Central Council seek grants approval

CONGRESS MOTIONS:CENTRAL COUNCIL has produced a carefully drafted motion for next month's GAA Congress in order to secure final approval for the controversial player grants scheme. It is one of three motions related to the scheme, which effectively distance the GAA from any threat to their amateur status.

Congress takes place in Sligo on April 11th and 12th, and the GAA yesterday issued the full list of motions.

Inevitably, the focus of attention will be on the player grants, although the exact implications of the motion won't be clear until after next Monday's Central Council meeting, which is due to finalise the mechanism by which the grants will be distributed.

In the meantime, a Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA) hearing is still set for this Friday, where opponents of the grants, the Of One Belief group, intend to argue that Rule 11, which refers to the GAA's amateur status, is affected by the proposed grants, should be subject to a rule change at Congress, and therefore require a two-thirds majority.

The Central Council motion and the two other relevant motions submitted by the Derry county board and the Derry club Nuachongbhail don't raise the issue of a rule change, unless the GAA get directly involved, and will therefore require only a simple majority in order to be passed.

Central Council's motion proposes that Congress is "satisfied that the scheme proposed by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, to recognise the contribution of senior intercounty GAA players, and additional costs associated with enhancing team performance . . . is in accordance with Rule 11 of the Official Guide and that Congress approves the introduction and implementation of that scheme."

The Nuachongbhail motion proposes the GAA "shall not administer the payment of grants or awards to any player within the Association" while the Derry motion proposes the GAA "shall not be a party to the Government grant scheme until and unless a motion is placed before Congress to amend Rule 11 and such a motion were passed".

This scenario was predicted last week by Paraic Duffy, the GAA director general, when he indicated the question of amending Rule 11 would not arise: "The whole aim is to present a document that is in compliance with Rule 11 . . . the motion will ask Congress to support the agreement on the basis that it is in compliance with Rule 11."

The practical impact of this declaratory motion as proposed is that it won't require the weighted, two-thirds majority needed to change a rule - which would have appeared a far tougher task than a simple majority, given the enduring opposition to the scheme in some quarters.

Last month, Of One Belief submitted an initial request to the DRA to have the grants issue examined, but this was adjourned when Central Council argued that an agreement had not been reached at its meeting on December 8th.

It's a little surprising, therefore, that a second DRA hearing is set to go ahead this Friday, given Central Council have still to unveil the mechanism by which the grants are to be distributed.

Clearly the expectation now is this mechanism will not involve the GAA at any stage, including at county board level, which was the source of much of the opposition. Instead, it appears certain the grants will be distributed in the same way as other Government sporting grants, through The Irish Sports Council.

However, in another blow to those who have been advocating that the grants in no way infringe on Rule 11, former GAA president Peter Quinn has raised his concerns over the scheme: "I chaired the amateur-status committee just over 10 years ago and we came to the conclusion that changing our amateur position would be detrimental to the future of the GAA, and I still stand by that," said Quinn, speaking on RTE's Question and Answers.

"I believe this is still pay for play. Who's going to get the money? Thirty players from each county . . . That's pay for play and in my view once you break or abandon a core tenet - and amateur status was a core value within the GAA - you can never return to the status quo ante. It just isn't possible.

"On that basis I think it's going to have hugely detrimental effects in the long term. It's dividing the GAA at the moment and the motion that's going to Congress will be divisive. There's no doubt about that because some people believe that it's not the motion that should be going to Congress.

"Motions coming from Central Council with the support of the president and the ardstiúrthóir and the management committee normally get passed so I suspect we are well on the way to having money paid to GAA players."

On the player grants issue

2: That Congress is satisfied that the scheme proposed by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, to recognise the contribution of senior Intercounty GAA players, and additional costs associated with enhancing team performance, in the form presented to Congress, is in accordance with Rule 11 of the Official Guide and that Congress approves the introduction and implementation of that scheme (Central Council).

3: That the GAA shall not administer the payment of grants or awards to any player within the Association. (Nuachongbhail, Derry)

4: That Cumann Lúthchleas Gael shall not be a party to the Government Grant Scheme until and unless a motion is placed before Congress to amend Rule 11 and such a motion were passed. (Derry)

Other key motions

1: Refers to the Rules Book Task Force proposals for further change. (This is an enabling motion - the full text of changes to the various rules listed will be available in a separate booklet in the lead-up to Congress.)

13: Asks that counties be allowed derogate from the five-year rule for their provincial and Ardchomhairle delegates.

15: Prevents a Special Congress from overturning a decision of the most recent annual Congress.

20: Makes the result between the two relevant teams the deciding factor where teams finish level on points in league competition.

24: Seeks to reintroduce the football qualifier system that pertained before 2007 (ie, no teams participate exclusively in the Tommy Murphy Cup.)

25: Seeks to introduce a different hurling championship format.

27: Wants the All-Ireland hurling final moved to the third Sunday in August and the football final to the first Sunday in September.

29/30: Making helmets mandatory in hurling from January 1st, 2010.