GAELIC GAMES: The clár for the GAA's special congress at the end of the month is notable for what it omits as much as for what it includes. Under discussion on October 25th and 26th will be the report of the Strategic Review Committee (SRC). It had been flagged in advance that two of the SRC's most controversial recommendations would not make it to the conference floor at the end of next week.
AELIC The proposal to refer to Central Council the power to allow other sports to be played in Croke Park had been announced some time ago. That decision remains in force despite a formal request from the Government that the venue be made available for the Euro 2008 joint bid by the FAI and SFA.
"The request will be considered by the Management Committee and by Central Council," said GAA president Seán McCague. "There's no set date, but it will probably be at the next meeting. The use of the pitch is governed by Rule 42 and I don't know if Management and Central Council will feel they have the authority to make a decision on the matter."
When the SRC report was launched back in January, the proposal which attracted the most attention was the idea of splitting Dublin into two "county" areas on the north and south of the Liffey. This was to be for administrative reasons as well as to encourage the fielding of two county teams. During exhaustive talks between the SRC subcommittee on Dublin and the Dublin County Board it had emerged that no decision would be taken on anything to do with the county at the special congress.
Asked whether the division of Dublin was now effectively dead in the water, McCague replied: "I would say it probably is. It's not an issue for this congress, but any decisions taken on the matter will be on the basis of what's best for the GAA in Dublin."
Motion three on the clár is from Dublin, but has the support of the SRC and specifically excludes the proposals relating to the county from the general motion adopting "the ideas and concepts" of the report. Throughout the clár there are proposed amendments either qualifying or opposing the thrust of many of the SRC motions. Most come from the Mayo County Board, but other counties have tabled such motions.
The proposal to reduce football to 13-a-side for the NFL in 2003 and 2004, motion six, is sure to stimulate debate, although Mayo have tabled a motion opposing the concept. Also proposed is the introduction of the inter-change system familiar from International Rules.
Motion five proposes that revisions of the playing rules should be permitted to be debated every three years. This comes two years after annual congress in Galway passed a Tyrone proposal to extend the minimum period between such rule changes to 10 years. Motion 10 inter alia places the responsibility for monitoring the number of substitutes used by a team in an inter-county fixture on the shoulders of a match official, while an amending motion from Limerick proposes that such duty remain with the county secretary of the relevant county.
Motions 13 and 14 propose abolishing inter-county competitions for grades younger than under-16 and restrict under-age players from lining out with teams more than one grade older.
Indiscipline is addressed in motion 17, which creates new offences in order to punish players pretending to be fouled.
Most of the motions concern what members of the SRC have called "the simple house keeping provisions" of the report. These include the scope of officer appointments within counties and provincial councils, and what promise to be contentious debates on motions 29 and 30, which propose powers for provincial councils to monitor and intervene in a county's affairs.
A three-year cycle for annual congress is proposed in motions 36-38, whereby each year would have a different remit, ranging from electing a president and reviewing finances in year one to club affairs in year two and motions on policy, administration and structures in year three.
