GAA can't come to rescue of FAI yet

GAA president Seán Kelly has ruled out accommodating soccer at Croke Park this year. The FAI have a clear problem if Brian Kerr's team finish second in the qualifying group for next year's World Cup as the play-off schedule clashes with the November rugby internationals at Lansdowne Road.

The first leg is scheduled for Saturday, November 12th - the same day the Ireland rugby team play New Zealand - while the second leg takes place on Wednesday, November 16th. With Ireland facing Australia in rugby the following Saturday, there is not sufficient time to install bucket seating on the terraces.

The FAI can play the home leg with a reduced capacity of approximately 22,000, move cross channel or seek to use Croke Park, but Kelly ruled out the latter option.

"I think November is far too soon," he said. "It was only passed at congress level back at April and there was not talk of November at that stage. It would be unfair to spring it on counties at this stage."

The decision by congress to temporarily open Croke Park is on condition that Lansdowne Road is being redeveloped.

"It hasn't been discussed with us," continued Kelly. "What was past at congress still holds and that cannot be changed unless there is a change of policy and nobody has approached us, nobody has said anything of that nature to us. So we go with what happened at congress. We don't have any power to do anything else."

The GAA has met informally with the IRFU and FAI, but at no point was any consideration given to making the stadium available until Lansdowne Road is under construction.

"They are very grateful for what happened. They have a big task now to progress their planning. They are aware of their options and I think they will be anxious to take up those options when the time comes."

Kelly was speaking at the launch of a new national club forum that also takes place on November 12th in Killarney. Representatives from all GAA clubs are invited to discuss a wide range of issues.

Top of the agenda will be how clubs cope with the ever-increasing fixtures at inter-county level. At present, most senior county championships shut down mid-summer to accommodate inter-county players. This fixture backlog is avoided in Cork and several northern counties, who play on regardless.

Kelly believes these examples should be used as modules for other county boards to follow. "For a lot of counties the new fixtures at inter-county level were not expected. They had been used to being out of the championship early. Counties who were used to failure probably welcomed failure because it made it easier to run their own programmes. They could have their first round of championship by the end of June.

"Their county final, a big day for everybody, was on the first or second Sunday in September, but there was no progress being made at inter-county level. That's now being readjusted and hopefully will prove to be successful. If the county players would play at least reasonably frequently with their clubs, at the same time clubs would understand as they can't expect to have their inter-county players all the time."

The forum is being organised by the GAA social and awards committee under the guidance of Cork County Board chairman Jim Forbes.

The updated GAA club manual was relaunched yesterday at Croke Park. First published in 1982, it will be distributed to every club.