McNamara stands firm in Clare

AFTER a much-anticipated meeting of the county board last night in Ennis, the Clare hurling crisis looks set to continue, with senior hurling manager Mike McNamara still in place, despite the stated wishes of the overwhelming majority of the panel of 2009.

The last meeting of the board, two weeks ago, ended in uncertainty, after a letter which had been written by the players wasn’t read out to the delegates, on the grounds that it hadn’t been signed.

That oversight was rectified last night, however, and when it came to ‘Correspondence’, long-serving secretary Pat Fitzgerald announced that there was only one letter. Instantly, knowing the import of what was about to come, the meeting was at full attention – “Ye’re gone very quiet all of a sudden,” said Pat. “That’s because we can’t hear you!” said one delegate – “You’ll hear me alright!” countered Pat, read out the letter.

Short it was, but not sweet: “A chara,” it began, in the usual GAA way, “The Clare senior hurling panel of 2009 would like to give our views of management. On a secret ballot on November 1, one player expressed confidence in the management team, 26 expressed no confidence; while the decision on examining the issue with regard to the management of teams rests with our clubs and the county board delegates and county board executive, we would wish our views regarding the Clare senior hurling team be communicated to the relevant decision-makers.”

“That’s it?” said one incredulous delegate, “That’s all of it?”

“That’s it,” Pat confirmed, “Signed by all 27”, and from those scant beginnings, the discussion began. In a series of separate meetings over the last couple of weeks with players and management, efforts had been made to reach a resolution, said chairman Michael O’Neill, and even as last as Saturday evening, in a series of phone calls to individual players, he was still attempting to go one-on-one with every player of the 2009 panel to find out exactly what their problem was with management.

This letter, however, compiled after 27 players had met on Sunday afternoon last, put an end to that – “I had spoken to seven or eight players that morning,” O’Neill informed the meeting, “They gave me their views in confidence, and it will remain that way. When I was told of the meeting, and the result of the vote, myself and Pat O’Donnell proceeded to meet the manager, and discussed things with him. We didn’t have a successful year last year, and we as a board take some responsibility for that. There are also some questions for management, and Mike acknowledged as much at the last meeting – we all make mistakes.

“The result of that vote was disappointing to me, I think it was a case of putting the cart before the horse, and it undermined the position I had taken at the last meeting to try and resolve the crisis. It was a bad year, but you don’t then go into a hole and bury yourself, you come out, work your way forward.” Michael then went on to confirm that the board still had confidence in Mike McNamara as Clare senior hurling manager, an attitude that seemed to go down well with those delegates who chose to speak. What really seemed to be annoying the delegates, however, was the lack of information – what exactly were the players unhappy about? “If I were to tell ye everything that was said to me we’d be here ‘til the early hours of the morning,” said Michael, “And I don’t want to go down the blame-game road.”

“It’s difficult not to go down the blame-game road,” said Paschal Russell, from Clarecastle, “Someone was responsible for those results this year, whether it be players or management. It’s been a known fact for a while that there was unrest, the county board should have been more proactive in dealing with this. It should have been kept off the front pages – the GAA is about the back pages, it’s about playing games, about winning games. After seeing the abysmal failure of last year, the county board had a responsibility to deal with this, so that we wouldn’t be in this mess now tonight.

“The players are asking us to take a vote of no confidence, without saying why they have no confidence – what are we supposed to discuss? What are the underlying problems? Is it that someone doesn’t like the look of someone’s face, the tone of their voice? The players, if they have a crib, have the same opportunity to stand up here and speak as the manager has. This is not good enough, it’s a waste of our time.”

After the media had been asked to leave the room, Mike McNamara then read out his end-of-year report, following which there was an extended question-and-answer session.

The result of those discussions? With the full backing of the county board, Mike Mac stays in place. The saga looks set to run…