‘This is not the solution’

AGB GAA Club brought forward the opening motion that was heard at County Convention in Aughrim. The motion stated: ‘To amend bye-law number eight to read: No more than five players in football in each grade may be regraded in any one year. The rest of the bye-law to remain as is’.

“This motion is one that we put in last year and was debated strongly and turned down. It’s something that we fell we have to bring forward again,” said AGB’s John Murphy.

“Again, as a club, with the championship now as groupings rather than knock-out we fell that there is a lot more players being used up in four or five matches. So, we feel with injuries and different things and bringing certain players up, maybe getting a few minutes at whatever level it is, that you be given the opportunity to bring these chaps back down to play at whatever level they really are capable at playing at.

As I say, most times any club are only bringing these chaps up when they’re struck with injuries and different things and, as I say, circumstances last year we had a player who didn’t play any football last year because, unfortunately, we could only bring three players down, and he wasn’t one of them.

“I’d just like to put it out there for debate and see what happens,” he said.

Coolkenno’s Stephen Donoghue said that there was combination of young and old players who could be accommodated by this new motion.

“Sometimes with smaller clubs you have a situation where you have a few lads injured and a fellow might go up who maybe gets a game to fill in a gap, mightn’t be good enough for the rest of the championship. You also have the older lads coming down, who played maybe in June, moved away or something, came back and missed most of the year but because they might have played championship in June, they’re not good enough to play the following year and then they’re in a situation where they didn’t get regraded and couldn’t come back down.

“I know this motion was defeated, I think by one vote here last year, and I know the biggest fear with single team clubs is that clubs are regrading some of the good players back down, I know in our case it lads at the end of their career or young lads, I would ask them teams just to think about it for maybe this year, let the motion through this year and if it didn’t go well for them, they could put in a motion to have it over-turned and bring it back to three,” he added.

The Coolkenno man highlighted the difficulties his club experienced in the Division 4 Southeast where several teams couldn’t field due to lack of numbers.

Seamus Kelly from Baltinglass inquired if the motion should be bye-law 10 instead of motion 8. County Chairman asked delegates to accept the amendment to change the motion to bye-law 10. This was agreed upon.

Kilmacanogue’s Jason Doyle spoke against the motion and said that this had become a regular debate at Convention year in, year out.

“We have appeal to management every year to look at solutions. We spoke to a club who put forward the motion last year and the response we got was that they weren’t interested, they didn’t want to talk to us about the solution.

“I accept the sentiment of the last two speakers about lads wanting to play football. That’s not the reality on the ground. Looking at the results of Junior championships over the last 10 years will tell you a completely different story.

“and, if we look at hurling as an example, the suggestion here tonight is that if we were to try this out for one year, we all know that it would take a two-thirds majority to over-turn it next year, this would never be undone. The same way it will never be undone in hurling in the motion that follows this one, the Kilcoole motion, that will never be undone, just watch that motion.

“I urge Junior clubs not to take the chance on this. A small club to me is a club with one team, that’s what it is to me. If you look at the attendance of some of the smaller clubs here over the last year, some of these clubs are nearly redundant, their attendance at County Board meetings, their struggling, and what we’re looking to do here isw to allow five regrades. If any of these clubs meet two Senior teams at the start of their league campaign, that’s their league year over. So, we talk about inclusion but is just inclusion for some, for some clubs. As far as I’m concerned, we, as clubs, along with county management have decimated hurling in the county through the five regrades. And we see now, where Senior players, not only were we not satisfied with the five regrades, but now they can play right up the quarter-final of the Junior championship. In my opinion, you have to be fair to each and every club in the county.

“I would urge the incoming county management to look at solutions. This is nonsense. Back and forward every year, arguing this, and we don’t want to be doing this. We’re not anti-big club or anything. There’s a lot of talk about moving the county forward and our development officer says that what happens in clubs develops better counties. We agree with that absolutely. But he could give the smaller clubs a chance. The CCC went to Leinster Council against two Junior clubs (Kilmacanogue and Enniskerry). We would urge all clubs to not try this for one year. It will never be undone. This is not the solution,” he added.

Jackie Napier said that he wanted to correct what Jason Doyle had said.

“Senior hurlers cannot play up to the quarter-final of the Senior hurling championship.

“Players at that are regraded Senior can play and players that have not played in the previous or current year’s championship can play. But Senior players cannot play”.

The motion was put to the floor and the result was 68 for, 55 against. The motion didn’t get the two-thirds majority and was lost.