GAA hierarchy must learn to put grassroots first

IF THE leadership of the GAA takes anything from the past few days, it must be this – the old rules no longer apply. When the fixtures committee set Kildare’s ‘home’ match again Mayo for Croke Park, the backlash was ferocious. The result of the Newbridge Or Nowhere campaign was that HQ had to back down and give the fans what they wanted.

The fact they even thought their own option would in any way be acceptable is, like the MacGill Summer School debacle of inviting a disproportionately higher percentage of male speakers, further proof of just how out of touch organisers can be with the needs and wishes of those they are supposed to serve.

GAA fans have for years been treated as an afterthought by HQ. TV rights for some matches were sold to Sky, meaning fans would have to take out expensive subscriptions to watch them. There is a feeling that Sky has a substantial role not only in the scheduling and venues of the matches, but also in the creation of the Super 8s round robin, effectively making it a premier league. Where once the national clock was fixed on the first and third Sundays in September, the AllIreland hurling final now will be played in August while the football moves to the old hurling slot. Such changes should be made only if they are good, and benefit the people who walk through the turnstiles, but they don’t. Instead, the fans are asked to blindly and blithely accept whatever edicts come from Croke Park. When Kildare snapped and faced down the leadership, the support it received from all over the country was telling. The GAA is a national treasure, present in every parish, and any move to see more games played in Dublin will surely face similar resistance.

The hierarchy needs to remember that the people who must be considered first are the teams, and the army of volunteers and fans who have conferred on the GAA its special and vital role in our sporting and cultural life.