A row is brewing ahead of this year's GAA Annual Congress over the implementation of a rule change passed two years ago. At the 1999 congress in Dublin, a Westmeath motion to allow for the introduction of "a `round-robin' or `weaker counties' section" into the provincial championships was passed.

Some weeks later, the Rules Drafting Committee - the body charged with giving effect to the decisions of Congress - came to Central Council and secured unanimous backing for a recommendation. What escaped the attention of many delegates present was that this recommendation significantly altered the meaning of the Westmeath motion passed, by eliminating any reference to `weaker counties'.

The matter came to light at the weekend's Central Council meeting which ruled out of order a Clare appeal against a Munster Council ruling that the Rules Drafting Committee version of the provision had precedence over the original Westmeath motion.

President Sean McCague told the meeting, which was held in camera, that Central Council had considered the matter subsequent to the 1999 Congress. According to the GAA rulebook, Central Council is the "supreme governing body of the association between congresses".

As a result of this conflict, some counties are believed to be considering motions to restate the Westmeath proposal at this year's congress and insist on its unqualified implementation. A representative of one such county, who asked not to be identified, said: "The Rules Drafting Committee significantly altered the motion. It bears no resemblance to the original".

Paddy Collins, secretary of the Westmeath county board and a former chairman of the National Referees Committee, said that he had only been made aware of the controversy when reading minutes of the meeting. In relation to the fate of his county's motion he said that Westmeath had heard nothing further about the matter after congress two years ago.

"We wouldn't have been asked. The Rules Drafting Committee didn't come back to us and the new rulebook hasn't been published in the meantime. We'd be disappointed if a motion we successfully guided through congress was to be materially altered without being considered by a meeting of congress. I have been on the Rules Drafting Committee and it involves a tidying-up process. Taking out the phrase `weaker counties" changes the principle of the motion."

Meanwhile the Wexford county board has defended itself in the controversy surrounding Gary Laffan's appearance during Sunday's League defeat by Tipperary in an incorrectly numbered jersey.

Laffan came on for Michael Jacob during the match in Thurles although his name failed to appear on the programme. He was wearing the substitute's jersey allotted to Ray Keogh, with the result that Keogh was credited in all papers as having replaced the Oulart player.

County PRO Pat Murphy said that the position regarding Keogh and Laffan was made clear before the match on Sunday. "It was communicated to Liz Howard, the Tipperary PRO, and the public address in Thurles that Ray Keogh was unavailable for the game and that Gary Laffan would take his shirt."

The previous day, the county's senior footballers' fixture with Monaghan at Gorey featured two players, Jack Berry and Darragh Breen, lining out wearing incorrectly numbered jerseys and substitute Mark Gahan appeared during the game wearing a jersey without any number.

This arose because jerseys had been mislaid after the original fixture between the counties had to be postponed the previous week when the pitch in Gorey was unplayable.

Sean Kelly, chairman of the Munster Council, presented 23 Kerry clubs with a combined total of £106,000 in field development grants at a function in Castleisland last Monday night. Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney received a grant of £90,000 and £100,000 will be paid towards the development of Austin Stack Park in Tralee.