Kettle would settle for seven if sideline guideline on personnel implemented

Dublin are among a number of counties against the GAA’s new guideline to reduce the number of officials on the sideline to five.

Central Council will on Saturday vote on the proposal, which has been devised by GAA president Liam O’Neill with the aim of avoiding potential flashpoints.

It is O’Neill’s intention to eventually bar all personnel, including managers and selectors, from the sideline.

Dublin chairman Andy Kettle, who is also the county’s Central Council delegate, believes players who are sent off should also be allowed to remain on the sideline so as to avoid conflict in the stand.

“The way most county grounds are at the moment is that there are a number of seats in the stand cordoned off — but they are not really cordoned off.

“There is just maybe a bar around them and they are surrounded by spectators of both teams. I wouldn’t like to see a situation where a player is sent off for a reasonable contentious issue on the pitch and having to possibly go up and sit down surrounded by spectators of the opposition team. I think it is a recipe for disaster.”

The issue is a significant one especially for the Dublin senior footballers who had 11 management and backroom personnel sitting on the sideline in Drogheda on Sunday for their O’Byrne Cup semi-final.

Kettle said he would be happy to see the number of people permitted on the sideline cut to seven providing a county board official is included.

“I spoke about it at last Central Council meeting and said I had no problem with county chairs to be going off (the sideline) because it’s not the best place to see a game anyway.

“But it is necessary for communication that there is a representative from the county board on the sideline.

“The idea of not having selectors together creates a lot of debate whether it be together on the sideline or together in the stand.”

Kettle also claimed it is a subject that has exercised a number of fellow chairmen around the country.

“It has been articulated both inside and outside the county. I have had communication from other county chairs, expressing unease with the proposal. The original proposal was for seven but at the last minute it was reduced to five.”

Meanwhile, Kettle expects Central Council will come to a decision about which All-Ireland hurling championship proposal they support to go forward to Congress in March.

At their December meeting, the committee was tied 17 votes apiece on the recommendations put forward by the Hurling Development Committee (HDC) and the Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC).

The HDC propose the Munster and Leinster championships comprise five teams in each province with every team playing two games at home and away.

The CCCC have put forward a model similar to the current one with the number of participating counties eventually dropping from 15 to 13 by 2016.