On Friday night in Donegal, GAA president Jarlath Burns reminded delegates that it was the centenary of the congress that had decided to name a stand in Croke Park in memory of Tipperary footballer Mick Hogan, the only player to be killed on Bloody Sunday.
It was also the 30th anniversary of a less grave but nonetheless significant congress held in Dublin. As it was a rules year (a year ending in 5 or 0 – a restriction that came close to repeal last Saturday, narrowly failing to get the necessary 60 per cent of delegates), 1995 saw a number of motions looking to change hurling and football.
The hurling proposals are relevant in a couple of respects. Given that we saw at the weekend the quixotic campaign against abuse of the handpass by Conor O’Donovan fail but fare better than expected given the battalions lined up against him, it is interesting to see a Cork motion from 30 years ago, looking to prohibit the handpass from a player who has received one.
Cork were consistent at the weekend, as the only county to speak in favour of the Tipperary motion, which received the backing of a third of the delegates.
Most strikingly, a glance through the 1995 motions’ agenda indicates that every proposal came from a county.
This meant that if rules changes were being devised at national level, which they were, it was still necessary to find a county to act as a vehicle for the proposals.
Of the 33 motions advanced in April 1995 to amend playing rules in both football and hurling, 28 were proposed by Carlow, a task that proved overwhelming for a county delegation that hadn’t been primarily involved in their formulation.
What was significant was that Croke Park took note of the shortcomings of the system and the following years when the Hurling Development Committee came up with its raft of proposals to reform the championship, it left nothing to chance.
For the first time, even though once again a county – on this occasion, Westmeath – had to do some heavy lifting, there was a concerted effort to tour the album. Counties were visited and briefed on the ideas so that they would not be exclusively dependent on the floor of congress to do the persuading.
Considering the central idea was the historic proposal to dismantle the traditional, pure knockout format, there was a major onus to explain in a way that wouldn’t frighten the horses. It worked.
A glance at the congress clár three years later in 1999 indicates that change was on the way. At that congress, a suite of changes to the disciplinary rules was proposed en bloc by the old Games Administration Committee, whose disciplinary subcommittee had drafted them.
Gradually, units other than counties were allowed to bring motions to congress. There has been pushback against this – one year a proposal was brought to restore the exclusivity of counties in respect of putting ideas before congress. It was based on the concern that only big, central committees would have a realistic chance of getting things passed.
At the weekend, club proposals were outnumbered 15-25 by those from other, bigger units. It was noticeable that three of the most publicised motions did come from clubs but were fronted by well-known personalities. O’Donovan is a former All-Ireland winner and his campaign on the handpass has been dogged and persistent.
For all his work, it appeared that the central premise – handpassing has led to frequent throwing of the sliotar – was being swept aside too easily and unconvincingly.
The idea that the current rule should simply be more strictly enforced appears impractical in a game that referees themselves acknowledge moves so fast that they end up giving players “the benefit of the doubt” when handpassing.
There was no appetite for the change however because of a fear that it would slow down the game, so once more the GAA goes down the path of saying one thing but doing another.
O’Donovan didn’t even get the consolation prize of an offer to withdraw his motion and have it considered further – as happened with former Dublin All-Star Noel McCaffrey, father of Jack, in relation to his motion that players should have to play a minimum number of club matches before representing their county – an idea that very few would oppose in principle.
The same happened to Wexford All-Ireland winning manager Liam Griffin whose drive to require all clubs to offer juvenile hurling from under-7 to under-10 was also referred to the HDC for consideration.
One way or the other, the motions didn’t pass and it will be a surprise if they materialise with the same force on future congress agenda.
Congress is well past its use-by date as a governing forum. Pressure from the games calendar – plenty of delegates were getting ready to charge off to matches – makes for a rushed atmosphere despite Jarlath Burns’s earnest reassurance that everything would get adequate time.
Friday night’s shooting down – it was withdrawn given its slim prospects – of the motion to align the rule on kit and equipment manufacture with EU law for reasons that were of tangential relevance, reflected badly on everyone.
DG Tom Ryan accepted that the top table had maybe not explained clearly enough the need to remove the stipulation “shall be of Irish manufacture”.
Instead, the GAA’s regulatory exposure will continue until the autumn when another attempt to solve the problem will go to special congress. Such matters are ill-suited to the congress format of limited discussion and volatile enthusiasms on the floor.
Congress should be for broad policy and ethos as well as the effective briefing system of the Friday workshops. Governance issues should be capable of introduction with the imprimatur of Central Council, which after all represents every county, and the management committee.
It would be useful were congress 2025 to be remembered as a turning point in that respect.
email: sean.moran@irishtimes.com
