Murphy outlines planning vision

THERE was never any suggestion of the Cork County Board being negligent in past years in planning for the future of the GAA in the county, according to county secretary Frank Murphy.

Stating that the “culture of planning” had been instigated at national level through the publication of the association’s Strategic Vision & Action Plan (in November 2008), he pointed out that county plans had to be consistent with national and provincial strategy.

“I think we have a good record in terms of service to the association as a county,’’ he said at a press briefing on the Cork document, prior to clubs being briefed before the formal launch of Cork’s strategic review by GAA President Christy Cooney at the Rochestown Park Hotel.

“It is important that we would continue to do that and plan effectively for that process. That is exactly what we have in this plan.’’

Board chairman Jerry O’Sullivan emphasised that it had been formulated through consultation with “all stakeholders” in the organisation, with every juvenile and senior club, every unit and every individual given the opportunity to contribute.

The real test, he agrees, is to see how effectively the plan’s 140 targets can be met over the next six years. “We have rock solid foundations laid in the past – 125 years – let us now build on them,’’ he stated.

Peter Hanan, of O’Kelly Sutton Consultants who played a major role in the compiling of the report, pointed out that it had been a huge challenge because of the fact of Cork being comparable to some provinces in terms of its playing numbers.

The initial stages involved the county board’s steering committee identifying four manageable terms of references:

* Underage structures and fixtures, l Urbanisation,

* Adult Structures

* Communications/PR.

Under respective chairmen – former Cork players Denis Burns and Denis Coughlan, board vice-chairman Bob Ryan and PRO Ger Lane – groups of experts with an interest and aptitude in the specific areas were formed and given the task of planning what the county could deliver.

Hanan pointed out that the overriding concern of respondents to a web survey related to the games and he expressed the view that a “balanced programme” of games for underage players would benefit inter-county teams in the long run.

“You won’t have a situation where burnout is a factor and a single fixtures-making body can programme the games so that each one of the constituencies – be it the ordinary club player, the improving player or the elite club player – can reach their potential,’’ he said.

Board Secretary Frank Murphy elaborated on moves to establish a county youth committee – Coiste na nÓg – which would take responsibility for all underage affairs in the county from minor grades downwards for a two-year period, in 2011/12.

“Coiste na nÓg will determine the programme and regional committees will implement it. And, it will work on the basis that each of the regions will be working on the same age group and on the same level of competition at the same time of the year. That way there will be a consistency throughout the county in relation to the schedule of games at underage level.’’

Meanwhile, a call from the recently established post-primary schools body to have Mondays and Tuesdays free of youth games to facilitate the playing of their fixtures on Wednesdays is to be followed up. “Colleges and vocational schools had been operating up to very recent times as independent bodies, but we now have a post-primary committee operating in the county which is a unified body,’’ said Murphy. Over 1,500 people contributed to formulating the plan, with Cork the first Munster county to produce their plan.