It's that time of year again, where the powers that be in the GAA propose changes to the rule book, review the year just gone and usher in a new president.
I have a vague idea of GAA Congress works, but it’s a year since the last one, give me a little refresher.
The GAA Congress is the supreme legislative body of the association, so the annual get together is primarily concerned with changes to the rule book.
There is also a review of the year just gone, while a new president is ushered in.
How many rule changes are we likely to see in 2023?
We’ll have to see how the votes play out, but 62 motions have been proposed across a number of categories. All but two of them will require a 60% majority to pass, while two require 50% to pass:
Motion 11 – where every GAA club will be compelled to field at least one hurling team at U-7, U-8, U-9 and U-10 levels, and
Motion 35 - that which oversees the realignment of the rule book between rules and policies / principles
Back up a second. Every club must have an underage hurling team? Hard to see that in some parts of the country. Would it even be enforced?
The motion is the baby of Wexford’s 1996 All-Ireland winning manager Liam Griffin, whose belief is that every child in the country should be afforded the opportunity at a young age to play hurling, something he says is not in place because not enough clubs have hurling sections.
Griffin has said he is not forcing hurling on clubs, but rather giving every the opportunity to experience the game.
"How many Seán Óg Ó hAilpíns are out there that could be coached to play the game?" he asked. "Any of us interested in the game owe this to hurling to support it."
Exceptions are provided for, such as if demographics could prove a club was not capable of fielding a hurling team at those age levels, or if a club that is exclusively football can demonstrate that its members in that age bracket are afforded hurling at an exclusive hurling or dual club.
Fines, should the rule come into effect, would be viewed as a deterrent, with a €250 fine for a club that fails to introduces hurling into its nurseries in the first year and doubling each year after that.
An interesting proposal. What else should I be keeping an eye on?
Well staying with Wexford, they have proposed sterner sanctions for assaults on match officials. They want 96-week suspensions – up from the current 48 weeks - for any player or management official found guilty, with 192-week suspensions for repeat offenders.
Given some high-profile cases over the last 12 months, it is expected to gather support.
Disciplinary issues feature strongly in the motions. Any other motion to note regarding sanctions?
Motion 45 is one that sticks out, a proposal that any team official that is involved with a juvenile team, any time suspension would be doubled.
What’s this I have heard about the 'Evan Comerford rule’?
The Dublin goalkeeper may not have been the first person who took to shaking the posts in an effort to put off a free-taker, but he’s certainly the most high profile.
His creative means of attempting to put off Sean O’Shea for his iconic match-winning point in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final failed to have the desired effect from a Dublin perspective, but motion 58 has been proposed by the Standing Committee on Playing Rules to ensure there will be consequences.
If a player misses a free or sideline and an opposition player has been adjudged to have "interfered" with the posts, the kick can be retaken.
If the referee deems that a score was prevented in open play by interference with the goal posts, he/she can award the score.
The whole ‘Kerry can’t play in the Munster championship even if they win Joe McDonagh’ was always a strange one. Is there going to be any change to that?
Indeed it has been a topic of bemusement for many within the game. Kerry have been beaten in the last three Joe McDonagh Cup finals, but their path to progress from the second tier, even had they won, was far from straightforward.
At different stages the Kingdom would have had to beat the fifth placed team in Munster had they won the competition in order to earn promotion or else, bizarrely, enter the Leinster Championship.
Late last year the Munster Council confirmed their intention to invite Kerry to compete in the Munster championship should they finally win the Joe McDonagh Cup.
That motion is expected to be a sure thing, even by GAA Congress standards, meaning that they would compete in the 2023 Munster SHC if they make it a fourth time lucky in the Joe McDonagh. In that scenario, Leinster would then be reduced to five teams.
Larry McCarthy's presidential term will come to an end. Who will step into his shoes?
There are three runners and riders.
Former Armagh captain Jarlath Burns has served on a number of national committees and is currently the Orchard County's Ulster Council delegate. He finished as runner up to Larry McCarthy in 2020.
Niall Eskrine from Killybegs has been chairman of the World GAA committee since 2017 and is bidding, like Burns, to be the the third Ulsterman to take up the post since the turn of the century.
The final candidate is Coolderry’s Pat Teehan, who has just completed his three-year term as Leinster chairman.
Anything else to feed my Congress fix?
There’s a lot of ‘nut and bolts’ stuff that will be addressed.
Some of it may not jump off the page, but nonetheless are important in the overall running of the sport.
Motions around redesignating age grades, insurance details, the appointment of a chief medical officer across all Gaelic games bodies, the increase use of technology for ease of meetings – motion 34 is essentially the fact that a committee doesn’t need to hold a meeting to hold a meeting - the workings of disciplinary hearings and length of suspensions will all go to votes.
A couple of other motions show some anomalies within the game.
Motion 31 is an attempt to bring suspensions in football and hurling in line. Currently in hurling, suspensions take into account all competitions – including early season action such as the Walsh Cup and Munster Hurling League – and is over a period of two years, while in football, only league and championship is considered and it is all within the calendar year.
In other words, a hatchet man in football operated in a far more forgiving environment than his small ball counterpart.
The smart sliotar is in. Anything further that?
Only the fact that motion 37 will make it mandatory to use the new ball. Dissent will be included for a player refusing to use the smart sliotar.
Is that it?
More or less. Some of the motions are very much house-keeping, but Motion 57 would certainly be noticeable to spectators and TV viewers.
This one has been proposed to bring a little more order to hurling throw-in at the start of the match and second half. Currently, only four players are allowed within the two 65s when the referee throws in, while the proposal would have the rest of the players outside the 45m line.
