Tom Ryan: No future for GAA offering male sports only

GAA director general Ryan said the April 2027 deadline for integration with the LGFA and Camogie Association was 'a little bit too ambitious'

Tom Ryan said the GAA's commitment to integration "remains firm and absolute". Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Tom Ryan has rejected accusations of misogyny against the GAA after the association said it could not meet the April 2027 deadline for integration with the Ladies Gaelic Football Association and Camogie Association.

Former president of Ireland Mary McAleese stood down as chairperson of the steering group for integration on Tuesday, citing a lack of support for the agreed deadline. 

In stinging criticism of the GAA, she called its management committee "less than impressive" and added that she suspects "that there are people who are not entirely happy about the idea of including women in decision-making at the top level of Gaelic sports."

"I can't accept that," GAA director general Ryan told RTÉ Radio 1 when asked about charges of misogyny.

"I would refute that in the strongest possible terms. I accept in the course of a project like this there will be different perspectives and different points of view and that's fine, but I can't accept that as a charge.

"I'm very, very proud to be part of the GAA. I'm proud of what it is and does. It's an inclusive organisation, it's a family oriented organisation, it's a progressive organisation and in leadership terms both nationally and locally there are countless women who play a huge part in guiding and driving the organisation."

Ryan said the GAA's commitment to integration "remains firm and absolute".

"I don't see a future for us as a standalone organisation promoting and offering male sports only. Our future is together," he said.

"We would be far stronger as a combined organisation. I believe that, the GAA believes that. I know that my colleagues in Ladies Football and Camogie believe that."

Ryan thinks the deadline was "a little bit too ambitious".

"I think the thing that's important to recall in all this is that we're working to combine three of the biggest five sporting organisations in the country and that's a complex undertaking," he said.

"We had aimed to do a special congress in October time and to launch in 2027. Speaking only for the GAA, we recognise we're just not ready to do that. 

"It's our own deadline that we've missed and in hindsight I think what we were aiming for just proved a little bit too ambitious. We just need to refocus and recast our plans and above all the commitment remains firm and absolute, but there were a couple of specific things that we needed to get approval for at this juncture and they were going to be tricky."

Ryan continued: "There were two elements really. First of all we have proposals around a common membership and reciprocation across the three organisations, universal membership fees, family membership, membership systems and so on. And the second part was the organisational structures from the club level up to national governing body. The membership piece is ready and the structures piece is not.

"People might remember we arrived at what we thought would be a good looking structure and we brought that around the country at a series of roadshows before the summer. The feedback from that from members and delegates was people wanted us to revise those and to look again at that and to do another pass. We're still in the middle of that exercise and really in order for the thing to work you'd have to propose both together.

"It's very difficult to envisage a common membership when you don't know precisely the shape of the organisation that you're going to be a member of. Hence the delay."

Ryan could not offer a precise timetable for integration but said he could "certainly envisage" presenting proposals next year. "A key element though will be a phased implementation, I think, not a single big bang," he added.