Conway blasts grants proposal timeframe

OF One Belief, the group opposed to grants to inter-county players, have expressed concerns about the timeframe left to debate the matter ahead of April’s annual GAA Congress.

Motions on the grants proposal are set to be published in mid-March leaving ‘Of One Belief’ chiefs furious.

Said organiser Mark Conway: “If “mid-March” is Friday 14 March, that effectively leaves just three weeks maximum for a “full consultation” prior to Congress.

“That compares very poorly with the time given to debate issues such as player burnout, the hurling championships, and, of course, things like Rule 21 and the opening up of Croke Park.”

Conway claims that the grants would “fly in the face of Rule 11” which concerns the Association’s amateur ethos. “This issue is the ‘biggie,” he said. “Bigger than Rule 21 or 42 or any of them”.

He remains adamant that any adoption of the grants scheme would require an alteration to Rule 11, despite assertions from the GPA and various GAA officials that this would not be the case.

“Our task remains the same, to get this issue debated and then rejected in such a way that it never comes back onto the GAA table again,” said an ‘Of One Belief’ statement released yesterday. “We’re still of the view that any proposal to give money to GAA people, players or otherwise, requires a change to Rule 11.”

Conway has other concerns in the lead-up to Congress too. Though the deadline for motions passed at the end of January, he claims that a yet-to-be-finalised Central Council motion will also be on the clár.

Conway described this as “one deadline for most of the association and another one for Central Council”.

It also appears that a Fermanagh motion on the issue, unanimously endorsed by the county convention, has been rejected but Conway believes there is still much to be positive about.

“Getting the pay-for-play issue onto the agenda for Congress was a huge achievement.

“It leaves things a very long way away from the fait accompli attempted on December 8 last.

“In Paraic Duffy’s own words on Saturday last, we’ll ‘get a proper discussion there’.”

The O’Connell’s Boys Club in Dublin has submitted a motion to its county committee seeking to mandate the Dublin Central Council delegate and delegates to Congress to vote against any attempt at what Conway deems ‘pay-for-play’ in the GAA.

The O’Raghallaigh Club in Drogheda is doing the same in Louth. St Gall’s of Antrim has also voted against the grants scheme and Conway claimed further reasons for optimism after Saturday’s Club Forum.

Approximately 300 people attended the gathering at Croke Park and Conway claimed mounting opposition to the grants proposal was obvious.

“If there was a vote taken on the motion there and then the grants issue would have been in the dustbin by dinner time,” he said.

“A lot of people hold the same view. There was nothing orchestrated about it, it was just people giving their opinions.”

Asked if he was confident about the grants motion being defeated at Congress, Conway replied: “Congress is different. I couldn’t say. We will see how it goes.”

In yesterday’s lengthy statement, the ‘Of One Belief’ group listed 20 reasons why the grant scheme needs to be opposed.

Though the sums on offer per player are of a nominal value on a yearly basis, Conway also claims that the scheme would leave the GAA open to a series of potential problems.

Legal action, he claims, would beinevitable from players arguing wrongful dismissal when dropped from county panels while he also warns that a kind of ‘free market’ would come into operation.

“The “Bosman” and other EU rulings mean once money becomes involved and “restraint of trade” issues invariably follow, the GAA won’t have a legal leg to stand on in terms of stopping players transferring to counties where their financial prospects are better.”