GAELIC GAMES: THE FUTURE of hurling won't be secured by the continuous tweaking of the championship, but rather the continuous promotion of hurling in new areas, according to Liam O'Neill, the chairman of the GAA's National Games Development Committee.

That, says O’Neill, is the starting point of Saturday’s National Hurling Development Forum in Croke Park.

It’s the latest effort to put a long-term hurling strategy in place, but O’Neill believes the focus needs to move away from the senior championship structure, and look instead at hurling structures across the country.

It is hoped the outcomes of Saturday’s forum will support the development of a National Hurling Development Strategy, under the leadership of the National Games Development Committee. “Plenty of people have been deliberating about the state of hurling, except those who should be deliberating about it,” says O’Neill.

“And that’s the people involved in hurling across all levels. Saturday’s forum will include county officers and coaches, club and schools referees, and managers and players, from club and county. All the people concerned about where hurling is going.

“We want to see if there’s anybody out there with a view that we haven’t heard before, and is worth listening to. But we’re not asking people to identify the problems. We know the problems. We want people to start identifying the solutions, which we can implement. And that takes a huge effort from a lot of people. That’s what this Saturday is all about.”

Last month, GAA president Christy Cooney met with county board chairmen and secretaries to consider fresh proposals for the senior championship structure, and the main finding there was there shouldn’t be any automatic relegation from the Liam MacCarthy Cup in future years.

The winners of the Christy Ring Cup (tier two) would be promoted, potentially increasing the numbers competing for the MacCarthy each year – although the GAA believe this would be self-regulating as counties not strong enough to compete at top level would opt to return to the Ring Cup. This proposal is expected to be put into motion form ahead of Congress next April.

O’Neill believes the matter of national hurling development is a separate issue: “In many ways it’s a more serious issue,” he adds, “and that’s why Saturday is so important. There are people out there who have views about where hurling should go, but haven’t had the forum in which to express them. This is really about the broader hurling issue, and not just the tweaking of the senior championship. You can tweak the championship as much as you like, but that doesn’t address the real hurling issues, club as well as county.

“There’s a whole other hurling world out there. The netherworld, say, of nine or so counties, that make up the bottom half of the Nickey Rackard (tier three) and Lory Meagher (tier four) Cup. If we looked at developing hurling to a level where those counties could give meaningful expression to the people who want to play hurling we should be looking at a cross-provincial structure. We have managed to break the barrier in the MacCarthy Cup, but we’re finding it more difficult to break it where it really matters.

“I know we can never have a 32-county championship. But, we can expand the McCarthy Cup. It’s easier to play around with football, because everyone feels they’re in with some sort of a chance.

“We need to expand the thinking of hurling, and a long-term view, beyond the people who just hold offices. No single person could affect the sort of change required if hurling is to prosper in this country.”

The hurling championship has been tweaked on an almost annual basis. In October, a Special Congress was staged to increase the McCarthy Cup contestants from 12 to 13, following the row which erupted when an attempt was made to relegate one from Antrim, Wexford, Clare and Offaly last July – as Carlow were promoted following their win in the Christy Ring Cup.

O’Neill is confident that Saturday’s event will be the first step in providing a brighter hurling forum for all counties, weak or strong: “We’re having four workshops. We’ll set the agenda for three of them, but the fourth will be a free discussion. It’s not just a one-day exercise in hearing people. We’ll then collate the suggestions, and decide what we can implement.”