The FAI and IRFU get an unexpected, if not unique, compliment from the Kilkenny county board of the GAA in the annual report of the board's secretary, Pat Dunphy, to the annual convention next Sunday.

Referring to the National Lottery grant of £20 million to the GAA in the recent budget, Dunphy says the GAA, the FAI and the IRFU and other sporting bodies deserve to be congratulated for their vast contribution to the social life of the country. "Right across the country a lot of social problems do not arise because of the work of these people. It never fails to amaze me that every time the GAA receives funds from whatever source, they are ridiculed by uninformed journalists and members of the public who are, obviously, unaware of the enormous amount of voluntary work by members of the (Gaelic Athletic) association. "Croke Park has no apologies to make to anyone. Neither should the FAI or the IRFU, or any other sporting association, have any apologies to make to anyone if they had received the funds," Dunphy says.

He also reveals that his board receives something in the region of £100,000 from a variety of sponsors during the year and that the board still owes in the region of £200,000 following the spending of £2.5 million on the development of Nowlan Park. With the fact that the board is now handling funds of about £1 million per year, he feels that the affairs of the board "will have to be run like a business if we are to provide the level of services sought by the clubs, supporters and players." Referring to the experiment of allowing the beaten Munster and Leinster finalists back into the All hurling Ireland championship he says that Kilkenny feels it was a success. "We had the best game of the championship."

Meanwhile, the Tyrone county board is coming under pressure to set up a special committee to cope with with the worsening disciplinary problem within the county. Next Sunday's convention will debate a motion from the Carrickmore club calling for the establishment of a body charged solely with dealing with disciplinary matters.

County secretary Dominic McCaughey will also send out a clear message to those guilty of bringing violence to the GAA pitches of Tyrone. In his report to the convention, to be held in Derrytresk, McCaughey expresses the hope that many lessons have been learned from the "unsavoury experiences" of 1997, a season which saw several ugly incidents, one of which led to the abandonment of a senior championship game.

"There is an important responsibility on each and every member of the association to ensure that violence and thuggery are stamped out at all levels in our games. Discipline is needed from players and promoted by managers, and malpractice and skulduggery is not entertained amongst club officials nor officials at county level," he says.

"If we, as an association, fail to impose high standards of discipline and our players and officials suffer violent attacks, they will be left with no alternative but to seek redress elsewhere.

"To date there have been infrequent instances of successful proceedings being taken through the legal and court systems, and while there might be reservations about these processes, there is absolutely no doubt that they will become common practice in future.

"The onus is on all of us to ensure that the rules of the association are not transgressed on the playing fields and that they are fully implemented and complied with at committee level.

"Also, it is wrong that the television stations should be criticised when they do highlight indiscipline during a match. But equally, it is wrong for the television producer to repeatedly broadcast a slow-motion version of a violent incident when it is only being used as an attention-grabbing headline," he says.