Valentia motion withdrawn to be referred to Central Council
THE subject that yielded the only real debate at Monday’s Kerry GAA Convention, Valentia’s motion “that a player qualify to play senior football once they reach their 17th birthday due to the decline in rural junior clubs struggling to field 15 players” was withdrawn with the proviso that the matter be raised by Kerry at Central Council level instead of Congress.
Valentia delegate Joe McCarthy said he was fully aware of Croke Park’s opposition to such a proposal but said that the club was trying to be creative for the small clubs that are struggling to field at the moment. He also clarified that the motion was intended for hurling clubs as well.
Churchill’s Ger Carmody spoke in support of the motion, saying he would like to see larger clubs in the county look beyond their own situation and recognise the difficulties small clubs are facing at the moment. He felt the fact that there is a stipulation for 13-a-side games in the Eolaire for Division Five of the Senior County League was a damning indictment of the situation, and felt that there were too many fixtures around the time of the Leaving Cert putting such clubs under pressure.
Cordal (who submitted a similar motion last year), Tuosist and Knocknagoshel spoke in favour of the motion with the latter’s delegate, Michael Murphy, saying allowing such players to play for their senior teams would create a better allegiance among such players towards their clubs at adult level.
County Board President Gerald McKenna said that while he understood the emotive arguments behind the motion he had to put forward some realism and remind everyone that the current rule was introduced by a heavy majority in Congress, and Cordal’s motion last year was well defeated also.
He said another hammering at Congress would do the issue no good and felt it was not a long-term solution to the problem and felt it should be withdrawn and dealt with at Central Council level by the county.
Lispole’s Tom Hanafin still felt that Congress was the appropriate forum for such a motion while Fossa’s Tommy Cronin felt the motion was not forcing such players to play for their clubs at senior level, only giving them the option to do so.
Central Council delegate John Joe Carroll said that McKenna’s comment was worth considering and while he was personally in favour of such a proposal for League or ‘Tournament’ style football he was not in favour of it for Championship matches. He said it would not pass at Congress in its present form.
Incoming Assistant Treasurer Joe Crowley, speaking from his time as Chairman of the Parish Rule and Player Registration Sub-Committee, felt the motion opened the door to dealing with a lot of the issues in the county at present but said there was no one single solution to the problem and novel solutions would be needed. He felt that the proviso of a ‘relative connection’ to playing with a team should be considered along with the grading of clubs into categories A, B and C with transfers allowed downward and across grades but not upwards in the grades.
Chairman Tim Murphy said he shared the sentiments of the motion but said that it would not pass due to the Medical Committee in Croke Park being opposed to it and they are a body who can’t be argued with. After the discussion, Valentia agreed to the motion’s withdrawal in exchange for the county pursuing the matter at Central Council level.
Meanwhile, Joe Crowley defeated Pat McAuliffe (John Mitchels) 150 votes to 77 for the Assistant Treasurer post while new Assistant Secretary Fionan Fitzgerald of Ballymacelligott spoke of his privilege at being the newest member of the Executive saying Kerry GAA was something sacred and a pillar of who we are.
Bernie Reen was re-appointed as Children’s Officer and asked the county to consider what it felt was the appropriate age for competitive underage games in the county and asked clubs to consider if they doing everything to ensure all underage players were getting enough games in their club.
Finally, Tim Murphy paid tribute to outgoing Kilcummin delegate Dermot Moynihan who is stepping down from the role after more than 30 years of representing his club at County Board level.