Theradical GAA initiative to split Dublin in two is to be discussed by the city's clubs over the coming days. The most contentious aspect of Sunday's report by the Strategic Review Committee has far-reaching implications for the county, now regarded by the GAA hierarchy as an ailing powerhouse in need of urgent attention. Keith Duggan reports

The Dublin County Board has remained impassive since its members were given details of the report on Sunday morning. "We will wait until the clubs have met and thoroughly examined the issue and decided upon it and we will act upon the club consensus," said Dublin chairman John Bailey yesterday.

In a newspaper interview last Friday, Bailey expressed personal reservations about the notion of dividing the county in two. However, at that point, it was not known that such a division - which the report recommended implementing immediately at minor level - would be the main thrust of the review.

Although committee chairman Peter Quinn believed that the immediate reaction of the Dublin members has been conciliatory and positive, sources close to the Dublin board yesterday revealed that the initial feedback had been one of overwhelming negativity towards the idea and annoyance at the apparent haste with which it is being pushed through.

Yesterday, club members gave their first reactions to the proposed split, which would see the GAA invest #4 million per annum to Dublin north and Dublin south to ensure that both communities thrived as association strongholds.

"The club officials will meet this week to discuss it, but my own opinion would be that while the logic behind the idea is sound, it may be the wrong time to implement it," said Charlie O'Reilly, chairman of northside club Na Fianna, the dominant city club of recent years. "Dublin football has been, relatively speaking, in the doldrums of late and I am not sure that a split of this magnitude would help because it would take a long time to settle."

The north of the Liffey clubs have traditionally provided the well from which Dublin's past All-Ireland successes were founded. Na Fianna has a membership of 600 juveniles and 500 adults and fields 46 teams. It is located in an area of dense GAA activity and it is debatable whether the association could be better served than it already is.

"I don't think the emergence of a new club would be particularly beneficial to the GAA. For a start, it is quite difficult to obtain land and I think that the community is well served as it stands," says O'Reilly.

The southside situation is different, with fewer clubs serving larger catchment areas. In 1989, Thomas Davis inspired something of a southside revolution, and a number of clubs gained prominence in recent years, most notably Kilmacud Crokes.

"We are still studying the idea. It's not something that deserves a knee-jerk reaction," offered its chairman, Liam O'Flaherty.

The practicalities of drawing a line through a county - in this case physically served by the river Liffey - would be regarded as madness in every county except Dublin. Population is at the core of the issue, with the present number of 1.4 million expected to reach 2 million over the next three decades.

But GAA tradition in Dublin is exceptionally strong. How will potential inter-county players react to the split?

"Well, players will play. That's always the rule," says Dublin selector Dave Billings, who has had a life-long involvement with the city game at all levels. "Getting selected is the prime consideration for players, above team and everything. After that, they will give other matters consideration."

However, veteran Dublin forward Dessie Farrell yesterday declared that a split would simply exacerbate the problems that dog the urban game.

"If they are worried about player participation within the city, well it seems to me that the only way to improve that is to ensure that the county team is doing well," he says.

While Billings, like many involved in Dublin GAA, recognises that the association's influence on the population is not as it might be, he believes there are alternative solutions.

"My own feeling is that the issue could be addressed in a different way. I think it is a pity that certain areas of the city that are under-nourished in terms of GAA have not been singled out for financial and personnel investment. For instance, Ballyfermot is an area that had good potential as a GAA stronghold, but isn't putting out teams as it once did. You have pockets in the city that are strong and I think one way forward would be to try and develop the other areas."

Billings' club is St Vincent's, giants of the 1970s scene but now struggling in the contemporary environment. As Billings points out, the "parish rule" doesn't apply in Dublin, so although he now lives in Clontarf, he retains his involvement with his old club. The majority of city clubs are dependent on that type of loyalty.

Vincent's is synonymous with the famous Dublin teams of the Kevin Heffernan era and city GAA fans still heavily identify with that time. It remains to be seen if they would warm to the idea of confining their support to an annex of the county.

"It would be very strange," agrees Charlie O'Reilly. "There are many dimensions to this, a lot to be considered and it is going to provoke a lot of strong opinion."