to their county.

At a more general level, Mr. Cooney said that in some respects the past year had been a watershed for the association, in terms of the number of issues that came to light.

"Change seems to affect us faster and our ability to respond in dealing with these issues and the change process is slow and cumbersome. Pre-planning is sometimes poor, policy implementation is lacking consistently and the easy option is taken which is not always the best option."

He wondered why they were not clear on our ethos or vision, poor on prioritising main goals and objectives, poor on delivery of policy and weak as leaders. The SRC report had given them a 'road map' for the future, but there had been a disappointing response to it.

"Sometimes extreme negativity can be seen as fear of change both personally and for the organisation. I have said before and I believe this entirely, change should only be feared if it is not managed. Personal change is inevitable for us all but in buying into change for the betterment of our organisation, sometimes taking personal loss, shows leadership. Is leadership lacking in our organisation?"

He expressed the hope that there would be a change of heart in relation to limiting the membership of Central Council to five years, saying that it would send a positive message for new and young aspiring administrators. "The Leinster Council secretary is correct, we have lost a generation and we do need to respond in a positive manner, otherwise we will lose another generation."

In a reference to the Council's financial loss on an investment of 2.54m. last year , Mr. Cooney said that the recommendation on this by the ten officers had been 'unanimously approved.' While it was naturally regrettable that in the last six months in particular the investment had lost money due to the state of the world markets, it was hoped that they could recover 'some if not all' of their losses over the next 18 months. Pointing out that the Council had allocated close to 500,000 over the past year, Mr. Cooney said he believed it was appropriate to undertake a value for money audit of their investment by examining in a detailed way the outcomes achieved. "We need to clearly analyse the roles of our Games Development Officers and servicing officers and determining whether their activities are successful in achieving the required results. Some would say we have a serious lack of monitoring at county level," he added.

He informed delegates that the Council would shortly begin the process of advertising for a new provincial secretary, in succession to Donie Nealon. "This appointment will probably be one of the most important and crucial decisions for the Council for many years," he commented, adding that the purchase of their new office complex (in Limerick) is nearing completion.

* Mr. Cooney also wished his predecessor, Sean Kelly, every success in taking over the Presidency of the Association next month.