Many issues emerged from the weekend's GAA annual congress at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin. Some of them are internal matters for the GAA but others are of public concern. The decision - by the narrowest of margins - to maintain the ban on soccer and rugby being played in Croke Park is depressing, not least for the rank-and-file membership of the association. But it is essentially the GAA's problem that its good name continues to be held to ransom by a conservative rump.
The disbursement of Government money is not, however, a private matter. Many will question the granting of £60 million to an organisation that so frequently upholds exclusion in its rules. In fairness to the GAA, its work amongst its own supporters has been socially of the greatest value and the redevelopment of Croke Park was a brave undertaking at a time when there were no plans for national stadiums on the public agenda. Subsidising this work is justifiable, particularly given the largesse recently extended to other sports.
It is the nature of this largesse which now has to be questioned. Why did the Government choose to deliver this money to the GAA at the time it did? Welcome as it was to the association, the funding was the subject of some cynical comment on the fringes of the congress. What was to stop the announcement being made after the debates on Saturday? Much of the publicity concerning the debate on Rule 42 (the provision which prevents soccer and rugby being played on GAA grounds) focused on the financial benefits to the GAA were other sports' international matches to be played at Croke Park. It stretches credulity to believe that Friday night's announcement co-incidentally fell just 12 hours before this crucial discussion. Nobody can say what impact the announcement had but, as the reform would have succeeded had a single vote changed, clearly any influence was crucial.
That the motion failed was excellent news for the Government's Stadium Ireland project. Like the FAI, the GAA has been brought (or bought) on board in return for a vague undertaking to play unspecified matches in the national stadium. It may be that Rule 42 isn't long for the world but it will remain in force for at least another year. This means that the Abbotstown project will be insulated from the debate that would inevitably have arisen had a second 80,000capacity stadium opened for business on Jones's Road. Over the coming 12 months, vital decisions will be made concerning Stadium Ireland, including the signing of some contracts. In other words the project will be sturdier and less easily reversed by the time the GAA next considers policy on the availability of Croke Park. Yet the issue is crystal clear. Rule 42 will go and it is appropriate for the future of Stadium Ireland to be considered in that context. There is no need for two large-scale venues in the State and the Government has consistently failed to furnish a plausible calendar of events that will require the use of its stadium. Decent funding for sports is welcome but it would be preferable if that funding were based on coherent policy.