Meath give emphatic no to Meath's proposals

Meath have overwhelmingly rejected the Football Development Committee's (FDC) proposals for a revamped football championship.

The decision - by 61 votes to 17 - is the heaviest defeat for the plans to date and came at the end of a specially-convened meeting in Navan which went late into the night on Monday.

The FDC presentation was made to the relevant Meath representatives by Irish International Rules manager Colm O'Rourke accompanied by Tyrone football joint-manager Art McRory and former Dublin football manager Dr Pat O'Neill. But according to Meath PRO Brendan Cummins, the outcome was far from unexpected.

"O'Rourke has his ear well to the ground in his native county," he said. "And he has known for a while now that there hasn't been the best of vibes going around."

One delegate, Colum Cromwell, a former Meath chairman, described the plan as a "recipe for disaster" suggesting that the fifth team in a group could fail to qualify for the closing stages of the championship while the 10th team in the same section could still be in contention. "It would be similar to the third team in the English Premiership not qualifying for Europe while the side sixth in the table qualified because they were the top London team," he said.

This could happen in the Leinster-Munster section for instance if five Leinster teams filled the top five places while two Munster counties finished last and second last.

Almost all the county delegates were concerned about the amount of questions that remain unanswered despite the thorough presentation by the FDC members. "There were also concerns that hurling needs were not taken into account at all," added Cummins. "And for a county like Meath with a number of dual players, that probably wasn't good enough."

In addition, there were a number of reservations about the subtle alterations adopted into the FDC plans since they were first presented to the Gaelic world early last November. For a start, it appears that average admission prices have been increased from those suggested in the original plans.

There have also been changes to the proposed dates with league stages of the championship now due to start in February rather than in March as originally suggested.

The main basis for the rejection, however, was once again the implications for the current club structure. With such a large number of clubs in Meath, their voice was particularly strong and many of them felt that adopting the FDC plans would be "committing suicide".

Some clubs expressed the fear that the inter-county series would most probably become the major preference for a number of players. It was also felt that there would be a number of meaningless matches.

On paper, this result may not be any more significant than the other counties yet to cast their vote but when the current All-Ireland football champions come down so heavily against the proposals, it certainly doesn't bode well for the FDC's prospects. Either way, the remaining counties are expected to come out with some sort of decision in the next couple of weeks before the issue is ultimately addressed at the GAA Congress in Galway on April 14-15th.

At the moment, it seems that the FDC proposals may well go down to the wire. So far, 12 counties have voted and the outcome is evenly split. Kerry, Clare, Down, Cavan, Wexford and Limerick have all voted to support the changes while Meath's decision puts them alongside Cork, Derry, Tipperary, Wicklow and Galway.

Laois also had a county meeting on Monday night but voted to defer their decision when it was felt that a small number of clubs didn't have enough information on how the new proposals would affect the under-21 and minor football championships.

Thursday week has been set as the provisional date for their final vote but there were strong indications that most clubs will vote against the proposals.

There are other signs that the odds seem to be building up against the FDC plans. Donegal, for example, will vote on April 3rd but already the county chairman John McConnell has said he is against the proposals.