Popping the Cork

What is the core issue?A meeting of the Cork County Board last October decided by 84-11 to change the practice of county managers choosing their own selectors, which in future would be appointed by the board.

Players objected to this as being a departure from best practice, as well as a breach of the agreement reached to resolve a previous dispute between the county board and players back in 2002. The county board questioned whether the choice of selectors had been part of that settlement.

Players criticised the notice given for the October decision and called on clubs to debate the issue in order that the county board could reverse its decision. In a statement to the Irish Examiner on November 13th they further stated: "We are all agreed that we are not going to partake in it (the new system) or the county teams while this system is in place, regardless of who might be appointed under it.

"We wish to be clear about this; if somebody is appointed as a selector by the board and/or its sub-committee in the face of this statement and our motion, we will not be the parties creating a difficult situation or a stand-off."

In the event, the November meeting a week later reaffirmed the decision, 79-35, and also ratified the appointment of Teddy Holland as football manager.

What is the main stumbling block?

Teddy Holland, although validly appointed by the county board on November 20th, has found himself the main stumbling block to resolution of the issue.

The players argue that they had signalled their unwillingness to play under the new system prior to Holland's ratification, pointing out that the controversy surrounding the issue had caused other candidates for the manager's role to rule themselves out of contention.

They feel he acted at best precipitously in accepting the appointment. Holland says he was properly appointed and was happy with the input he had in to the choice of selectors. The board stand by the appointment of both manager and selectors.

What about yesterday's statement?

According to the Cork County Board statement of yesterday the players are willing to play under Holland for the coming season provided new selectors are appointed.

Player sources say this is a selective misrepresentation of a negotiating position and that their position on the football management hasn't changed.

Where does it go from here? The players are expected to issue a statement this morning responding to yesterday's county board release and there will be a full meeting of the football and hurling panels at some time over the weekend.

Channels of communication remain open, but the scope for manoeuvre looks extremely limited.

What will be the impact?

Calling off Sunday's NHL match between Cork and Kilkenny is now a formality, which is also expected at some stage today. Next week will see the final deadline reached with a double programme of NFL and NHL fixtures scheduled for next weekend.

Should Cork be unable to fulfil the footballers' and hurlers' second scheduled matches, against Dublin and Waterford respectively, Croke Park's Competitions Control Committee, which next meets on Tuesday week, 19th February, is expected to act on its recent decision to terminate the league involvement of any team that fails to fulfil two fixtures in its respective league.

In the now likely event of that happening to Cork, the impact on the National Leagues will be serious with the county being relegated to Division Three of the NFL and more significantly Division Two of the NHL, which operates at a level drastically below Cork's.

So the operation of the 2009 league competitions would be considerably distorted.

Cork players' statement

The following is the full text of a statement released last night by the players

We would first like to thank those people who have supported us recently, particularly those who took to the streets of Cork to support us in atrocious conditions.

Because of the volume of information now in circulation about the recent talks, we feel we should be clear about our position, which has not changed throughout this process: we desperately want to play for Cork but cannot until:

1) Teddy Holland and his four selectors - Mick O'Loughlin, Diarmuid O'Donovan, Liam Hodnett and Teddy McCarthy - are no longer in office

and 2) the recently adopted system of appointment selectors has been satisfactorily dealt with.

The systems in place in Cork for the last five years have seen a Cork team in the All-Ireland final every year. The board, whether at delegate or executive level, have decided to fix what clearly wasn't broken.

You'd have to ask why.

The board has used the recent negotiations to leak and misrepresent documents and discussions agreed to be confidential to suit their own ends. This has caused confusion and has not helped to resolve anything. We are more than aware of our duty to Cork supporters to resolve this situation and have fully engaged in all talks, whether directly with the board or with the assistance of Mr Mulvey, and latterly, Mr Duffy.

The way the discussions have been treated by the board throughout has been absolutely shocking to us.

We are furious at the spin and misinformation put out by the board, culminating in yesterday's board statement which said that we would accept Teddy Holland as football manager, which is totally and utterly untrue. There have been a number of attempts to split the players throughout this process, which have failed.

Our position is and always has been: we are totally united in our opposition to Teddy Holland and his selectors and to the system recently adopted.

Cork County Board's Statement

The following is the full text of a statement released yesterday by the Cork County Board concerning the ongoing players' strike

The Cork County Board of the GAA have stated that it is deeply disappointed that the protracted discussions aimed at resolving the above dispute which has involved Kieran Mulvey, chairman of the Labour Relations Commission, as an independent facilitator, and the director general of the GAA Paraic Duffy, has not resulted in a settlement. A Memorandum of Understanding, which was accepted at a previous session of the negotiations was further enhanced with additional proposals from Mulvey and Duffy, which the negotiators on behalf of the Cork County Board accepted as being the basis for a reasonable settlement.

The following key points make up the basis of the proposed agreement between Cork County Board and the players representatives which was put forward by Kieran Mulvey and Paraic Duffy on February 7th, 2008.

A FUTURE ENGAGEMENT

1Establish a consultative committee representative of the players and the board (six representatives from each) to meet quarterly to discuss and agree on matters received from either side relative to the players' welfare and interests and issues that arose in 2007. The first meeting shall take place within one month of this agreement.

2The committee shall be chaired by an independent person agreed by the mediator.

3The procedures, minutes and recorded conclusions shall be undertaken and determined by the chairperson.

B CURRENT IMPASSE

The players and the board both acknowledge that recent events regarding the procedures adopted in appointing a new county senior football coach has led to fundamental differences between them.

Without ascribing any judgment on the relative views of the parties on this matter and in the interests of achieving an agreeable solution to the current impasse it is recommended that:

1Appointments Committee(s) Sept/Oct, 2008. The County Board negotiating team will recommend to County Committee 2008 that the appointments committee(s) of September/October 2008 consist of seven members. This will include two current (2008) players and five others determined by the County Board.

2 Review in September/October 2008 of method of appointment of selectors. The County Board negotiating team will recommend that the executive committee recommends to the county committee that the appointed coaches in September/October 2008 be given the right to choose their own selectors. This situation will be monitored by the proposed consultative committee under the independent chairman.

3Current Football Management. Notwithstanding that the senior football coach and selectors have been appointed by the County Board for a two-year term, it is recommended that these appointments be reviewed by the appointments committee at the end of Cork's involvement in the 2008 championship.

4Player Representation on County Committee. A players' representative shall be appointed on the county committee (Board), with full speaking rights.

C RELATIONSHIPS

A number of "relationship" issues have emerged in the course of the current stand-off between the parties. Inevitably in such a dispute and with its high profile nature certain positions are adopted and articulated in the promotion or defence of decisions taken by either side.

In order to surmount these immediate difficulties it is agreed that:

1An additional selector be appointed to the panel of football selectors and that individual would have the support of the players (but would not be a former manager or member of the previous management team).

2The current team manager to ensure player engagement on team performance on a regular basis throughout the league/championship.

3No discriminatory/disciplinary action will take place against any player on the current panel in regard to this current dispute.

4No further adverse media comment is made relating to any person (player or administrator).

5Both sides to engage immediately on building a new and positive working relationship between them.

6To give effect to the above, a suitably qualified independent person shall be appointed by the mediator to work with the board and the players to address some existing issues between the sides so as to resolve internal relationships at board/player level with the objective of eliminating differences on operational issues which may exist between them.

A key aspect of the recommendations was that notwithstanding that the senior football coach and selectors had been appointed by the County Board for a two-year term, it was recommended that these appointments be reviewed by the appointments committee at the end of Cork's involvement in the 2008 championship.

It is important to note that the players during negotiations were prepared to accept Teddy Holland as coach for the year 2008, with a review at the end of the championship season, but the players' representatives then indicated that they wanted the four selectors appointed by the board to be removed. The removal of the four selectors was unacceptable to the County Board negotiating team.

TED HOLLAND & SENIOR FOOTBALL SELECTORS

The County Board states that both Teddy Holland and his selectors were democratically appointed in accordance with the rules of the association. It deeply regrets the orchestrated media campaign which has personalised the issue in relation to Ted Holland. He is a decent, honourable man who has given long and distinguished service to the GAA.

It was conceded by the players involved in negotiations that Ted Holland's competence to fulfil his role as coach is not in question. The County Board fully supports the appointed coach and selectors and calls for the campaign against them to cease.

The board appeals to the players to consider again the Memorandum of Understanding prepared by Messrs Mulvey and Duffy and to put the proposals therein to their colleagues for decision.

The County Board expresses its deep appreciation to Kieran Mulvey and Paraic Duffy for their selfless and Trojan efforts to bring a resolution to the dispute and for their continued interest.