Intercounty age grades proposal defeated at GAA Central Council meeting

At Saturday’s GAA Central Council meeting in Croke Park, a proposal that the intercounty age grades be set at under-17 and under-19 was defeated. Produced by the Age Grades taskforce, which was appointed to look into grades at both county and intercounty level, it was before the meeting seeking support for the proposal to be brought to February’s annual congress.

The matter will still be debated, as a number of counties are believed to be planning their own motions, some of which are expected to call for minor championships to be restored to under-18. Of the concerns expressed at the meeting, among the most prominent was the gap between under-19 and senior.

This year’s congress backed the under-17 and under-19 proposal but the 56 per cent in favour was short of the required 60 per cent weighted majority.

It is considered questionable whether a reversion to under-18 has a better chance of securing the necessary majority.

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The suite of proposals advanced by the association’s disciplinary committees were approved for submission to congress in February. These were initiated in response to concerns about the targeting of match officials and other outbreaks of disorder during controversial club matches this autumn.

Included is increasing the top suspension from two to five years and the doubling of penalties for team officials at underage matches.

A couple of the proposals prompted reservations: the doubling of suspensions when a proposed penalty is challenged unless the grounds are considered by the hearings committee “not frivolous or vexatious and not solely based on procedural or technical arguments” and the penalising of club chairs and secretaries if a team official breaches the terms of a suspension.

None of the proposals went to a vote, with Central Council happy to allow the necessary rule changes be proposed and deliberated on at congress.

On the wider issue of age grades within counties, the taskforce report recommended an a la carte approach as a solution to the disagreements over the relative merits of under-13, -15 and -17 and under-14, -16 and -18, leaving the choice up to each county.

They can go with the status quo and have under-17 as their oldest grade, as is favoured by Galway, or they can raise the minor age to under-18, as Kildare did this year. In both cases all such players would be decoupled from senior involvement.

The third option was the most controversial, allowing counties to adopt the 14-16-18 structure but also allowing the final age grade to participate at adult level with certain safeguards.

These are quite stringent in terms of when the 18s can be used – with at least 60 hours between underage and adult matches – and also in the requirement for a waiver to be signed acknowledging the dangers of burnout.

The meeting heard reservations about the proposed safeguards. The point was made that 48 hours would be a more easily managed interval and that whereas parents or guardians would sign waivers for players who haven’t yet turned 18, those who have can sign for themselves.

There won’t be a final decision taken on these proposals until next month’s Central Council meeting on January 28th.

Among other matters under consideration, the new charter agreement between the GAA and the Gaelic Players’ Association was agreed after queries were raised about carpooling incentives had been raised.

Applications for counties to stage challenge matches in December were decisively rejected.