All media banned from G.A.A. Board meetings
Link established in 1885 is severed
THE PRACTICE of inviting all members of the media to report on G.A.A. County Board meetings has been ended by the new Management committee.
Co. Secretary Margaret Doyle issued a ‘communications protocol’ document on January 9 which outlines a change in the policy adopted by the Board since the earliest days of the Association in the county.
In fact, it breaks a historical link between the G.A.A. and the local media stretching back to October 23, 1885, when a meeting for the purpose of forming a County Board was held at 2 Rowe Street, Wexford, chaired by Edward Walsh who was editor of this newspaper at the time.
The Wexford Board, reputed to be one of the first in the country, and perhaps the actual first, was duly formed on November 21, 1885, with Walsh as Chairman, a position he held until 1889.
Another prominent ‘People’ employee who contributed in large measure to the establishment of the G.A.A. locally was Walter Hanrahan, County Board Secretary from 1892 to 1895 and again in 1899 and 1900, who went on to serve as Leinster Council Secretary from 1900 to 1916. The trophy for the provincial Minor hurling championship is named in his memory.
In more recent years Seán Nolan was the first P.R.O. of the County Board and served from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s, while current Group Sports Editor Alan Aherne was Assistant Secretary from 1996 to 2000, and P.R.O. from 2001 to 2006.
The commitment of People Newspapers to the promotion of G.A.A. was underlined further with its decision to sponsor Coiste na nOg Loch Garman in 2012, and that backing has been extended until 2020.
Instead of all media outlets being entitled to have a representative at County Board meetings, the document issued by the Secretary stated that ‘Wexford GAA will issue a bulletin as soon as possible after every Management and County Board meeting, as follows:
1. To every Club, via email (by the Co. Sec)
2. To local media sports editors, via email (by the PRO)
3. To the wider world, via social media (by the PRO)
The document continued: ‘This bulletin will set out the key issues discussed at these meetings, subject to normal confidentiality requirements.
‘The main components of each bulletin will be discussed by the Management Committee at the end of each meeting; there will be 100% clarity on what scope exists for individual members to comment publicly on these components.
‘To encourage strongest possible engagement by Clubs at County Board meetings, the meetings will not typically be open to media attendance. However, local media may be invited by the PRO to attend on occasion (for instance, when championship draws are being made).
‘The County Board encourages a strong and open dialogue with the Clubs and seeks regular attendance by all Clubs.
‘A thorough record of attendance at County Board meetings will be kept and will be published on an annual basis.
The document claimed that ‘this approach is consistent with that in most other counties’, adding that ‘it will allow Club delegates to speak freely at Co. Board meetings without fear of public misquotation and will encourage greater interaction with Clubs’.
It added that ‘the Co. Board is taking a proactive approach to getting information out in a timely and consistent fashion’, before concluding with the comment that ‘personalised reporting has, in the past, caused great distress to GAA volunteers and their families; media will be reminded to focus on the issues rather than the individuals involved as all are volunteers giving of their time to strengthen Wexford GAA’.
The first meeting of the County Board for 2017 will take place tonight (Tuesday, January 31).