Meeting will decide future of the Tralee District Board

January 1992

THE future, if any, of Tralee District Board of the GAA will be decided at a special meeting of the clubs in the Tralee area, to be held in the Grand Hotel on next Tuesday night.

The meeting will be chaired by County Board Chairman, Sean Kelly; this was decided at. the first meeting of the new Kerry County Board on Tuesday night, after a heated discussion among delegates as to the future of the Tralee Board.

When he raised the matter, Mr Kelly dropped a bombshell when he informed the meeting that, because of the inability of the Tralee Board to elect officers at its AGM, he had a number of recommendations to make concerning the future of the board.

Having outlined a number of competitions which it was intended to organise, the County Board chairman startled delegates when he stated, that, it was intended to call, the Tralee Board the Geraldine Board and that he was appointing an officer of the County Board, Teddy O’Sullivan (Ballyduff ) as chairman.

Mr Kelly said the new name of the board was in order “to get away from any historic connotation” and it was intended to play as many of the Tralee finals as possible at Austin Stack Park.

He said the aim was to provide regular games for all players in the area and at the same time create a strong board. With a population of 25,000, Tralee should have a, strong board and that the board should meet once a fortnight.

The proposed changing of the name of the board and the proposed appointment of somebody from outside Tralee to the chair drew an angry response from the Tralee delegates; in turn, they took issue with Mr Kelly over any such moves. The County Board chairman reiterated the position.

“I did not mean to cast any aspersions on any officers,” he said.

“There has to be a strong district board in every area and that has not been possible in Tralee” and he said Tralee had particular difficulties which could not be solved.

Outgoing Tralee Board chairman, Joe McMahon, reacted angrily to the issue.

“I was disappointed that the officers of the County Board did not invite us to their meeting and. let us air our thoughts,” he stated.

“We are still in office until somebody else is re-elected.” he finished.

Chairperson of South West Kerry Development Organisation, Kathleen Lynch and Secretary Eamon Langford looking out over Coomanaspig valley in South Kerry where it is hoped to resettle city families.