Seán Moran: GAA eying up the butterflies as chaos theory makes a reappearance

It’s a pity that the new split season with its August and September weekends bulldozed, to allow greater space for clubs to play out their matches with decent weather and rational scheduling, has been toppled into chaos for some counties by a rule change, passed earlier this year.

Tipperary club, Burgess, brought motion 13 to Annual Congress last February to overhaul the procedures on how to separate teams level on points in county championship round robins.

It narrows the basis of scoring difference to matches between the tied teams and provides a formula to govern situations where teams have either forfeited or been awarded walkovers by using scoring averages.

Even by the standards of GAA Congress, this was unexciting stuff and didn’t provoke much debate before being overwhelmingly accepted.

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In recent weeks, however, the application of the rule has begun to create ructions with disadvantaged clubs protesting their plight. The Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA) has already been involved and is apprehensively awaiting, if not a deluge, certainly a steady trickle of similar cases.

On the face of it, the situation is not particularly complicated. The motion, which is now part of the Official Guide, is entirely discretionary and states at 6.21 (5) (c): “Except where provided for otherwise in these rules, in county bylaw or in competition regulation . . . before going on to outline its suggested protocols.

So, it is up to counties how they want to run their competitions but the battleground has moved to what exactly is in the county bylaws.

The adjudicated case concerns Gracefield in the Offaly football B championship. Under the new provisions, accepted by the county, the club came third in their group and had to contest a quarter-final against Ballycumber, which they challenged. But an application to delay the fixture until after the matter had been arbitrated was turned down.

Gracefield played the match and won, reaching the semi-finals. Under the old system, they would have finished top of the group and gone automatically to the last four. That was the claim they brought to Leinster Council, who turned it down but on application to the DRA, the GAA’s independent arbitration tribunal, the club was successful.

This was because Offaly had in the county bylaws specifically referenced the Official Guide 2022 whereas the new procedures were part of this year’s rule book. The county argued that this was meant by citing what was at the time the up-to-date version but – not unreasonably – the DRA said that this wasn’t clear.

Had the bylaws simply cited the Official Guide, they would probably have been in order.

The outcome has obliged Offaly to reschedule a different quarter-final, Clonbullogue v Ballycumber and the whole championship has been delayed by a fortnight.

Other cases are hovering on the horizon and protested ambiguity is creating major demands on voluntary officials, including the DRA, which although it has a panel of members drawn from senior administrative roles in the GAA and also practising or retired lawyers, still has to organise hearings and write up detailed decisions.

Due to the quasi-legal nature of proceedings, decisions can’t be knocked out in a hurry and the authority will be doing well to stick up a written decision on the Gracefield case on Wednesday, as planned.

In Meath a similar situation has arisen in the opposite context. A three-way split between Donaghmore-Ashbourne, Na Fianna and Curraha, all on two points, required resolution.

The county bylaws are very clear. They don’t reference the Official Guide or Rule 6.21 but provide a priority list of adjudications:

• i. Least number of games forfeited.
• ii. Points awarded from the games in which only the teams involved, (teams tied on points), have played each other.
• iii. Scoring Difference (subtracting the total scores against from total scores for).
• iv. Highest total score for.

In this case, Curraha were clearly ranked third and Na Fianna were unlucky enough to run foul – eventually – of iv. Accordingly, Donaghmore-Ashbourne progressed to the quarter-finals.

It was nonetheless a clear enough process. Very surprisingly, Leinster Council took a different view and although it didn’t comply with Na Fianna’s application to be advanced to the quarter-final, they ordered a playoff between themselves and Donaghmore-Ashbourne. Meath is now challenging this at the Central Appeals Committee (CAC) later this week.

Surely it would be astonishing were CAC – and likely beyond, the DRA – not to side with the officials in this case.

All of this may appear – to put it charitably – a bit impenetrable but it has real consequences for championships and county administrations. There are further challenges in the pipeline in other counties and provincial councils will be busy.

Light at the end of the tunnel is provided by the imminence in many counties of the knock-out stages at which point rules on separating teams with the same number of points will become irrelevant. Until then, there are frustrations ahead for those trying to run off their championships.

It has even been suggested that Burgess’s means of dealing with forfeits can lead to situations where teams can advantage themselves by conceding walkovers and improving their scoring average.

The DRA has served an important function over the past 17 years. It has provided stability in the enforcement of the rule book. The old Wild West interpretation of how to get around outcomes that didn’t suit – throw a few coins into the fruit machine and see what comes up – has been for the overwhelming part successfully debunked and chancing your arm no longer brings sustainable prospects of success.

Deterrent continues to be necessary in an organisation where a player unsuccessfully challenged (seriously) a red card on the basis that the referee’s report undermined his GDPR rights.

Vigilance is still imperative when a butterfly flaps its wings in February the tremors are felt in September.

sean.moran@irishtimes.com