[This year’s annual GAA congress, officially opened last night at The Venue convention centre in Derry, will consider an imposing motions list when delegates convene at nine o’clock this morning.
Whereas the early motions on changes to the hurling championship and making available GAA grounds to support an Irish bid for the Rugby World Cup in 2023 or 2027, are expected to pass without too much contention the battle lines are drawn for the proposals of the Football Review Committee.
The mood music for the reform package has not been encouraging this week. Already a variety of counties, including Donegal, Tyrone, Tipperary and Cork have registered their opposition to many of the proposals but specifically the black card sanction, which would force the immediate replacement of a player guilty of certain fouls, deemed cynical, for the rest of the match.
With the burden of requiring a two-thirds majority, the reforms will not survive the opposing delegate count rising much above 100.
Eugene McGee, chair of the FRC, wasn’t however conceding anything last night.
“We’re not dead in the water yet. There was a lot of talk during the week about all the counties that have said ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Eighteen have said ‘yes’. But that is not the point. There is the guts of a 100 votes that aren’t attached to either camp. There are foreign boards, Central Council, Management Committee, former presidents and various miscellaneous people.
“What happens on Friday night or a Saturday morning can have a big role in all of that. Above all the debate is crucial. We are confident that we can present a very strong case. We are putting on two speakers, Paul Earley and Tim Healy.We are prepared to fight to the death because we believe in what we are doing. We have spent 12 months at this. We all do it for the good of football . . . We are hoping that the majority will say that the FRC are trying to make football even better than it is at the minute.”
Asked whether he thought it possible that some delegations might change their minds, he replied that there could be a shift in individual votes.
“I know there is mandates for counties in the GAA but some individual people will have some strong personal views. That could work both ways. I know five or six people myself, and I know they are going to vote for it. They are going to vote out of a matter of principle.
“Of course, there will be people who will vote in the opposite direction. There are some counties who have not really voiced a strong view and they will be influenced by the debate. The debate is crucial.”
Congress was also addressed by former Derry footballer and RTÉ analyst Joe Brolly on the subject of his campaign for legislation to make organ donation an opt-out rather than opt-in process.
Brolly, who donated a kidney to friend and club-mate Shane Finnegan last year, was thanked for his words by the president, Liam O'Neill, who pledged the association's support to the campaign.
