This is about rights of clubs, insists CPA chief
THE days of county delegates deciding of their own volition on how to vote at GAA Congress will end if a move by the Club Players’ Association (CPA) is successful.
And there will also be accountability, with ballots traced back to each delegate, unlike the current system where the hand-held voting device guarantees anonymity.
That means that even if a county board mandates its delegates on how to vote, individuals can ignore the instruction without any fear of a comeback.
The CPA hope to bring no fewer than eight motions to Congress next February, with traceability of voting and the manner in which delegates are mandated as two top priorities.
The CPA want it written into rule that votes can be traced back to individuals so that counties will know if their delegates acted according to mandate.
They are also seeking the introduction of a rule whereby all Congress motions must be forwarded to clubs for consideration, rather than to only to county boards. Having considered the motions, clubs would notify county boards of their decisions. That, in turn, would decide on the stance taken by delegations.
Effectively, every county would be fully mandated, allowing for no deviation irrespective what how a debate proceeded.
“It is not helpful to the GAA as an association that there is innuendo out there that officials are influenced to vote contrary to their mandated position. This motion will put that malicious rumour to bed,” said CPA chairman Micheál Briody.
The CPA cannot bring motions to Congress so they are using clubs to begin the process on the upcoming county convention circuit.
“This is all about democracy and the rights of clubs to have their voices heard. We’re repeatedly told that if a club wants to change something, it can go about it by proposing a motion. We’re testing how real that is,” said Briody.
Apart from the motions on voting traceability and mandating mechanisms, the CPA are also seeking to have rules introduced on club fixture management, representation at county and provincial conventions and Congress, fixture appeals processes, guaranteeing four successive weekends in April-May without inter-county training or games and the completion of the All-Ireland football and hurling championships, up to the semi-final stages, by the second Sunday in July.
No appeal against the date of a fixture is currently allowed but the CPA believe that there are occasions when that’s wholly inappropriate.
“We’re not talking about a flimsy reason for appealing a fixture but there are occasions where games are fixed in a way that causes a club genuine difficulty. As things stand, they can’t appeal that, which isn’t fair,” said Briody.
The CPA are also anxious to guarantee by rule the month of April for club activity. The schedule from next year on leaves it free of intercounty games but there are fears that managers may attempt to use it as an extended training period, denying clubs of the top players.
“We want it in rule that clubs will have all their players for at least four successive weekends. Nobody is left in any doubt once something is written into rule,” said Briody.