FDC were naive to believe in the GAA

The besetting fault of the Football Development Committee has probably been naivety. This may seem a strange charge to level at a body whose members include Eugene McGee, Pat O'Neill and Colm O'Rourke, but there is much to support the charge.

A group of busy, concerned and innovative football people, they sacrificed a lot of time to frame their proposals in the naive belief that carefully thought-out plans, properly presented, would have an impact on the administrative black hole which passes for much of the county organisation within the GAA.

There has been a good deal of commendation for the debate triggered by the proposals and the general feeling that some type of change will result from that debate. Yet the reported discussions at county level were often depressingly uninformed (the publicised remarks of one Meath delegate suggested that he didn't understand the proposals) and what has emerged most clearly is the reactionary nature of the units which decide GAA policy.

The FDC was also naive in assuming that the proposals would find a special resonance in what are known as "the weaker" counties. "The weaker" counties are often "weaker" for good reason. They have become conditioned to failure and organise their affairs accordingly.

When a blueprint is devised which offers them some alternative to the permanent exclusion of the present championship, many take the view that it is too threatening to the status quo.

As was memorably stated six years ago by a county board official in Derry - admittedly in the different context of Eamonn Coleman's 1994 sacking: "People think there was no football in Derry before we won an All-Ireland. We always had great county championships." So it is that "great county championships" can be advanced as good reasons to ward off the potentially destabilising prospect of improved opportunity at inter-county level.

That the FDC proposals will not survive if aired at Congress does not constitute an end to the process of reforming the ridiculous current structure of the football championship. (As has frequently been observed: can anyone imagine recommending a provincial-based, knockout system were it not the status quo?)

The remaining hope of salvaging some reform from the FDC work is that the whole question of the football championship will be referred to a special congress. This is explicit in the Cork motion which has attracted favourable comment around the country.

In fact the motion is a vacuous spoiler which creates an illusion of reform and has successfully diverted attention from the FDC proposals. The only impact it guarantees is the abolition of pre-Christmas league matches and, whereas that would hardly be a loss, it's not a reason to retain the secondary competition.

There is, of course, great irony in Cork's concern for the league given that the county's insistence on bringing last year's final to Pairc Ui Chaoimh did enormous damage to the competition's standing.

Apart from retaining the league, Cork propose provincial round-robins and losers' groups - but all at the prerogative of the respective provincial councils. In other words, no change is guaranteed.

The terms of the motion are interesting in that they request Central Council to advise the FDC to reconsider its proposals along the lines of the Cork motion. So any further move is dependent on the FDC producing a new report. The mechanics of this make a special congress a procedural necessity unless the matter is to be postponed for a full year.

The big question is whether the FDC will want to make themselves available to water down their plan. There is understandable disillusionment among the FDC at the reactionary dismissal of their proposals, but also a sense that they were - in the words of one member - "left hanging in the wind" as the mood hardened against them.

Neither outgoing president Joe McDonagh, who appointed the FDC, nor his successor Sean McCague believe it possible to express views on the proposals until Congress. Both of their counties, Galway and Monaghan, voted against the FDC.

Director general Liam Mulvihill was forthright in his annual report to Congress. While he praised the importance of debate and upheld the bona fides of either side, his own comments were witheringly cool. ". . .we need to be careful that we don't do or say anything which will diminish the fundamental strength of the association or of its championship structure which is the bedrock on which our success has been founded."

This was something of a surprise from Mulvihill who has in the past floated a number of ideas for reforming championship structures. It was also anomalous in the context of his report which elsewhere flew the kite of amalgamating counties for championship purposes or abandoning them altogether.

Although the GAA is right to be concerned that its football championship, which is the showcase for the game and which generates huge revenue in gate receipts and broadcasting rights, shouldn't be put at risk, the manner in which the FDC proposals have been shot down is even more worrying.

In a world which will require decisive responses to a quickly changing sports and broadcasting environment, the GAA's slow and conservative county boards will become more of a liability as they become more out-of-step with their public.

Surveys have indicated that virtually all players and managers agreed with giving the FDC proposals their two-year trial. Seventy per cent of the viewing public were also in favour.

Ignoring large chunks of your market isn't the cleverest way for any organisation to proceed.