Chairperson survives for fifth and final year at helm
LOUTH CONVENTION
LOUTH Chairperson Des Halpenny survived a strong challenge from Bob Doheny in one of the few major talking points at last Tuesday’s annual convention in Darver.
The John Mitchel’s clubman will see out his five-year term in 2019, but it was a close call, as outgoing PRO Doheny came up just 14 votes short - the eight-vote swing equivalent to just three clubs.
The other anticipated election for vice-chairperson didn’t materialise as David Rogers made the last-minute decision not to challenge Paddy McMahon, although he did deny the Sean O’Mahony’s clubman a seat at annual Congress later in the evening.
The election for Congress attendance was the only other vote to proceed on the night and Declan Byrne topped the poll with 85 votes to Rogers’ 72. The duo will join Des Halpenny, Fra Kieran and Pat Toner in Wexford in February.
One of Mr Halpenny’s first tasks in 2019 will be to unearth a new Public Relations Officer as no nominations came in to succeed Mr Doheny, who was obliged to step down having served the maximum five-year spell.
When positions have failed to attract nominations previously, it has been left to the county committee to approve an appointment in the new year, but unearthing a willing candidate for the demanding role of PRO will be easier said than done given that no-one was willing to put their name forward prior to convention. In the past the Coaching Officer role remained vacant for almost a full year.
With all of the motions submitted adjourned until January, it was a relatively quiet evening, although the theme of verbal abuse both online and on the field of play was a constant theme throughout the evening.
Prompted by an item in the CCC report, referee Des McDonald revealed the level of abuse he and his colleagues have to endure is getting out of hand, to the point that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to recruit new officials.
Minor Board chairman Alan Smith then took the debate a step further revealing that racial abuse is becoming more and more prevalent at underage level.
He revealed that a St Nicholas player had been the subject of racism by the mentor of a team from another county. ‘ We have lots of non-nationals playing our games and all we’re trying to do is protect them,’ he said. ‘I’d ask everybody here to go back your club and get this point across to every mentor.’
In his chairperson’s address a little later in the evening Des Halpenny moved the debate on to online ‘trolling’ and abuse, stating: ‘The faceless online forums still remain popular among the keyboard warriors who sit sadly at home waiting for something to go wrong. It’s a sad way to get kicks and usually indicates some sort of longing or inadequacy and definitely a lack of integrity.
‘Sadly, it is people that we know, and know well, people with two faces, masquerading as great Louth GAA people, smiling at you Bob Doheny put up a strong challenge for the position of chairman, which was retained by Des Halpenny. one moment and undermining and assassinating your character online the next.
‘I feel duty-bound to raise this and I condemn any personal slandering of our committees and officers on social media. Any decision they take is done in the best interests of this county and the ridiculing and vicious, calculated abuse is unacceptable.’
Mr Halpenny also hinted that he will look into changing the format of county committee meetings, revealing that they got through their best work during workshops and meetings arranged to address specific issues, such as the fixture forums.
Again, he stoically defended the county’s coaching and games policies and systems, insisting that Louth’s programme is held up as an example of best practice throughout Leinster.
However, Coaching & Games officer Paul Aspell agreed to a request from David Rogers to delve deeper into how the coaching and games programme is performing and report back to the county committee in the new year. Mr Rogers acknowledged that the Coaching and Games report was comprehensive, but said that it lacked a critical analysis of the standard of players the county is producing and whether they can compete at inter-county level.
A failure to compete in Division 2 under Pete McGrath was the first issue addressed by Mr Helpenny in his speech.
‘I’m not going to put sugar on this one, at senior inter-county level it was a hugely disappointing year and no-one was more disappointed than the management or players or officers here. It’s not for the lack of effort, but it just didn’t happen and the water was coming out of the hole in the bottom of the bucket faster than it could be put back in again...there’s only a few inches between a pat in the back and a kick up the backside. Over the past few years our championship record has been abysmal,’ he said.
However, he felt that the county was in a ‘better place’ to bounce back than when it hit its last ‘lowest ebb’ in 2015 following a heavy championship defeat to Tipperary.
He said the county simply had to draw a line under 2018 and move on, but before doing so he hit out an unnamed ‘former player’ for ‘singling players out by name’ in the wake of the All-Ireland qualifier defeat to Leitrim. St. Brides GFC delegates, Joe McKenna and Anthony Hoey.