GAA confident on GPA backing

Croke Park officials are confident that GAA plans to officially recognise the GPA will be backed by the vast majority of their grass root officials.

The decision to give the GPA official status is being resisted by some delegates in Cork, where the county board has scheduled a special meeting to discuss the development.

Cork County Board chairman Jerry O'Sullivan said: 'At Tuesday night's county board meeting, the decision was to refer the matter back to the clubs for their view.

'The decision of that meeting was to reconvene on Thursday, December 3 next when delegates will vote as they were instructed by their clubs on whether Cork will support the agreement or not.

'The outcome of that meeting will then be conveyed to our Central Council delegate, Bob Honohan, who will vote in accordance with the board's wishes.'

However, despite the reticence in Cork, GAA operations manager Fergal McGill in confident the GAA will encounter little opposition in granting the GPA official status.

'The feedback we have been getting is pretty positive,' McGill told the Irish Examiner.

'People have concerns and counties are calling for clarification and assurances which, in fact, the GPA has already given us.

'The more people who read the document the better as far as we are concerned. The full debate about this won't really be until Congress next April but we would hate people to give us the go-ahead because the president has asked them or to reject it because the GPA are involved. We want clubs to make up their own minds.'