Captaincy vote on a knife-edge

Poll suggests motion to change captaincy will be divisive

NEXT Monday’s vote on whether to change the method of selecting the Kerry senior football and hurling team captains is going to be extremely tight, according to a poll conducted by The Kerryman this week.

Beaufort GAA club will table a motion at Monday’s monthly County Committee meeting proposing ‘that the captain of the Kerry senior hurling and football teams shall be selected by the team management in consultation with the chairman of the Kerry County Committee. This motion if passed is to be applied from 2021 onward’.

The Kerryman polled 36 clubs on Tuesday - over half of the county’s clubs who will vote on the motion - with the simple question as to whether or not they intend to support Beaufort’s motion.

Our survey, conducted under the promise of anonymity, found that there is an almost fifty-fifty split on the issue.

Of the 17 clubs who said they would support the motion to change the system, about three-quarters were very strong in their support for change, with about a quarter saying they would vote in favour of the motion, but that there wasn’t universal support within their club.

Another 17 respondents said they would be opposing the motion and voting to retain the status quo, while two club spokespersons said they weren’t mandated by their club, and would decide closer to the vote.

Incidentally, this vote was to take place last Monday night, but the county committee meeting was postponed as a mark of respect to the late Gerald Whyte, former secretary and vice-chairman of Kerry GAA.

The view of one respondent was: “Why change it now after all these years? There have been so many changes in football, especially with the rules. Maybe sometimes it’s better to keep things as they are.”

Another said: “The bottom line is that the manager should know best who the best captain will be. If I was the manager of a team I would like to have the power to pick my captain.”

A two-thirds majority is required to carry the motion. The County Committee executive is expected to supported the motion in block, but it remains to be seen if Beaufort will secure the necessary 67% to affect change and hand the decision to the team management from 2021 onwards.

Photo by Sportsfile Kerry captain David Clifford leaves the pitch following a tussle at the final whistle - and just after kicking the equalising point from a free - of Saturday’s Allianz Football League Division 1 Round 1 match against Dublin at Croke Park.