Systems and transparency - how Galway GAA got its house in order

HOUSE IN ORDER: Galway football manager Padraic Joyce stands for a portrait during a Galway senior football media conference at Pearse Stadium in Galway. Photo: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

The weather coming in off Galway Bay was pretty foul as delegates entered the Salthill Hotel on a dreary December night in 2018 for the annual county GAA convention. The atmosphere wasn’t much better in the room as another night of tribal bloodletting was about to unfold.

Delegates, many who, as usual, would take no active part in the meeting, were wringing hands with glee at another evening of craic as accusations would fly back and forth and fellas, with the backing of their cronies already in the bag, would dig in and move on.