There was "a haemorrhage" of players from a Clonmel club in 1993 when 23 players asked for transfers, the High Court was told yesterday. The departures began as a trickle but when they continued, it was like "panic on the Titanic".
Mr Eddie Kearney, a teacher and co-founder of Clonmel Og club in Clonmel, said most of the players who left went to Clonmel Commercials GAA Club which had senior status compared to Clonmel Og's junior status.
The Clonmel Og development officer was giving evidence on the second day of an action by Mr Patrick O'Donoghue (20), a Clonmel Og player, who is suing Mr Tomas O Baroid, in his capacity as secretary of the Tipperary GAA County Board, and Mr Sean Quirke, in his capacity as secretary of Clonmel Og Hurling and Football Club.
Mr O'Donoghue is seeking a transfer to Clonmel Com mercials/St Mary's Club, where he says he has a better chance of improving his skills and enhancing his prospects as a player.
He wants declarations that Tipperary County Board, in refusing his transfer, acted in breach of the GAA's official guide rules and that the by-laws of the board infringe his constitutional right to freedom of association. Both defendants deny they wrongly interpreted the relevant transfer rules.
Yesterday, Mr Kearney said that if the loss of players suffered by Clonmel Og six years ago was to happen on a regular basis, it would lead to the destruction of the club. If Mr O'Donoghue was to decide to come back to the club, he would be welcome, but if all the young players of his calibre were to leave the club, it would diminish its chances of eventually reaching senior status.
Mr O'Donoghue was a member of Clonmel Og club whether he signed a piece of paper or not, Mr Kearney said. His parents were committee members and had taken out family membership. The club paid players' registration fees out of its own resources.
Mr Kearney agreed with Mr Thomas Slattery SC, for Mr O'Donoghue, that the club, founded in 1986, was now well-established and prosperous. But it would not be flourishing except for the transfer protection it received under the "Nugent Deal" on transfers.
If the 1993 player "haemorrhage" had not happened, he believed the club would now be further up the ladder towards senior status and therefore more attractive for people like Patrick O'Donoghue.
Mr Tomas O Baroid, Tipperary County Board Secretary since 1963, agreed that part of the board's duty was to protect the weaker clubs against the strong and this it did by applying the rules of the association.
Cross-examined by Mr Slattery, Mr O Baroid said a letter sent by Mr O'Donoghue's solicitor to him was not read out at a meeting of the county board, although the solicitor had asked that its contents be drawn to the board's attention. Such a letter would be handled by the board's legal advisers.
The hearing is expected to conclude today.