GAA Director General Paraic Duffy has reacted to criticism of the championship reform which was adopted at Annual Congress at Croke Park on Saturday.
From 2018 on, the All-Ireland finals in hurling and football will be played in August, replays won’t feature in senior Championship games apart from provincial and All-Ireland finals, and two round-robin groups will replace the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals.
All of these measures will be introduced on a a three-year experimental basis - and they have received widespread criticism from players and managers at all levels.
“What do you expect me to say?” asked a clearly exasperated Duffy. “This has been debated for six months, eight months - every club in the country... You heard it all.
“What’s my reaction? 74 per cent to 26 - that’s democracy,” he said, referencing the winning majority of the motion to introduce the Super 8 round-robin groups in place of the SFC quarter-finals..
“I didn’t like some recent results in elections home and abroad, but that’s democracy. I said in an interview on Thursday - whatever the decision was, I would accept it and I would expect other people to be the same.”
Both players’ bodies, the unrecognised Club Players’ Association (CPA) and the formally recognised Gaelic Players’ Association (GPA), came out against the introduction of the Super 8s.
The GPA’s new CEO Dermot Earley admitted his disappointment that the Championship restructures were carried, saying that Croke Park didn’t take enough time to consult with players on the ground when putting their proposals together.
“Disappointed on behalf of our players - the big issue is they felt they weren’t consulted,” he said.
“Paraic Duffy would have felt that there was a lot of consultation that took place, but there’s still a disconnect between going down and speaking to players and going and speaking to clubs.
“We actually surveyed our players, got down to each and every county panel, and they came back quite unanimously that they were against this. The so-called lower tier counties felt there was nothing in it for them.
“They might have said they consulted with everyone, but they didn’t get down and consult with the players, which is what we did. It was quite clear that 70 per cent of the players came back not in favour of this. I’m just disappointed that voice was ignored.”
“One of the arguments is that ‘we have consulted with the county boards’, but did they actually go and consult with the players? We certainly asked the players.”
After lunch there was plenty of debate on the motion to formally recognise the CPA, but it was eventually withdrawn by joint-proposers Wexford and Tipperary.
Judging the mood in the room, there’s no way this would have passed, so, according to former GAA President Nickey Brennan it was a better idea to wait for further consultations rather than send out a negative message to club players via a massive ‘no’ vote.
The other big change made at congress sees a reduction in the size of the voting majority required to change a rule - from next year it will drop from two thirds to 60 per cent.
The winds of change swept through Croke Park with All-Irelands final moved to August and extra games in the football championship pic.twitter.com/ANl4lrgVv5
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) February 25, 2017
GAA President Aogan O Fearghail used his address to congress to reiterate the GAA’s commitment to a united, 32-county Ireland. This is part of the Association’s rulebook, but it’s the first time in 15 years that a GAA President has broached the subject at congress.
“Our links to nationhood are important to the Association.” he said. “Our basic aim as an Association is embodied in Rule 1.2 of our official guide which states our aim as the ‘strengthening the National Identity in a 32 county Ireland’.
“That aim remains and all of us in the GAA aspire to a 32 county Ireland united by agreement of the people.
“If change comes to this country in the coming years we will be part of the discussion and the emerging narrative given the place we occupy in Irish society. Change in the form of a new agreed united Ireland is something we in the GAA aspire towards.”
On Saturday, Dublin’s John Horan was elected as the next GAA President and he will take over next year.
