OTHER ISSUES addressed in director general’s report include:

Pitch invasions

“In last year’s annual report I wrote that pitch invasions involving many thousands of people were an extreme health and safety risk and that having respect for tradition would be no consolation or defence should serious injury, or worse, befall any of our patrons.

“Our calls in this respect went largely unheeded despite our attempts to explain the reasoning behind them. As a consequence, our plans to provide an appropriate on-field presentation, merited by the occasion, had to be abandoned.

“The in-depth review of events following the All-Ireland Finals (involving An Garda Síochána, our own stewards and the relevant safety authorities), including meticulous examination of CCTV footage, served only to further convince us that, unless the message is understood and respected by our supporters, we will soon be facing the reality of a tragedy at some point in the next few years.

“Having considered the levels of crushing that take place on such occasions at the front of Hill 16, at the Hogan Stand itself (while the presentation is taking place) and on the exits to Jones’ Road (as our egress points struggle to cope with the counter flow created by many thousands of people exiting from the “wrong” side of the ground) many safety experts have expressed surprise that a major incident has not occurred before this.

“Riding one’s luck does not constitute a safety strategy.

“We have already had a number of lucky escapes in this regard, including having to defibrillate a middle-aged man in 2008 who suffered cardiac arrest because of the crush from supporters attempting to gain entry to the pitch.

“At this Congress there will be a presentation on the issue to delegates – an indication itself of the gravity of the matter – and we recently appointed a committee of senior association officials to formulate proposals to address the issue.”

GAA president Christy Cooney commented that these proposals would apply to all venues and not just Croke Park.

Championship structure

“Recent independent research on the subject also confirms to us that local rivalry is a highly significant factor in attendance at GAA games. For the overwhelming majority of counties, a provincial title remains a realistic and desirable championship goal at the start of each season.

“The fact that attendances have remained constant at Provincial games since the introduction of the qualifiers would seem to indicate that our supporters feel likewise.

“I believe strongly in the need to retain our provincial championships. The effect of “round-robin” groupings when used at club level has been to diminish interest in the earlier rounds of competitions and to have a severely negative impact on attendances. And – of the utmost relevance – a “round-robin” league system, if introduced at national level, would place even greater strains on an inter-county fixtures programme that needs trimming (and not expansion) if the playing needs of our clubs are to be accommodated in the coming years.”

Pay-per-view broadcasting

“However, given the market sector that is relevant to the GAA, and considering our commitment to and policy of utilising television coverage as a promotional vehicle for our games (not to mention our responsibility to the wider GAA and Irish sporting public), subscription television is not a route that the GAA is likely to embrace in any significant manner in the years ahead.”

Future live coverage

“I believe that we may need to be more selective in the games that we make available for live broadcast in future, and we need to consider whether we have reached saturation point in this respect.”

Urban development

“The numbers lead to an inevitable conclusion: if the GAA is not popular in urban areas, it will no longer be Ireland’s leading sports organisation.

We must get our policies and initiatives right in the cities and urban areas, and, of course, we must do so without undermining rural clubs, particularly those located close to large urban areas.”