Board give go-ahead to Mayo action plan launch

THE Mayo GAA Strategic Action Plan will be launched in Castlebar’s McHale Park tonight following a county board u-turn.

As reported in The Irish Examiner yesterday, it appeared there might be a stand-off between the steering group appointed to oversee the forensic root-and-branch study of GAA in Mayo and the board, who commissioned the work.

In an unusual twist, the county board had asked the group to present the action plan to its executive committee as they believed some of its recommendations may contravene GAA rule (a copy of the report was given to Mayo chairman out of courtesy last week).

However, the steering group refused to budge on unveiling their body of work at 8pm and the county board have since withdrawn their request.

“The launch is going ahead as planned,” said Mayo PRO Aiden McLoughlin. “Everybody is happy as they can be.”

McLoughlin also confirmed officials will be in attendance at the launch. However, the climb-down is an embarrassing one for the board, who endorsed the need for the review.

“The launch was never postponed from our point of view,” said a steering group source. “Everything was going to go ahead as planned until we were asked to postponed it.”

It’s widely agreed in the county that Mayo GAA is at a low ebb at the moment even as new senior manager James Horan has been making positive noises. Copies of the report, which has been over 15 months in the making, will be handed out by the steering group and members of their sub-committees at tomorrow’s Allianz Football Division One game between Mayo and Kerry at McHale Park.

Clubs will then be asked to vote on it at a county board meeting where the steering group hope it will be adopted as Mayo GAA’s official action plan.