The GAA's management committee is to consider a recommendation that the Railway Cups be abolished. After considering its growing fixture list, the Games Administration Committee made the proposal, according to GAC chairman Padraig Duffy.

"We made the recommendation before the end of last year in relation to fixtures. Having looked at the whole fixture list, with 29 extra championship matches in football and more in hurling next year, we decided we had to make provision somewhere in the year.

"So we said that the Oireachtas, the All-Ireland B football and the Railway Cups should be discontinued.

"This was the view from the GAC. Management haven't responded yet, but they will consider it soon. In the absence of any indication, we decided not to include the Railway Cups in the schedule for 2001.

"But if Management say, `sorry, you have to run it' then obviously you have to run it." The proposal is not unexpected as the competitions have been in steady decline since their heyday in the 1950s.

For decades the finals were held on St Patrick's Day in Croke Park, a staging now successfully taken over by the All-Ireland club finals.

Over the last 20 years, the Railway Cups have wandered around different venues and dates without finding a satisfactory home. Other contributory factors in this decline include the institution of the All Stars and the sporadic representative recognition afforded by the International Rules series.

Ironically, the current management committee includes two of the Railway Cups' most fervent advocates, Donegal's Brian McEniff and Noel Walsh from Clare. McEniff is the most successful manager in the competitions' history, having coached Ulster to 10 of the last 18 football titles.

McEniff is confident that the competitions will be retained. "I think GAC were more saying that there wasn't room in the calendar and that they weren't including it this year. It may come up on the agenda at the next meeting on Friday. I don't think it will be scrapped.

"People will say that I'm not thinking about it from the administrator's point of view, but I've had 20 years of involvement at all levels of the county board and I am aware of the problems involved in drawing up fixtures."

One of the potentially decisive influences on the matter will be the report of Jarlath Burns' players' committee which has conducted a survey in recent months to ascertain the views of players.

The results, not yet completed and collated, will not be released until they have been submitted to management. At present, however, indications are that players who have so far responded are overwhelmingly in favour of retaining the competitions.

During the frequent debates on the Railway Cups over the past 20 years, it has always been believed that players are firmly in favour of retention.

Duffy isn't entirely convinced. "I think if you ask players, they'll say they're in favour of it," he says. "But at the same time I don't believe you'll find it's a priority for them. The competitions have completely lost popular appeal.

"I was down at the Railway Cup in Kilkenny last year. Kilkenny backboned the Leinster team and both sides made an effort to get full teams out. But 700 turned out." With the football competition's customary calendar slot of recent years (end of January, beginning of February) not taken up, it's hard to see where it would feature.

McEniff believes that it should be played when players are fit, maybe at the end of autumn now that the National Football League is likely to switch to a calendar year.

One proposal before the GAA is that the competitions be played in Kinsale this year as part of the celebrations to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the battle of Kinsale.

At the weekend the GAA is to host a meeting in Croke Park between inter-county managers, administrators and referees.

The idea is to encourage dialogue between the various interests in the games in respect of matters like fixtures and discipline. It has been organised by the GAC and the National Referees Committee.