A motion will go before GAA Congress next week requiring players to make a minimum of eight club appearances a season to be eligible for their county team the following year.
The Clontarf proposal is an amended version of a motion brought to last year’s congress in Donegal by the Dublin club.
On that occasion, the motion stipulated a player needed to have played “a minimum of four competitive league games” with their club in the same calendar year.
However, considering the structure of the GAA calendar, concerns were raised as to the practicality of players being able to meet the criteria given the jammed intercounty season currently runs from the end of January until July.
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Following advice from GAA president Jarlath Burns 12 months ago, the motion was withdrawn to allow amendments to be made.
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Clontarf returned to the Dublin GAA convention last December with an updated motion which was backed by delegates. It will now go to the floor at congress on the weekend of February 27th-28th.
The key difference to the motion is that players now have a longer lead-in window of the previous season to fulfil the criteria, and league and championships club appearances are included.
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The motion states: “In order to be eligible to play adult (excluding minor and under-20 grades) intercounty championship, a player shall have played a minimum of eight competitive league or championship games with their club in the previous calendar year.”
If successful, the ruling would take effect on January 1st, 2027 and become operational at intercounty level in 2028. Players would have to play eight league or championship games for their club in 2027 to line out at intercounty level in 2028.
There are some allowances within the motion, such as giving dual players the option to aggregate their club appearances across both codes, as well as waivers or reductions in exceptional circumstances, including injury.
Former Dublin footballer Noel McCaffrey, whose children Jack and Sarah also played for the county, has been the driving force behind the motion which aims to see players maintain a meaningful playing connection with their clubs.
Writing in The Irish Times last February, McCaffrey said: “Unfortunately, the issue remains unaddressed and is now a cause of immense concern because it threatens to undermine the very essence of the GAA.
“The situation has progressively worsened over the past 20 years, in which period it has become the absolute norm for county players to have no involvement whatsoever with their clubs for the entire duration of the intercounty season.
“The split season, while solving the very important challenge of bringing certainty to club championship fixture schedules, has had the unavoidable and predictable consequence of reducing the availability of county players to their clubs.”
