Officials under no illusion that process of integration will be a long road

On one level, congress was singing off the one hymn sheet on the Gaelic Players’ Association motion to add urgency to the GAA’s pursuit of integration with the women’s Gaelic games associations.

All contributors to the debate were in favour and the key concepts of equality and respect were emphasised. Yet after the customary wait for the electronic voting devices to compute, it emerged that 10 per cent of congress had voted against: still an overwhelming margin but GAA president Larry McCarthy was asked had he been surprised by the level of opposition?

“No, I can’t say I was surprised. There would be a lot of people against it to a certain extent in terms of logistics but we’re going to drive on. We have been talking about it for awhile. I said it’s part and parcel of the strategic plan; it’s one of the pillars of that.

“I’m committed to it obviously in terms of moving it on. It will not be easy, as everybody has alluded to and I think the biggest challenge for us may be the middle tiers, the county boards and the provincial councils, how do we get those together but let’s see where it goes.”

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One of his predecessors, Liam O’Neill, had in his contribution said that attempts during his term of office to initiate exploratory discussions on amalgamation had been rebuffed by the women’s football organisation. McCarthy said that he hadn’t encountered any such problems.

“No, that’s not my experience. There is a process going on here, little bits and pieces. Our taking over the commercial activities of the Camogie Association is one.”

Maria Kinsella, co-chair of the GPA, also reacted afterwards to the vote, welcoming it as a sign of progress and looking to the upcoming congresses of camogie and women's football where the issue will also be discussed.

“This is a conversation that has been going on for nearly 20 years and there have been various attempts to bring everyone under the one umbrella, but I never really got that sense of urgency from the GAA before and that is new.

“The GAA is only one of three parties in this; they have a commitment from the Camogie Association as of yesterday and eyes turn to the LGFA motion at their congress next weekend. And from there the path becomes a lot clearer and the timeline can be decided by the three associations then.”

The timeline will be a fairly extensive or cautious one, judging by views on all sides.

“You have to be,” according to McCarthy. “It’s massive. Corporate entities can come together relatively quickly but you have three different cultural associations coming together.

“It’s going to take time and it’s not going to happen as quickly as people will want it to happen. It’s going to be a slower process and I don’t think they anticipate or know the complexity of it.”

Tom Parsons, chief executive of the GPA, accepted that he had previously spoken of a 10-year window before full practical and regulatory integration could be achieved, but equally that a lot of progress could happen in the meantime.

“Unfortunately we are in the realm of influencing national governing bodies and today has been hugely positive in that. What we need immediately is a joint commitment statement and that is something we would like to see in 2022 and that in the respective congresses next year there is a motion that speaks to integration and significant work being done.

“Players want to see significant equality achieved in 12, 18, 24 months so that it is within the players’ career. Even looking at five or 10 years, too many playing careers are ended by then.”