Meeting gender quotas will be difficult for GAA, admits Tom Ryan

Ard Stiúrthóir of the GAA Tom Ryan pictured in Croke Park, Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

GAA director general Tom Ryan admits the organisation faces a major difficulty to meet gender representation quotas on their committees.

Minister of State for Sport Jack Chambers has raised the possibility of withholding funding from sports bodies who do not appoint more women to their boards.

In his annual report, Ryan conceded the GAA has a major task on its hands to meet the 40% target by the end of next year.

He wrote: “A key objective of the leadership and governance target area for the sporting sector in general is to progress towards greater gender balance in board membership of bodies that are funded by the state. Minister Chambers has asked that all NGBS achieve 40% gender representation on their boards by the end of 2023.

“Clearly, this poses a particular challenge for the GAA on a number of fronts. Our Coiste Bainistíochta, in common with management boards at all levels in the organisation, is not appointed but is voted upon democratically. And of course we don’t govern women’s sport.

“I mention these not as excuses not to comply, merely simply to highlight a difficulty ahead. There are two ways that we can respond to this imperative… we can either rail against it or we can do our best to embrace the spirit of what is envisaged while being mindful and highlighting the challenges.

“We are starting from a good position. Ours is a family organisation. Women are a sizeable proportion of the crowd at every match everywhere; we have many women in executive role at club level already. We need to consider how best to attract and interest those people to pursue involvement at county level and beyond.” 

Ryan added: “We have not perhaps devoted the same degree of attention to our governance and management structures, where the same architecture has been in place for a long time. Looking to the future, I fully expect that we will apply ourselves with equal enthusiasm to reappraising these structures in order to make sure that the Association continues to operate to best effect and maintains its preeminent place in Irish sport and Irish life.” 

Ryan also warned that while the split season is the way forward, it will put a burden on county players.

“The fewer times we have to transition from county to club (or vice versa) in the season, the fewer the points of tension and breakdown. Club windows mid-season have always proved contentious and difficult to observe, so dispensing with that complication makes sense.

“The split season is not an open goal, though. We will still have to work hard to make it a success. For a start, we will need to transcend the casual notion that the season ends at the final whistle in the All-Ireland final. It doesn’t. The GAA season still spans spring, summer and autumn. Similarly, the notion that club activity is confined to the period of the late summer and after is not correct. The club season will go on all year.

“Therein, too, is another note of caution. The inter-county season will be concentrated, and it will be intense. Consider that those same players will then become the mainstay of their club side for a further couple of months at least. That is a significant burden on players.

“I know the experience of the last two years has been that clubs relished the involvement and availability of their county players; I know too that county players enjoyed their club time. And I know that’s how it’s all supposed to be. But I don’t take for granted the effort involved on the part of those same players, and I hope it continues to be a positive in the GAA year for everybody.” 

Ryan also expressed his fear about burnout among volunteers in the association. 

“I sometimes worry that we are not doing as well here. Our world is becoming ever more complex and demanding - and that includes the GAA. We risk bombarding officers with responsibilities and deliverables that often have little to do with the games. Perhaps we need to think a little differently about who discharges these responsibilities and how we might share them.” 

He continued: “Player burnout is a familiar concept, one we are all wary of and should be trying our best to mitigate. Allied to that, we need to set our minds to making sure that volunteer burnout does not become similarly topical in the GAA.”