The Matt Treacy Column

Making the case for the honour of the village

Delegates at last weekend's Special Congress of the GAA made the case for the honour of the little rural and urban village. There was strong support for the demand that club games be bumped up the order of priorities for the association and that more room be left in the fixture list for the playing of club competitions.

At present many counties are in the situation where championships and even leagues are put on hold for months while county teams are still in national contention, which with the current structures can mean that the entire Summer and Autumn is taken out of the club calendar. For ordinary adult club players this can mean months of training with no games and the obvious consequence that many give up hurling and football for other sports.

GAA President Nicky Brennan was left in no doubt as to the anger that exists on this issue and referred to the threat by delegates of what they described as a 'revolution' by club players if the situation is not resolved. Whether the attempt to resolve it made last Saturday will in fact do so is up for debate. Theoretically more space has been created but we will have to see how it works in practice.

Interestingly some of the traditionally stronger counties, such as Cork and Kilkenny, still run their club championships in tandem with the All Ireland and with little or no effect upon their county sides. The argument from team managers, however, and one that is taken as gospel in most other counties, is that county players cannot run the risk of being injured while playing for their clubs.

In order to ensure that their clubs are not placed at a disadvantage fixtures are suspended until county players are again available even though this only directly affects at most 30 players. Opponents of this dispensation argue that club and county have co-existed in harmony for generations with serious injury in club games that keep players out of county sides a rarity.

Indeed they would contend that there is probably more of a risk of injury during modern intensive county training than there is in any club match. An argument reinforced by some high profile training injuries in recent times including that which ended the career of Dublin's Darren Homan last year.

The real nub of the issue regards whether the All Ireland senior championships are now of such over-riding importance that the basis of the association, the club, is inevitably relegated to the status of poor relation. In some counties even under age competitions have fallen victim to the obsession with national success as, whether through neglect or incompetence at county board level, clubs are expected to operate at half pace until the county team or teams' championship run comes to a halt.

The question that many club members are asking is how many potential Colm Coopers or Peter Canavans or Henry Shefflins are being lost because of this. If children in particular cannot have sufficient games in which to emulate their heroes then they will go elsewhere.

There was a time when club members were lost through more brutal means. A Wexford chap was telling me once about a famous club footballer of years gone by who was renowned for his ability to score goals and whose team was amassing considerable wealth in various tournaments that used to be played for the prize of pocket watches or a 'suit length'. Treasure indeed in the 1940s and 50s.

However, one Sunday tragedy struck when your man arrived in a neighbouring parish for a match. Crowds had come from far and near in the expectation of another feat of goal scoring but it was not to be. "The feckers, didn't they break both his legs. And sure he never played again."

As a Dub I was shocked by such brutality. "You mean they broke his legs during the match?"

"No. Someone hit him with a spade when he was getting off his bicycle."

The Special Congress also debated new structures for the hurling and football leagues and championships. Minor changes were agreed for the hurling championship but in football the eight lowest counties in Division Two next year will not be allowed into the qualifiers if they lose their first round provincial fixtures. If nothing else, that will be sure to liven up exchanges and attendances in early Spring.

Changes to the league, which will restrict the numbers in the top division of the football and hurling leagues, were to have been introduced from 2007 but have now been postponed until 2008. The postponement came about on foot of the justified objections of Louth and Dublin that having won, respectively, the Division Two football and hurling titles this year, they would be denied promotion to the top tier, which means far more than the trophy and medals they received back in April.

Dublin, along with Antrim and Down, were also among the counties who objected to the proposed new structure of the senior hurling championship which would further restrict the numbers allowed to compete. All three, particularly Dublin and Antrim would regard themselves as potential contenders in the not too distant future but realise that on current standards they would not measure up to the criteria being set by the Hurling Development Committee.

Dublin delegate, Michael O'Grady, went even further in his critique in calling for the scrapping of the current provincial system, which he claimed was only working in Munster, and the running of the championship on a league basis with home and away fixtures. There is no support for this, however, within the HDC.

The real problem of course is that unless counties such as Dublin and Antrim do actually begin to be competitive at elite level then any changes will merely be window dressing. And unfortunately it is likely that should either establish a claim to elite ranking that it will be at the expense of another 'marginal' county like Laois which would be considerably weaker at underage level than either Dublin or Antrim.