Rule 42 set to surface again at Congress

At least two motions to amend Rule 42 and open Croke Park to other sports are expected to come before the GAA Congress in Belfast on April 11-12th. The full details of the motions will be announced in Croke Park later today, but motions from Clare and Roscommon are known to address the issue.

One motion, proposed by the Milltown Malbay club, was passed at the Clare convention last December and calls once again for central council to be given the power to decide on the possibility of Croke Park being opened up to other sports.

A similar motion failed to be passed at the last two congresses.

A different motion, proposed by the Kilmore club in Roscommon, calls for every club in the country to have their say on the issue by having a vote in a nationwide referendum. That motion in turn would see the issue debated at Congress in 2004.

Other motions will address the decline in both club and hurling participation in certain areas of the country. A motion from the Thomas Davis club in Dublin is aimed at developing a greater outlet for club football and hurling teams beyond the county boundaries.

The basis of the motion is that the All-Ireland club championship in football and hurling would be extended from the 32 winning county clubs to a field of 128 teams, which would see a new qualifier series that would allow beaten semi-finalists and finalists re-entry through a back-door system.

Under the proposal the county and provincial club championships would be played as normal. An All-Ireland quarter-final round would take place between the four provincial champions on one side of the draw, and four teams who have come through the back-door.

It is envisaged that the new qualifier series would begin around September, comprised initially of teams beaten in their county semi-final, and later those beaten in the final. Clubs eliminated from the provincial championships would also join the qualifier system.

Another motion, submitted by the Ennistymon club in Clare, is expected to call for the establishment of two organisations within the GAA to organise hurling and football separately.

The basis for that motion was the perceived lack of a cohesive plan for both football and hurling in many counties, and the belief that separate organisations would improve the status of both codes, particularly hurling, on a national basis.