CONGRESS MOTIONS:FIVE SEPARATE motions have made it to the clár of next month's GAA Congress calling for Croke Park to be made available to other sports on a permanent basis. These would appear to reflect a widespread mood to make permanent the current rule whereby Croke Park is available to other sports during the period of the Lansdowne Road reconstruction, which of course is now due for completion this summer.

The five motions – from Westmeath, Meath, Kerry, Roscommon, Clare – are all clearly referenced to Croke Park, as opposed to any further GAA grounds, and they are also all similarly worded in that they give the permanent power to Central Council, without further reference to Congress, to make the decision to use Croke Park for other sports, as the need arises, or as requested from other sporting organisations.

The motion, if one or all are actually voted on, will still require the two-thirds majority to alter the current rule, as agreed at Congress in 2005, which altered Rule 42 to hand power to Central Council on a temporary basis (that was passed 227 in favour of the motion, to 97 against; 11 votes more than the required two-thirds majority).

The relevant rule now is in fact Rule 44, which refers to the control of all association property.

There were a number of other similar motions on the matter from other countries, including Waterford, although these failed to make onto the clár, in most cases because of the wording of the motion.

“Each of the motions are seeking to open Croke Park, not so much on temporary grounds, but on qualified grounds,” explained GAA operations manager Feargal McGill. “In other words if or when there is a request or particular need to use Croke Park for other sports. From day one I suppose the only fear was that Croke Park would be used as a promotional tool for other sports, but it would certainly seem the mood is still there to keep it open if the need arises.

“It’s also well understood that over the next 10 years the majority of the Six Nations rugby and the soccer internationals will be played in the new Aviva Stadium. So if Croke Park is to be used, it will be on a very limited basis, say a once-off international friendly which would draw a particularly large crowd. But it will keep the option open, although I would be amazed really if Croke Park was used for soccer or rugby more than once or twice over those 10 years.”

In the meantime Croke Park are looking at the potential of staging other sporting events, including an athletics meeting, although these wouldn’t necessarily require the amendment of the rule: “The key part of the rule really was that there’s nothing contrary to the goals and objections of the association,” added McGill. “Most other sports don’t fall under that anyway, such as athletics, or say American football.”

The full list of motions to be voted on at Congress in Down on April 16th-17th will be announced next week, but another motion that has made it to the clár and will also generate some high-profile debate is from Dublin, concerning the “second chance” for provincial champions if they lose at the quarter-final stage of the football championship.

The motion was unanimously passed at the Dublin annual convention in December, and is based on the proposal that the four provincial winners would play-off against each other in two quarter-finals, with the winners advancing to the last four of the championship. The two losers would then play-off with two teams from the All-Ireland qualifiers in the two remaining quarter-finals, for the remaining two semi-final spots.

This would effectively add another round of qualifiers; under present structures, provincial winners exit the championship if they are knocked out at the quarter-final stage, but the Dublin motion would afford them the second chance on the basis that provincial champions are often vulnerable due to the time lapse between provincial finals and the quarter-finals. It would mean some teams play two quarter-finals; an initial clash against a provincial champion and if they lose that, a game against a team from the qualifiers.

The two provincial winners who advance to the semi-finals still face a possible championship exit after just one defeat, but the idea is they will at least have benefited from a high-quality quarter-final against another provincial champion.

No excuses left, in other words.

Meanwhile, the GAA have announced the special ticket price offer for the AIB All-Ireland club finals on St Patrick’s Day has been extended until midnight on March 16th. Tickets for children cost € 5, while adult tickets are priced at €15 – which represents a 40 per cent discount on the standard admission price.

Galway’s Portumna take on Ballyhale of Kilkenny in the hurling final (2pm), with Clare’s Kilmurry- Ibrickane taking on St Galls of Antrim in the football.

Tickets are available from www.gaa.ie, ticketmaster outlets nationwide, Dublin Tourism Suffolk Street, Elverys Store O’Connell Street, Centra Dame Street.