'Closed season' high on agenda

CROKE PARK has ruled out any late amendment to the motion addressing the controversial winter training ban at this weekend’s Congress – despite an apparent anomaly in how it would be imposed.

Congress gets underway tomorrow evening at the Heritage Hotel in Killenard, Co Laois, with the meeting of Central Council, before the actual 2012 motions are debated on Saturday – along with the formal induction of incoming GAA president Liam O’Neill, himself a native of Laois.

In the absence of any major policy changes, two motions addressing the senior intercounty winter training ban – or the so-called “closed season” of November and December – are certain to be hotly debated, given the evidently widespread dissatisfaction about how it affects different counties in different ways.

The first motion (27), from Central Council, calls for the training ban to be “phased”, allowing intercounty teams to return to training based on their date of exit from the championship, and the second motion (74), from Laois, calls for the rule on the training ban to be delegated, thereby allowing intercounty teams to return to training whenever they want.

What Central Council is proposing is that counties who exit the All-Ireland championships in June be allowed to begin training on November 15th; those eliminated in July could resume on December 1st; those beaten in August would have to wait until December 8th; and All-Ireland finalists couldn’t return until December 29th.

Some concerns have been raised about the implications of that, as a team that was beaten in the championship on June 30th could return to training two weeks earlier than a team beaten on July 1st, even though they could effectively be exiting at the same stage of the championship, namely an All-Ireland qualifier, depending on when it was actually scheduled.

Croke Park, however, are happy to let the motion stand as is, claiming it would ultimately make little difference: “In fairness, if you look at recent years the vast majority of football qualifiers are played on the same day, and the same with hurling,” said GAA communications manager Alan Milton. “So really there is very little difference.”

The Laois motion, which effectively allows counties to decide for themselves when to resume training, might well prove the more attractive – although often the more extreme motions fail to get the necessary two-thirds majority: “The Laois motion is up to them,” added Milton, “and I suppose it depends on how the debate goes. Sometimes what you see is a county reviewing their motion, and whether to withdraw it or not, depending on the way the debate is going.”

Many counties have already debated the motions ahead of Congress, with Cork voting on a number of them at their county board meeting earlier this week: the apparent anomaly in the Central Council motion was raised, although Cork secretary Frank Murphy said the motion would be passed or rejected as it was, and that changes at Congress would not be entertained – and ultimately the motion was carried.

GAA director general Páraic Duffy addressed the matter in his annual report for Congress, expressing concern over “the lack of support for a policy that is rooted in player-welfare considerations” – and saying: “If this Congress leaves the “closed season” in place, there will then be an onus on Central Council to adopt a proactive stance and to take whatever steps are necessary to enforce the rule.

“Of course, outrage will be expressed against any kind of vigilance with regard to observance of the rule, but this would be preferable to the present situation where an unspoken agreement to ignore the rule reflects badly on the Association. We have a clear choice: abolish the “closed season”, or enforce the rule that governs it.”

Meanwhile, there are some motions up for debate which address the very structure of Congress itself, the scale and wide brief of which has been questioned in recent years.

Motion number 20, also from Central Council, proposes that Croke Park be the venue for Congress from 2014, and this was also carried by Cork, although they rejected the motion seeking to limit the number of delegates that counties can have at Congress to four, claiming that larger counties should have larger representation.

Congress 2012: Selected motions

Motions 17 and 20: Proposals made on foot of the Congress Review Committee Report to hold congress each year before March 1st (in keeping with the GAA's new financial year, now ending in October rather than December) and unless in exceptional circumstances, to hold it in Croke Park. (Central Council)

Motion 21: That Rule 3.37 as it relates to the Constitution of Congress, be amended by replacing the two sentences reading "It shall consist of the outgoing Council ........... ten delegates" with "It shall consist of the outgoing Council (voting rights as on the Council), the past Presidents, four delegates from the Counties that are represented on the Central Council (it shall include the Chairperson and County Secretary, when available) and two delegates from each Overseas Unit which is not represented on Central Council. Rule affected – Rule 3.12(a) Delegates (Central Council)

Motion 22: That Rule 3.37 Congress – be amended in the final line to read: "Provincial Secretaries and Chairpersons of National Committees shall be entitled to attend and speak, but shall not have voting rights. The President, at his discretion, may invite other visitors to Congress to speak." (Central Council)

Motion 26: The All-Ireland quarter-finals to be played over not more than two consecutive weekends and to be completed by the second weekend in August. (Central Council)

Motion 27: That Rule 6.44 Closed Period/Collective Training be amended as follows: "Senior Inter-County panels may return to training for a following year on a timetable determined by their time of exit from the All-Ireland Championships in a current year as follows: Exit June; Commence Training November 15th; Exit July; Commence Training December 1st;

Exit August; Commence Training December 8th; Exit September; Commence Training December 29th; There shall be a mandatory closed period for games and collective training of all Senior Inter County panels from December 21st to 28th inclusive. The months of November and December shall be closed months for games and collective training for all other Inter County panels. (Central Council)

Motion 67: Proposing open draw for All-Ireland under-21 hurling championship with four groups of four counties, and top teams qualifying for semi-finals. (Galway)

Motion 68: Allowing the defeated Munster and Leinster finalists to re-enter the under-21 hurling championship. (Monageer-Glenbrien, Wexford)

Motion 74: That Rule 6.44 T.O. 2011 be deleted from GAA Official Guide. (Portarlington, Laois)