O'Neill lays out aims for the future

NEW GAA president Liam O’Neill took office on Saturday during the first annual congress of the association held in his native Laois. In his inaugural speech he outlined his three main areas of concern: the games, finance and infrastructure and the importance of recruiting new members.

As someone with a serious track record in the area of discipline, as chair of the committee that devised the experimental rules of three years ago, O’Neill unsurprisingly focused on those matters at the weekend and said that the establishment of a new working group is on his agenda.

“Central to the playing of games and promotion of games is the specific area of refereeing and discipline. A number of years ago we initiated an in-depth review of the playing infraction penalty system and how we might devise and test a new penalty system with a view to improving discipline on the field and making our games more pleasurable to play and entertaining to watch.

“It has been suggested to me that our games could now benefit from revisiting our system of penalties. I am considering establishing a new working group to take a fresh look at this and modify the original proposals to take into account good suggestions which have been advanced recently.”

He also undertook to establish a refereeing recruitment drive and to look at simplifying playing rules on fouls. O’Neill also promised zero tolerance for violence and criticised the association at large for an inability to accept discipline.

“Let me state clearly that, as far as I am concerned, there is no acceptable level of violence. Indiscipline and violence cannot be accepted and will not be tolerated. It’s not enough however to say it. Our rules and sanctions need to reflect just that and we need to rigidly apply those sanctions.

“Unfortunately a significant percentage of our units and players have yet to learn to accept fair punishment, which after all is decided by their peers and is applied solely in the spirit of our agreed rules and for the greater good of our games.”

O’Neill also offered to place the administrative resources of Croke Park at the disposal of clubs struggling in the recession.

“Finance, in these uncertain economic times, is an area of huge concern. I want all of our units to tell us what help they need with finance. Do you need help in budgeting? Do you need help with fundraising ideas and methods? Do you need help in the management of our accounts? If help is needed, help will be provided. Our new finance committee will act as a resource for counties, not just identifying difficulties but also suggesting solutions.”

He also prioritised the recruitment of new members and the training of officers and said the association could learn from its overseas units. “We will also, in relation to recruitment and expansion, engage with the GAA overseas: to learn from them and to ask questions of them. For example: how do they expand and recruit in places where the GAA has never been before?

“I want us to be open enough to learn from them and bring their experiences acquired abroad back home. I want us then to bring our organisational abilities at home to bear on those experiences with a view to expanding this organisation so that everybody has a chance to be aware of, and participate in, our Gaelic games.”

O’Neill’s predecessor Christy Cooney took his final bow at the congress and reflected on his three years in office during his valedictory address. He mentioned the amalgamation with the Gaelic Players’ Association in 2010 as an initiative that had “left us on a stronger footing as a single national unit”.

Cooney also talked about the amateur status issue and the fallout from January’s discussion document by director general Pádraic Duffy and warned that the preferred option of more rigorously enforcing the rule would be exercised. “Our counties came back reaffirming their desire to have the amateur status as it currently exists upheld and we are moving to ensure that this happens . . . a compliance structure will put in place in the coming months.”

He also recalled the visit to Croke Park last May by the Queen, saying that the “occasion shone a global light on the GAA and on Croke Park in particular”.