A low-key Congress but for Burns it could be the calm
If JARLATH Burns did not know better, a quick scan of today’s Congress clár would hint at a serene three years ahead.
Certainly, there is little on it to challenge the sense that his succession of Larry McCarthy as the association’s president will be the high point of the day at the Canal Court Hotel in Newry, such is the almost anaemic prospect for argument elsewhere.
That there is just so little to debate on a GAA agenda that in latter times has been occupied by rather seismic issues, from the extension of the black card law to hurling (something that is likely to be cemented in permanence today), the introduction of a split season and the reform of the football championship, some might take the view that there is much done, little left to do.
Burns will hardly be fooled by that, with a three-year countdown to integration, inflationary costs of inter-county teams, hurling’s long-term underdevelopment and football’s risk-averse culture all burning issues of concern, it will be a surprise if over the next few years that centrally-proposed motions on reform on all those will not fill busy Congress agendas.
That being the case, this might be best viewed as the calm before the storm.
The most significant piece of business — which has received Central Council backing — is the proposal which will see all cards in regular match-time carried over into extratime. As it stands, only black cards are carried over, highlighting the obvious anomaly that a team receives a lesser punishment for committing a serious red card foul than for a lesser offence committed late in a game.
More importantly, it gets rid of the nonsensical ruling that extra-time constitutes — as currently applies — the start of a new game rather than the extension of a tied one.
Other than that, it is hard to see any major changes resulting from today’s Congress, although there is understood to be strong support for a Cork motion which will seek to narrow even further the window which will allow players to play at both under-20 and senior championship level.
Initially, there was a season-long prohibitive window on players lining out for both but last year Wexford successfully argued for that to be reduced to seven days.
Even then Cork’s Eoin Downey and Clare’s Adam Hogan were forced to miss out on last summer’s Munster under-20 hurling final because it would have ruled them out of playing for their senior teams, it is hardly a surprise that another attempt has been made to narrow the window.
However, Cork’s 60-hour window will be met with strong opposition from those who will argue that it is an unacceptable erosion of player welfare protection.
Apart from that, there is little else on a 20motion agenda — the smallest in two dec
ades — that will engage the floor, although Fermanagh’s proposal that seeks to have the All-Ireland senior and minor finals played on the same bill as applied up until 2019 will get some traction.
After the minor-age grade was reduced from under-18 to under-17, it was dropped from the final-day undercard amid concerns that it was too big a stage for young players, but the Fermanagh proposal also comes against the backdrop of growing concerns about what has become a diminished experience on All-Ireland final match day.
And with growing support for the minor age-grade to revert to under-18, like so much else, it will be a debate that is likely to find its voice over the next three years.