READ THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH GAA PRESIDENT JOHN HORAN
GAA chief John Horan vows not to repeat past mistakes with plans for a radically revamped football Championship
IT’S Wednesday night in Dungannon, in the picturesque surrounds of Hill of The O’Neill which houses an exhibition on The Flight of the Earls. And in the visitor centre attached, one of the banners puts it boldly: ‘Fight or flight.’
The GAA president though, isn’t going anywhere.
The official launch of the Ulster football Championship may be over but John Horan isn’t ready for a quick departure. After obliging a request for an interview with the Irish Mail on Sunday, an extensive chat with the head of the association revealed that he has plenty to say on a broad range of hot-button issues.
In open and expansive form, he revealed that a two-tier football Championship could be up and running by 2020 – the issue could form a key part of a potential Special Congress later this year – and also delved into why the GAA will hold the line on the use of club property after the suspension of a Donegal club for hosting a soccer
fundraiser earlier this week.
Horan resisted the push to reveal the salary of director general Tom Ryan, intimating that to do so risked being accused of trying to embarrass embattled officials in the FAI.
He also explained the logic behind the foreign training camp ban for inter-county teams in 2020 and confirmed that any camp will be limited to three nights in Ireland. He also responded strongly to recent criticisms by the Club Players Association and questioned the feasibility of VAR in Gaelic games. OVERSEAS TRAINING CAMPS
PHILIP LANIGAN: Can you explain the logic behind a proposed ban on foreign training camps for intercounty teams from next year, agreed at a recent meeting of the GAA’s Central Council?
JOHN HORAN: We had a meeting with the county chairmen and, at that, we discussed the whole process. We were trying to come to a consensus.
Last year, it proved very awkward, and I have to say, somewhat embarrassing, because some people got away with being on a training camp. So this year we made it very clear that we wanted people, first of all, to seek permission.
The permission would be granted on the evidence that a proper club programme of fixtures had been played in the month of April. If that happened, that was grand.
The idea of staying at home was debated. I made the point – and I’m nearer than anyone to Dublin airport – that if you go away for three nights overseas, it’ll take you five days getting there and back.
We felt they could probably get more out of staying at home and training in Ireland. So the general consensus is that, from next year, there’ll be an allowance of three nights and it will have to take place in Ireland.
PL: With so many county boards under financial pressure, and foreign camps costing a minimum of €25,000, does it make sense to keep that expenditure in Ireland, and remove the pressure of amateur players having to take time off work?
JH: All those things came up in the debate. You are keeping the business in Ireland. The facilities in Ireland are every bit as good as anywhere else at the moment. I’d know numerous places as I travel around the country that I can say would definitely be ideal for training camps for our teams. And as you say yourself, it’s more in line with the amateur status. TWO-TIER CHAMPIONSHIP
PL: There has been plenty of conversation around a two-tier football Championship. For someone who has put it in on the agenda, how close is it to actually happening? And, after hurling’s second-tier competition failed to get the profile and promotion it was promised at the start, is it a worry that a new structure would suffer a similar fate?
JH: To deal with the hurling end of it – we are working hard on improving the profile of the actual hurling. In fairness, the Joe McDonagh [Cup] last year was played before the actual Leinster final. We are conscious that we have probably taken our eye off the ball on that [in the past] and we are definitely driving on. Last year we had a launch for [both Championships] and this year we hope to have a launch again. We are giving that attention.
As regards football – we are conscious that there is a legacy from the Tommy Murphy Cup. That didn’t go well. If we get the two tiers over the line, the semi-finals and final would hopefully be played in Croke Park and given TV coverage.
PL: How close is it to happening. Looking at 2021, 2022?
JH: No, I’d hope it might even happen sooner because whilst we’re going to go ahead with a review of the whole structure later on this year, that’s one thing, but I would still see tier-two [competition] as being part of that and being worked into that. PL: For next year? JH: If everything comes together, next year...
There are two proposals on the table. One is that the players play in their provincial Championships, so everybody can have a go at their provincial title and Sam [Maguire Cup]. And if the Division 3 and Division 4 teams don’t get to the provincial final they go back to tier two. That proposal would be the least interfering and damaging to club competitions.
There is a feeling out there that people want to play in the provincial games, play in the qualifiers and then go into tier two. If they went for [that], I think that would have a hugely negative impact on clubs and I wouldn’t be supportive of that at all. It would be the key part of a Special Congress if we were to have one, if we make that progress to have it for 2020. We had a meeting at the start of last week and we were trying to tease it out. PL: Would it be a huge step to take? JH: Colm O’Rourke, who argued that there should be four tiers, recently conceded to me that if you succeed in getting two in football that would be a huge achievement.
PL: Down manager Paddy Tally recently told me he would love to see a two-tier Championship, even if it meant detaching the provincial Championships from it. Do you see that happening?
JH: It’s fine to say detach the provincial Championships, but you’ll still have more games if you go into another structure. Key to all of this, and the big challenge we have at the moment, is to limit the impact on clubs. And that’s what is proving the greatest difficulty. We did take on a three-year trial for the hurling and football. That has to be reviewed and we have to come with proposals next February for Congress as to what happens for 2021 – whether we go back to the old [structure], continue with the new or bring an alternative. A lot of people come up with a lot of suggestions and they sound like good ideas, but when you actually see what the impact is... How many more games are you going to create, how long are you going to extend the whole thing and
‘IT WOULD BE A VERY SAD DAY IF AN ORGANISATION OF OUR STANDING WOULD BE CONSTANTLY FLIP-FLOPPING JUST BECAUSE OF SOCIAL MEDIA’
what’s the impact on clubs? Everything has to be about keeping it as neat as we can to give as much time as possible back to clubs. CPA CRITICISM PL: The fixtures calendar is so topical at the moment. The Club Players Association released a statement recently saying far more has to be done. They’ve asked where the proposed fixtures group is... JH: I met with the CPA two weeks after taking office as president. At that meeting, I told the CPA I would put a group in place in the summer of 2019. I said I’m not going to conduct megaphone diplomacy with any group. I haven’t engaged in any further conversation. There has been a lot in the media the last month from the CPA. I’m not reacting to it. PL: So the fixtures group will happen? JH: I said that to the CPA. They were one of the first groups I met in March 2018. I’ll hold to that. DONEGAL CONTROVERSY PL: What about the Donegal club row that blew up this week? [Naomh Colmcille face an eight-week suspension and fine for hosting a charity soccer fundraiser for a former coach with motor neuron disease.] JH: It’s kind of sub judice (prohibited from public discussion as it is under judicial consideration). The fact that it’s gone to a hearing... PL: What about the bigger picture. What about the public backlash after a Longford club was punished for hosting the Jamie Carragher Soccer School in 2015? Can you see the scenario where county boards mirror Central Council and are given the right, in exceptional circumstances, to allow clubs use their grounds as they see fit? JH: No. If you go back to Congress – and everyone talked about a very quiet Congress – nobody mentions the fact that a 90-100 [per cent] vote carried the opening of association property at county board level. We’re not going to extend it. That result was as strong as it was because an assurance was given that it wouldn’t extend to clubs. And it won’t extend to clubs. PL: Is there anything to fear if it does extend down to clubs? JH: It’s not going to extend. I think we took a huge positive step at Congress that we mightn’t have taken three or four years ago as an organisation. One of the assurances I gave everybody was if they backed that motion, there wouldn’t be any more erosion.
I think it would be a very sad day that an organisation of our quality and standing would be constantly flip-flopping just because people get an opinion on social media. A large number of these people are not even members of our organisation. They are entitled to have their opinion. They are entitled to put it up on social media. But that’s not what is coming through from the membership of our organisation where we have meetings and behave in a democratic manner. FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY PL: The GAA has led the line on so many issues – banning betting company sponsorship, phasing out alcohol sponsorship. With the FAI becoming the biggest sports governance story of the year, can you see any logic in again taking a lead in terms of financial transparency and making the salary of GAA director Tom Ryan public? JH: Look, we’ve put it out there clearly, how much of the money comes in, and where it goes – and how much of it actually goes back to the clubs through coaching and infrastructure and grants.
I think we’re as open as we need to be. We’re not complacent. We’re not going to dance on any organisation at the moment. I don’t want to get involved in that whole debate. If we were to come out with information now, people might say, “Oh, they are doing it to embarrass somebody else”. And I’m not going down that road. The people involved in soccer have a genuine interest in promoting their sport. We’re all in it for sport. It’s not for one of us to gloat over the other when one group is going through a difficult time. INTRODUCTION OF VAR PL: Look at VAR’s growing influence in sport. On the Champions League knock-out stages, particularly the quarter-final between Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. With it due to come in to the Premier League next season, it will become commonplace for fans, and those watching here, to see it in action. Can you see the benefit of video replays and VAR down the line for Gaelic games? JH: Professional sports are bringing it in. And they have revenue streams to do it. If you’re going to implement it at the highest level of our games, you also have to implement it throughout all our intercounty games. I’ve watched VAR on the television and there have been completely conflicting opinions! I’ve seen it one night, a decision being given, and commentators in the studio were going bananas that the referee got it wrong. Ultimately, has it solved anything? Or has it just given more coverage to the debate around the decision that is actually being made on VAR? PL: What about the example of David Reidy’s red card in the Clare-Limerick Munster hurling Championship last year. Television replays showed immediately it was not a red card offence. Yet the referee who hadn’t seen it was put in an unenviable position – given wrong information, he sent the player off. It led to a whole appeals process. A replay, a word in the referee’s ear, would take the pressure off a referee in certain cases? JH: Yeah but it’s to get a consistency at every ground and have a sufficient amount of cameras, be sure the actual camera gets it – how many cameras do you need in every ground? And how many games have we going on? PL: Supporters only get riled over what they see. Judge it purely on live television pictures, then there can’t be criticism over what was missed? JH: You know, there has always been an element of human error in sport. That’s part and parcel of it. You get the rub of the green some days and you don’t another day. Certainly, the whole cost element and the consistency of bringing it in would be too much at the moment.
We are amateur. What are we going to do? Let a couple of coaches go? Take a couple of grants off a club just because we are going to have VAR at matches? Which ultimately will cause a debate and maybe not solve the
problem at all?