GAA vote to keep Rule 42

The GAA National Congress has rejected a motion to allow Croke Park to be used for sports other than Gaelic games.

The motion, which had been put forward by the Clare County Board, was defeated by 197 votes to 106 at the association’s congress in Dublin this afternoon.

The motion had proposed to alter the controversial Rule 42 which prohibits the use of the GAA’s headquarters for sports such as soccer and rugby.

The heavy defeat of the motion will come as a surprise after it failed by just one vote this time last year.

The result of the vote means that the proposal to hold matches at Croke Park in the 2008 European Championships as part of a joint Ireland and Scotland bid is now over. The Congress has also elected Kerry’s Sean Kenny as its new President at the same congress.