HDC proposals pass first stage of acceptance

The Hurling Development Committee's proposals for a new structure to the hurling championship were presented to the GAA's Games Administration Committee on Wednesday night and are currently in the hands of the association president, Sean McCague.

It may be some days, however, before the exact details of those proposals will be disclosed to the public.

It is known that the committee have examined a number of alternatives on how to deal with Galway's concerns, an issue central to finalising the proposals over the last number of weeks.

Galway hurling officials are insisting on a guarantee of two matches, but not by playing in another provincial championship. Yet Nicky Brennan, former Kilkenny manager and chairman of the HDC, is satisfied that their proposals will meet Galway's requirements.

"I am quite happy that what we have come up with will satisfy Galway," he says. "Of course, we will have to wait and see what their response will be, but we bashed our heads together on this and looked at all the pros and cons.

"I think it's a good system and I'm confident it will get the support it needs, although the one organisation that you can never feel over-confident about is the GAA."

According to Brennan, the new format finalised by the HDC on Tuesday night stands, and the content was not altered in any way by Wednesday's meeting with the GAC.

"The Committee brought their proposals to us more as courtesy," says GAC chairman Padraig Duffy.

"We made our observations and made a few comments, and obviously we were interested in the structure of the championship from a fixtures point of view."

The next step in the process will be for the management committee to view the proposals when they next meet on Saturday week.

That same day, the GAA's Central Council will also run through the new structures. The proposals will then be ultimately decided at Congress, to be staged the first week in April.

Details of how the structure will affect the championship are expected to be disclosed in the next couple of days.

There is increasingly speculation that Galway will go into a special group of their own, possibly playing the first team beaten in Leinster, and then the first team beaten in Munster.

Whatever the structure, the proposals for reform are not intended to cure all the problems of the modern game, Brennan contends, but rather to flesh out the current and largely insubstantial format.

Meanwhile, officers of the Connacht Council will meet next Wednesday evening to discuss a proposal from the New York board to have the football championship match between New York and Roscommon on May 19th staged in New York.

The New York team have travelled to Ireland for the past number of years to participate in the Connacht championship - only to lose in the first round each time. A home game in New York would, they feel, give the game the boost it so badly needs.

In addition, it would allow New York to put out their best possible team.

In recent years, many of their top players have been unwilling to travel due to fears of being caught by emigration authorities. New York are willing to foot the bill for Roscommon by putting up $30,000 or, alternatively, paying for travel and board for a party of 35 people. "It is difficult to promote the game abroad when you are always away for the championship," says John Prenty, secretary of the Connacht Council.

"The offer is certainly very attractive and I suppose the biggest problem would be if New York did win, because then it could prove a very costly championship."

There is also the problem for new Roscommon manager John Tobin on whether or not it would suit his team to travel.

Two weeks after the trip to New York they would, presuming they win, face a challenging Connacht semi-final against either Galway or Leitrim.