Focus now switches to motions being passed

Rule 42 Reaction: Ian O'Riordan says with their initial battle won, the successful counties now will go to the GAA's Congress with seven motions offering permanent rule change or temporary rule change

With confirmation that seven of the 11 motions calling for amendments to Rule 42 have made it to Congress the focus now switches to the chances of any of them being actually passed. There is a certain amount of variety amongst the seven successful motions but the crucial difference is between those calling for permanent rule change and temporary rule change.

The first battle though was getting some sort of debate at Congress, and even the four counties that had their motions rejected welcomed yesterday's announcement that a full and thorough debate was now forthcoming.

No one was quite predicting what would happen next, but at least the prospect of soccer and rugby being played at Croke Park would be taken off the bar stools and onto the Congress floor.

The seven successful counties were Roscommon, Sligo, Clare, Cavan, Laois, Longford and Kerry - and of those Roscommon and Sligo have attracted the initial interest. They both call for the temporary lifting of Rule 42 while the pending redevelopment work takes place at Lansdowne Road. In other words, let Croke Park be used for soccer and rugby during that period rather than force the FAI and IRFU to take their international matches overseas.

"I think it would be a great pity to see major international matches going overseas when Lansdowne Road is closed," said Tommy Kenoy, who was behind the successful Roscommon motion. "But I'm delighted that so many motions got through, even if there was a lot of obstruction put in the way. But I feel now that Seán Kelly will be asking for a two-thirds majority on this rather than the simple majority which can be used for temporary rule changes."

Essentially the Roscommon motion calls for Central Council to be given the authority to rent or lease Croke Park for the next three years. The relevant part of that motion reads: "Add Section (a): Central Council shall have the power to authorise the renting or leasing of Croke Park in certain circumstances for events other than those controlled by the Association. Income accruing from such events shall be used solely for the promotion of Gaelic Games.

"Section (b): All other property, including grounds, Club Houses, Halls, Dressing Rooms and Handball Alleys, owned or controlled by the Association, shall be used only for the purpose of, or in connection with, the playing of games controlled by the Association and for such other purposes not in conflict with the aims and objectives of the Association that may be sanctioned from time to time by the Central Council.

"Sections (a) & (b) as amended shall, only apply for three years from the date they become operative and shall be considered again at Congress 2008."

But with the redevelopment work at Lansdowne Road not expected to commence until the end of 2006 at the earliest, the Sligo motion - which calls for a temporary lifting without any timeframe - could yet prove the more attractive to supporting counties.

The relevant wording of that motion is: "Central Council shall have the power to authorise the renting or leasing of Croke Park for events other than those controlled by the Association during a period when Lansdowne Football Grounds is closed for the proposed development."

While the Clare motion calling for a referendum on the issue amongst clubs was rejected, the county was successful in getting the general amendment to Rule 42 onto the Congress floor. There are similar submissions from Wicklow (whose motion was accepted after being granted an extension), Longford, Cavan and Kerry.

The wording of the Kerry motion, drafted by the Moyvane club, reflects all those motions in that it calls for Croke Park to be used for other sports on an ongoing basis, albeit from time to time: "Páirc An Chrócaigh shall not be used or permitted to be used for any purposes other than those in accordance with conditions and regulations laid down by and sanctioned by Central Council from time to time. Funds accruing from such usage shall be used in accordance with Rule 5."

Kerry chairman Seán Walsh rejected the suggestion that the more ambitious motion had a lesser chance of being passed: "Anybody that says these motions will be defeated at this stage are only working off speculation," he said. "But the important thing is that all these motions have made it to Congress, something I'm personally delighted with after what happened last year."

The four counties to lose out were Dublin, Wexford, Laois and Offaly, who for various reasons were told their motions were still out of order. In Dublin's case, however, it appears the Motions Committee hadn't fully complied with their mandate to clarify just why motions were sent back in the first place.

The Dublin County Board was informed yesterday that their resubmitted motion, drafted by Kilmacud Crokes, was out of order because "powers are being given to Páirc an Chrócaigh Teoranta (the Croke Park Holding company) in the motion, which would be in contravention of the powers of Central Council."

The initial motion submitted by Dublin was ruled out of order on February 1st because "Rule 3, Rule 4, Rule 5, Rule 43 and Rule 44 need to be amended and the motion should also refer to Rule 74 (e) and to Rule 142 (a), Exception 5."

Although Dublin resubmitted a motion that included those amendments, they were then told that the problem was in fact contained in their original submission regarding Rule 42.