Offaly county convention gives little priority to long term issues

As a Friday publication, the Offaly Independent should have been ideally positioned to fill its back pages with news stories from last Tuesday's county convention, however we must confess that we were somewhat thwarted. This was not by the county board or its officials, who were a model of efficiency in getting the show up, running, warmed down and into the shower within the time it would take to play a match and have an orange or two at half-time. Instead, there simply was nothing of note to report. Headlines would have read along the lines of "Meeting follows procedure efficiently". Very few of the executive positions were contested, and though congratulations are due to Ballyskenach's Mary Dooley, who will be the sole new face on the committee in her role as Irish/Cultural Officer, the remaining candidates didn't exactly "face the electorate" to grab a new mandate - they simply held the reins while alternative candidates failed to materialise. For those currently occupying the positions of power within the county, such a low key convention is a quite positive indicator of their performance. If governance issues were being badly handled, then it is reasonable to assume that somewhere in the county, one or two clubs would have attempted to change matters to a certain degree, or to put their own figures forward for election. Nonetheless, it is disappointing that there was not a little more by way of activity, if only because a quick look at the motions that were on the agenda confirmed that when it comes to dealing with issues, the GAA is largely reactionary. This affliction is very much a nationwide condition, as evidenced by the lethargic response to the integration of the GPA into the wider GAA community. This was very definitely a reactive step, taken in response to increased pressure from Dessie Farrell and his cohorts, and one has to wonder how much thought has gone into this move. Just to digress into this national issue for a moment, as we are at the heart of AGM season, the GPA has been granted ongoing funding and administrative costs and offices totalling €1.35 million per annum. To express this in another fashion, that is just over €40,000 per county being granted to an organisation with no guarantee being given in return regarding how this money will be spent. In an association so proud of the amateur ethos, there has been no assurance that this money will not be whittled away on salary or pension entitlements for GPA executives. More relevantly, this is an association that has, rightly in this writer's opinion, declared that it does not exist to bail out individual units. Yet when the GPA is struggling for funds, the rules appear to change. Oddly enough, despite such a monumental change to GAA policy, not one motion existed on the clár of Tuesday's meeting regarding this development. Instead the agenda was very much centred on issues close to home, with many of the motions reflecting how certain clubs had felt hard done by during the year. One club missed out on a knockout place due to a rule on ties after round robin stages, so they looked to change that rule. Another club feels that they don't get enough games fixed for their home field, so they looked for stricter rules to be imposed on other clubs that tend to be looked upon more favourably. Yet another club lost an underage final in a relatively unfamiliar venue, so they asked that all underage finals be brought closer to home, to a venue that they know much better. This type of behaviour is eminently understandable and this column is certainly not criticising any of these motions; however, the trend of clubs reacting to issues that arose during the year was apparent. Of course the flip side of this way of thinking is that little or no thought appeared to be given to issues that will affect the GAA in the future, of which there are several. While any club is clearly entitled to try to focus debate on whichever area they feel is most pressing, it is unlikely that any of the issues raised in Tuesday's meeting will be as prevalent in the coming decade as aspects such as the spectre of unemployment and the prospect of depopulation of rural parishes and thus their clubs. Another focus might be debt - a huge issue for many of the readers of this paper, and also a looming concern for many clubs. Preferential interest rates are likely to draw to a close in 2010, at a time when club patrons are likely to have a lot less disposable income, and many club sponsors continue to experience real financial difficulty. This combination of factors is bound to cause real problems in future, but because it hasn't reached crisis point yet, it didn't get aired. Alternatively in the years to come, the Revenue Commissioners may decide that income tax from paid managers is a pot of money that they need to dip into. The indication from Andy Gallagher that Tom Cribbin is acting without any recompense whatsoever is one that will no doubt earn the Offaly football manager plenty of respect, but it is an open secret that he is very much the exception, with paid club managers now extremely common. How many clubs, or indeed counties, would be prepared for the level of auditing that they would be subjected to if the Revenue commissioners chose to investigate this? What will be the GAA policy for when a club decides not to co-operate, perhaps to protect one of their own beloved sons who just took "a few bob" to compensate for missed work? Player issues are equally relevant. The level of physical fitness and strength required to play the game at every level is unprecedented - with an inherent risk that many players might turn to illegal substances in order to bring about the extra ten kilos of muscle mass that every manager seems to want. Where are the motions asking for studies to be conducted into the long term effects of modern training, or for the legal implications of player injury when training on his own time but following a guideline prepared by a manager who might not have the scientific knowledge? Where do we want to go with dual players? In a typical act of firefighting, the hurling championship for 2010 was changed in order to prevent a repeat of Tullamore's achievement of winning the championship without a single win in the group stages. However this increases the importance of the round robin stages, at a time when the football championship is to be run along the same lines. This appears to be a clear statement that dual players are not wanted, and in many clubs, those dual players are currently weighing up whether or not to continue playing both sports. Is this a direction that the GAA, in Offaly or nationally, wants to take? No-one seems to want to ask. The existing body of administrators of the GAA in Offaly are largely speaking overworked, entirely unpaid and doing this for nothing more than a love for their county and a wish to pass things on intact to the next generation. With so much on their plates at any given time, it would be incorrect to put much blame at their doorsteps for the lack of forward thinking. Change must be driven by those who passionately want it, and they in turn must step forward and put their shoulder to the wheel. Last Tuesday's convention betrayed the absence of this drive to improve, to do things better. It may not reach the headlines as much as a Leinster championship first round tie, but it could easily be argued that it's a lot more worrying than any defeat for a county team.