Clubs who do not attend meetings deserve €100 fine
THE next time a club starts to give out about the goings on at county committee level, perhaps it would be wise to check how many delegates they sent to the mid-March meeting in Darver where a vote was taken on a potential league restructure.
There are 38 football entities within Louth GAA and with each obliged to three votes last Tuesday night, in theory, there should have been 114 ballots cast. If Naomh Moninne or Knockbridge felt compelled to partake, even though hurling was not concerned by any outcome, that would have left 120 potential voters.
Why, therefore, were there just 74 papers used on the night? A 64pc turnout for something that could have had a major bearing on a club’s league future. That is simply not good enough and worse than any delegate who may have attended without a mandate.
Whenever decisions taken by the top table are criticised or don’t meet favourably with the motives of certain clubs or individuals, there will be the throwaway remarks about democracy, transparency and dictatorships.
Yet, when the process is fully above board and allowing for clubs – and not Louth GAA’s elected officers – to have the greatest say, as many as 46 votes were wasted.
There were 12 management committee members who partook in the poll, which is not the full complement either, but the entire objective in calling for three representatives from each club to attend – having been given prior notice and it being on a night where very few matches were taking place – was to make sure the outcome was determined mostly by those who are at the domestic coalface.
Of course, there were several three-pronged delegations. Ardee St Mary’s, Stabannon Parnells, Cooley Kickhams, St Patrick’s and St Joseph’s were among those who took up their allotted allocation in full and while there was bound to be others, from your writer’s vantage point, they are the ones that spring automatically to mind.
But there were clubs who sent just the one person on their behalf, essentially cutting their say by two thirds, which is a very poor reflection of both their interest in county committee matters and respect for the system that governs Louth GAA.
Turnout can often be poor at monthly meetings, where clubs are requested to send just the one delegate. Yet there are occasions where sides go without a presence due to the appointed delegate being unavailable and a proxy not being organised. Indeed, there is one particular outfit who don’t see the need to go along at all practically.
In each scenario where a club goes unrepresented, there should be an automatic fine of €100, without fail unless there is a unavoidable event or legitimate excuse.
This cuts to a deeper issue, though. Not only did some clubs treat last week’s vote with contempt by not seizing the opportunity to fully exercise their democratic right but there tends also to be a laissez-faire attitude to county committee matters on a wider scale, across the Gaelic games’ bodies in Louth.
In the seven years since first covering one of these meetings professionally, there are delegates who have never been heard contributing to a subject matter beyond raising their hand or scribbling on a sheet of paper. Granted, people may not always have something to offer but surely, if the correct procedures are being followed at club level, they will raise a concern of some parochial significance along the way?
Otherwise, what is their purpose?
About 12 months ago, this column called for all county committee delegates to be either the elected chairperson or secretary of a club to ensure that all messages were filtered back to domiciliary committees and that matters arising from below were brought up on high.
The opinion was raised by O’Connell’s clubman Aidan Murtagh at the subsequent meeting, to which he hit out at delegates’ suitability and capacity to deliver information being called into question.
To be fair to Aidan, he has never been one to not open his mouth and offer a say, or bring to light queries the Castlebellingham-based club may have, at the open forum.
But the point remains that county committee meetings are not treated with the respect or courtesy they deserve by some clubs – and that is in evidence in terms of their failure to either send forward a representative on a monthly basis, or appoint a replacement on a certain occasion, the inability to take up their voting allowance at Convention or sittings such as last week’s, and in failing to nominate a clubperson able to add value to what is being discussed.
Take the last monthly meeting, held in Dowdallshill, on the subject of the stadium development in Dundalk, only Paddy Farrell, an Honorary President and not there on behalf of any club, sought to interrogate the top table or request more information.
Paddy, a passionate GAA man, celebrated a big birthday in February and was considering an end to his long association with county committee affairs but he still possesses such an interest and passion in the game on a wider scale that he continues to ask what needs to be asked.
To be fair, the gathering at St Brigid’s Park did include contributions from several club delegates and the majority of those attending cannot be faulted for their fortitude or willingness to get involved, but there is a sense that some sides don’t see the value in what goes on in regard to county administration.
How can an accurate consensus be reached if opinions or views are not aired in the arenas they need to be? Don’t criticise if you’re part of the problem.
HOW CAN AN ACCURATE CONSENSUS BE REACHED IF OPINIONS OR VIEWS ARE NOT AIRED IN THE ARENAS THEY NEED TO BE?