Seán Kelly: GAA’s Special Congress was bizarre but ‘Kelly Plan’ can fix football quickly

We had the unprecedented situation where some of those who sat on the committee who made Proposal B not only openly campaigned against it and voted against it, but one member even spoke against it. “Jesus,” I said to myself, “is this for real?”

Former GAA President Seán Kelly speaking at the GAA's Special Congress at Croke Park. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie

The more I reflect on last Saturday’s Special GAA Congress, the more amazed I become at what transpired. 

A special committee in Croke Park sat for a few years, and as a result of their deliberations, two proposals were tabled. To discuss these, delegates came from all over Ireland, Great Britain, Europe, and America. The delegates, including myself, were looking forward to the committee outlining their proposals, the logic behind them and how they would work in practice etc.

What happened? When it came firstly to “Proposal A”, it was really bizarre. Not a word was uttered about the motion! This would qualify for the Guinness Book of Records! Imagine coming up with a proposal, calling a special Congress to debate it and vote on it, then for no one at all to speak about it. Of course, when no one spoke for it, there wasn’t anything to speak against, and the motion died on the floor, probably much to the delight of those who proposed it in the first place. Bizzare indeed!

Then we came to ‘Proposal B’, which in reality wasn’t presented much better. All the heavy lifting was left to former Uachtarán, John Horan, which is not what a former Uachtarán would be expected to do but who in the circumstances did a great job in selling the proposal. But he was almost left ploughing a lone furrow.

I was expecting a PowerPoint presentation on the thinking behind the proposals, the expected timelines, the income Proposal B would be expected to generate and how that income would be distributed, and above all, a major effort to appease the provincial councils, who one way or another, were going to be seen as the big losers if the proposal was adopted.

Worse was to come. We had the unprecedented situation where some of those who sat on the committee, who made the proposal, not only openly campaigned against it and voted against it, but one member even spoke against it.

“Jesus,” I said to myself, “is this for real?”

But it was, so it was testament to the persuasive powers of people like John Horan, Tom Parsons, Michael Duignan and others that it got just over 50% in favour, 85 for and 83 against.

I was pleased that John Horan didn’t entertain the suggestion that no vote would be taken on the proposal and instead, in classical political fudge-style, it would be referred back for further consideration, possibly to the same committee that proposed it in the first place. Imagine bringing delegates from all over the world to discuss and vote on two proposals, only to have no discussion at all on one proposal, and have no vote on the other. You couldn’t make it up! D’Unbelievables would have a field day!

At least by putting the motion and crucially, by getting a majority, Uachtarán Larry McCarthy could rightly claim that the majority voted for change, and change will have to be delivered as a result. And soon, says I. 

If no vote was taken, and it was referred back to the committee, God only knows what would transpire. Some would now be saying that if it had been voted on, it would have been hammered out the gate. At least now we know differently. The majority voted for change.

This idea that there mightn’t be enough time to get change delivered for Congress next year is nonsense. Nearly all the debating is done, with different modules on the table. The best in my view being in 2012, the ‘Kelly Plan’, first published in this paper after Tony Leen and Colm O’Connor came to me and said: “Kelly, you have enough experience of the football championship now to be able to come up with a proposal that will fix the problems with the current one”.

I did, and you know, I think it’s still the best proposal on the table, almost 10 years down the line, a proposal I will elaborate on and update in due course.

The reason I say there should be no great challenge in having a motion ready that will get 60% plus at next year’s Congress, is that most of the debating is already done. The players have spoken and may feel ignored, and of course, I think the ‘Kelly Plan’ answers all the key questions, which turned people off voting for Plan B. Even though, to their credit, many delegates did say: “We want change, the present system is broken, but we do not want this change.”

I am reminded of the first thing I did shortly after I became Uachtarán. I cut committees by half and changed a lot of the personnel who had become permanent fixtures on them. Shortly afterwards, RTÉ were broadcasting a match from Fitzgerald Stadium and a well-known and well-respected RTÉ personality was there. My fellow Kilcummin clubman and great friend, Billy Doolan, met him and asked him how he thought “Kelly will get on as GAA President”. He replied: “He will find it very difficult, he is after cutting the committees by half, which was the right thing to do, but the knives are out for him as a result.”

One of the committees I “butchered” related to hurling, on which I put highly respected hurling personalities, like Nicky English, Liam Griffin, PJ O’Grady, Cyril Farrell, and Ger Loughnane. When I met them first, to give them their terms of reference, I asked them could they make their report within two years, as if it was the final year of my presidency, their report might never see the light of day, not to mind being implemented. 

I was both taken aback, and delighted, with their response. “Three years? Are you joking? We have no notion of coming up here (to Croke Park) for three years. We will meet every weekend and we will have a report with our recommendations with you before Christmas.”

And that’s exactly what they did, proposing radical changes to the hurling championship that, among other proposals, recommended the introduction of the Christy Ring and Nicky Rackard Cups. The competitions were up and running the following year.

The same can happen with the football championship. I don’t think there are any knives out for Larry McCarthy so he must go back to the drawing board and deliver recommendations by Christmas.

One piece of advice I would have for him is, in setting up his review body, to tell any member of that committee, if they are not prepared to speak for and work for the proposals which the committee will come up with, “please leave the room now”.

As I said, this shouldn’t take long. All they have to do is look at the ‘Kelly Plan’ and recommend it. As Joe Brolly said, if it was on the agenda for Special Congress, it would have gotten over 60% support.

I will update it here in the Irish Examiner. To work, everybody. We have no time to lose!