Fair play Lilywhites, you won the staring contest
IS Kildare backing down the GAA powers that be a watershed moment? They stood together and did something that hasn’t been achieved before, certainly not in my time.
Reportedly, Tom Ryan is the man to be commended for taking control and making the right decision.
That showed leadership. Maybe one or two inside in the corridors at Headquarters aren’t happy with it, but the new Director General grabbed the initiative and sorted it. That’s great to hear.
I listened carefully to the interview given by new GAA president John Horgan on Monday morning and felt it was very positive in the light of the association having to move the Galway v Kilkenny Leinster hurling replay to Thurles.
Hearing our president state emphatically that July and August would be kept free of concerts and that this wouldn’t happen again was refreshing and showed leadership.
That’s two pivotal moments on serious issues dealt with by our senior GAA officials.
Meanwhile this week Donegal have highlighted an issue that will be rectified at Congress next year. So that’s all good.
What’s not going to change to a large extent is the commercial direction Croke Park have taken.
What also hasn’t changed is the biggest single cloud hanging over the GAA – club fixtures for the club player.
The club players (the CPA) are most powerful group in the association but they’re treated the most appallingly.
What I would be saying to the CPA right now is to study carefully what went on in Kildare.
It should be staring them in the face – what they must now do is follow Kildare’s example and take on Croke Park as a massively united group to sort out the biggest single mess in the GAA.
The nightmare that is the club fixture scene around the country is the one real noose around the association’s neck.
Now is the time for the CPA to make their big move. It must be decisive. But have they the bravery and conviction to go after what they want and believe in?
Now is the time, with the new Director General and a new President in place, to sort this sorry mess out for once and for all.
If they don’t it will be kicked under the carpet time and time again. The CPA have gone too quiet but now is the right time to take the necessary action. The club players, who in a lot of areas are treated like pieces of dirt on your shoe, are crying out for leadership. What ‘Newbridge or Nowhere’ showed us more than anything is that actions speak louder than words.
What we have learned over the last few weeks is that the GAA is ours. We all own it.
But unfortunately the powers that be haven’t yet taken on board the increasing disconnect between them and the people on the ground.
Along with the treatment of club players, that is probably the most worrying development in the GAA since I was a young lad, when it was the other way around.
The county player is, by and large, fairly well looked after.
The club players – who are the most powerful – needs to stand up and not flinch for one second.
Exactly the way Kildare did it when they showed the country what conviction really is.