The Cork senior footballers have confirmed their support for the hurling players in their dispute with the county board over the appointment of manager Gerald McCarthy and have announced they too will strike “unless a resolution is found” is to the satisfaction of both panels.
In a statement released late this evening, the football panel said they are in "unanimous agreement" to withdraw services after the National Football League "unless a resolution is found to the satisfaction of the 2008 hurling and football panels".
It continued: “We believe that Mr Kieran Mulvey’s arbitration findings were an ideal template for the executive and the players to begin working together for the benefit of the GAA in Cork and to help repair relations that have been damaged in the past.
“Unfortunately, we believe that it is evident that the executive would rather work against the Cork hurling panel of 2008 rather than work with them and we are fearful that Cork hurlers and footballers of the future will be put in the same position.
“We do not believe that the executive have acted with the best interest of Cork GAA at heart with their recent actions, whereby the spirit of the arbitration was not adhered to in the selection process.
“We support the plea of the hurlers that a process, by which the clubs discuss and debate the issue, in an appropriate time-frame, would begin as soon as possible. We would urge all Cork GAA followers to actively and urgently engage with their clubs so their views can be reflected at club and county level.”
Earlier this evening, the board released a statement in which it outlined its version of the selection process that led to the appointment of McCarthy.
It claimed the normal process for selecting a manager was followed and that it included two players’ representatives, as outlined in Mulvey’s arbitration after the dispute between the panel and board last year.
It added that it also gave McCarthy to remit to choose his own backroom team, as was stipulated by Mulvey, and contended that it was the players that had rowed back on their promise not to strike if these two conditions were adhered to.
The statement, which was released with a timeline of events since the county convention in December last year, added: "It is most disappointing that we are again faced with a controversy and dispute when the procedures followed have been in accordance with not alone precedent but the decisions of the arbitrator.
The board describes McCarthy as "a man who has given over 40 years of outstanding service to this association as a player, club administrator and team manager", and says its regret that he "should have to suffer undue criticism in public".
Meanwhile McCarthy’s first selection for this year’s National League was released tonight, featuring 15 players who haven’t before played at this level. It includes nine of the starters from the previous competitive outing, last month’s Munster Cup defeat by Waterford IT, who were beaten in the first round of the Fitzgibbon Cup yesterday by the University of Limerick.
In other team news Tipperary, who play Cork tomorrow week to launch the floodlights in Semple Stadium, have named their first league selection for the weekend’s trip to take on All-Ireland finalists Waterford in Walsh Park.
Patrick Maher makes his NHL debut at centre forward for the holders, who lost the recent Munster Cup final to Clare.
CORK (NHL v Dublin): A Kennedy; E Clancy, C Murphy, C O’Sullivan; E Keane, R Ryan, C Leahy; B Johnson, G O’Connor; T Óg Murphy, A Ryan, D Crowley; A Mannix, M Collins, E Cronin. Subs: C Cronin, A Kearney; J Moran, G O’Driscoll, T Murphy, R O’Driscoll, P Lynch, C O’Leary, C McCarthy.
TIPPERARY (NHL v Waterford): B Cummins; C O’Brien, D Fanning, P Curran; B Dunne, C O’Mahony, D Fitzgerald; S Maher, T Stapleton; P Kerwick, P Maher, J Woodlock; P Kelly, J O’Brien, W Ryan.
DERRY (NHL v Mayo): D McDermott; R McCloskey, C Quinn, S McNicholl; P Sweeney, L Hinphey, S McCullagh; S Henry, K Hinphey; M Craig, B Dodds, P McCloskey; M aKirkpatrick, R Convery, O McCloskey.
Statement Issued by Cork County Board
It is regrettable that there has been serious misrepresentation of the sequence of events in relation to the appointment of Gerald McCarthy as Cork senior hurling manager for this and next season.
We outline below the county committee’s position on these events. We realise it is quite detailed but we hope it will be some assistance.
In brief, the county committee is satisfied that it adhered fully to the terms of the Mulvey arbitration of last year including two players being on the 2008 appointments committees and the managers appointed having the right to pick their own selectors.
Further, the process leading to the appointment of Gerald McCarthy was similar to that which led to the appointment of the Cork senior football manager, Conor Counihan.
The hurling appointment committee, had five meetings over a three week period. At the first of these it was decided unanimously that Gerald McCarthy would be asked if he was interested in being reappointed as manager.
At the behest of the appointment committee, three officers of the county committee met with Gerald McCarthy and he indicated that he was positively interested in being reappointed.
His interest in being reappointed was conveyed to the second meeting of the appointment committee and was well received by the players’ representatives present.
It was only at the third meeting, when a motion to recommend the reappointment of Gerald McCarthy was proposed and seconded, that a suggestion of opposition to him first arose.
It should be stated that the meetings had been quite constructive. The players put forward an expansive plan for a management and backroom team (involving 22 Roles). The members of the county committee on the appointment committee indicated that they were prepared to support the plan in principle, subject to the approval of the team manager. They offered to have the plan presented by the members of the county committee executive to Gerald McCarthy, or for the players to do that themselves.
The players required that a process should involve the selection of five people, including Gerald McCarthy, to be interviewed and to be asked to put forward a “management package”.
The members of the county committee on the appointment committee were not favourable to this and were of the opinion that the process that had been operated on several occasions in the past and notably in the more recent appointments of the football manager should be followed. This involved the committee determining who first was to be offered the position, and if that man accepted, then this was the end of the process. If he did not accept, then the appointment committee would consider and determine the next person in line to be offered the post.
The proposal of having Interviews would inevitably lead to qualified people then (or in the future) not allowing their names to go forward in such a process, as happened in the past when the entire county board voted on appointments.
Additionally, it was pointed out that the appointment committee did not have a function in asking prospective managers what ‘management package’ they would bring forward and for the appointment committee to evaluate a ‘package’. It was for the manager to select his selectors and backroom team and put them forward for ratification. It was on this very principle that the players had gone on strike earlier in 2008 – a principle conceded by the county committee in respect of appointments to be made in 2008, based on the arbitrator’s report.
At the fifth Meeting, the motion to recommend the appointment of Gerald McCarthy was taken. Although the names of other people had been mentioned briefly at a previous Meeting, no other candidate was proposed, although the chairman invited other proposals. Gerald McCarthy received five votes. The players’ representatives did not vote and left the Meeting.
The hurling appointment committee recommended the appointment of Gerald McCarthy to the county committee meeting of 21st October. At this meeting the issue of the players’ opposition to Gerald Mc McCarthy’s appointment was raised and discussed. The county committee appointed Gerald McCarthy as manager by 88 votes to 6.
The process of appointments had been decided upon by the county committee on 16th September. The appointments (hurling and football) were made on 21st October ie. five weeks later, a fact which contradicts the suggestion that the process was rushed.
It is most disappointing that we are again faced with a controversy and dispute when the procedures followed have been in accordance with not alone precedent but the decisions of the arbitrator.
One of the decisions of the binding arbitration reads:
“The players agree not to invoke any “strike” process in future where it is clear that the terms of this Arbitration Memorandum have been adhered to.”
This decision is clearly not being adhered to by the players involved.
It is most regrettable that Gerald McCarthy, a man who has given over 40 years of outstanding service to this association as a player, club administrator and team manager, should have to suffer undue criticism in public.
In the weeks after the appointment decision being made, officers made a number of unsuccessful efforts to have talks to resolve the impasse.
The appointed team manager also wrote a conciliatory letter to each player individually but he received a negative collective response.
The county convention on the 13th December decided that a mediation process be established consisting of two players, two from team management and two members of the county committee executive, under an independent chairman, to be appointed by the county committee president.
Attached you will find a statement made by Diarmuid O Suilleabhain, cathaoirleach, to the county committee meeting on 27th January, in which he sets out the sequence of events since county convention, which confirm the county committees bona fides in the matter and its efforts to meet in every respect the wishes of the county convention.
The officers and the team management have been open to discussions at all times and were willing to enter talks under Mr Kelleher with an understanding that there would be no votes involved at any point in the mediation process that would put the player representatives at a disadvantage.
The failure of the 2008 panel of players to engage in any serious attempt to resolve the current impasse is one of the most disappointing aspects of the dispute. They rejected the efforts of the independent Chairman, Olann Kelleher, to try to achieve a solution and also indicated that they would not meet under any independent chairman.
On Tuesday 27th January, the central council of our association offered to assist to try to break the impasse. The central council required that this process remain confidential.
Efforts were made to try to find a solution but without success. The officers deeply regret the failure of this latest genuine initiative to bring this dispute to an amicable conclusion.
At its meeting on 27th January, the county committee emphatically rejected unfair criticism of the committee and its members contained in the statement issued by the players at a recent press conference.
We trust that the above fully clarifies the county committee’s position.
Gearóid Ó Laighin,
PRO Cork County Board GAA
Statement on behalf of the Cork Senior Football Panel 2008
We have been monitoring the current conflict between the Cork senior hurling panel 2008 and the executive of the Cork county board for a number of months. We feel it is now time to clarify our position, which is that we fully support the stance taken by the 2008 hurling panel.
We confirm our unanimous agreement to withdraw our services as of the end of the National Football League unless a resolution is found to the satisfaction of the 2008 hurling and football panels.
We believe that Mr Kieran Mulvey’s arbitration findings were an ideal template for the executive and the players to begin working together for the benefit of the GAA in Cork and to help repair relations that have been damaged in the past.
Unfortunately, we believe that it is evident that the executive would rather work against the Cork hurling panel of 2008 rather than work with them and we are fearful that Cork hurlers and footballers of the future will be put in the same position.
We do not believe that the executive have acted with the best interest of Cork GAA at heart with their recent actions, whereby the spirit of the arbitration was not adhered to in the selection process.
We support the plea of the hurlers that a process, by which the clubs discuss and debate the issue, in an appropriate time-frame, would begin as soon as possible. We would urge all Cork GAA followers to actively and urgently engage with their clubs so their views can be reflected at club and county level.