The GAA bristles at the notion that, as an organisation, it is a slow learner and conditioned not to change easily.
Certainly, in defence of that view, weighing up the reforms and experiments in the intercounty championships, an observer would have to concede that radical new ground has been broken in the opening decades of this century.
That’s not always the case, though. News that Central Council had unanimously endorsed the application by Cork GAA to host a Munster rugby match in November came as no major surprise, given that the fiasco at the same venue four years ago over the Liam Miller testimonial had prompted all GAA grounds effectively to be made available for the playing of other sports – with the permission of Central Council.
This was essentially the position for most of the years after the restriction was introduced in 1971 but Central Council fairly quickly decided that such decisions were above its pay grade and it was left as something over which Congress could periodically squabble.
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The idea that the GAA eventually saw sense in the magnanimity of sharing its facilities slightly glosses the actual course of events. Although the majority of the pro-reform arguments in the seminal 2001 debate, which failed by a vote or two to remove the provision, were indeed altruistic and neighbourly, that side of the argument was pilloried for making money their God and selling out ‘our games’.
There are those who believe former president Seán Kelly, who presided over the eventual repeal of what was then Rule 42, may have been guilty of over-egging the pudding in terms of his role in the matter but, in his defence, there was no seamless transition from 2001 to 2005. His advocacy on the issue was unarguably important.
A year later, in 2002, a further attempt by Clare to delete the provision not alone came to nothing but 30 per cent fewer delegates voted for it and Roscommon, one of the leaders of the reform movement, had been badgered into dropping a similar motion for that year.
In 2004, a series of motions on the subject were withdrawn because, in the eyes of the motions committee, largely comprising former presidents, the proposals were out of order despite the grounds for this objection never having been raised previously.
By the time, a year later, it was finally debated and the reform carried, some of the most vehement speeches against came from the same former presidents.
That year, 2005, was effectively the last Congress that could have taken the decision were the GAA to be in a realistic position to accommodate the temporarily homeless Ireland rugby and soccer teams.
During the four years of those internationals in Croke Park, the GAA took in €37 million, which was ring-fenced for capital projects. It wasn’t just internationals, either. The 2009 Munster-Leinster European Cup semi-final was also played in the stadium with no real fuss.
Even though the context of the debate on relaxing the rule had been clearly about staging internationals, there was no stipulation that it had to be representative games and, as a result, the Irish provinces drew a then record crowd for the competition.
By the time it was all over, some were half grumbling that the cash cow had gone grazing elsewhere.
Ten years ago this month, Central Council decided to make a number of GAA venues available for the IRFU 2023 Rugby World Cup bid, which perished five years later.
By then it was clear that there was no barrier in principle to grounds being leased to other sports organisations but yet, further embarrassment awaited with the foot-dragging on the proposal to use Páirc Uí Chaoimh for a fund raiser in support of the late soccer international Liam Miller in 2018.
Although DG Tom Ryan said subsequently the decision was one the GAA “might well have taken anyway if given the chance,” he also said that the association felt “bullied” into bending its own rules.
Why has the GAA such a fondness for keeping such rules on the books? Rules that few want to see rigorously enforced. Within months, the situation had been tidied up at Congress and the rule no longer ties anyone’s hands.
It probably makes sense that Central Council have to rubber-stamp any application in case of local controversy but otherwise, such co-operation is in keeping with – and arguably necessary for – the GAA’s self-projection as being at the heart of every community.
Overwhelmingly, membership and units are open to doing business with other sports if possible and if their own fixtures permit.
Whether stadia, pitches or indoor training facilities, this makes sense, especially given current financial difficulties. Staging the Munster-South Africa rugby match earns the financially beleaguered Cork GAA some welcome income.
There may be a slight embarrassment that in the five years since the stadium was rebuilt, an actual Gaelic games fixture has yet to fill it whereas a soccer testimonial and potentially a rugby exhibition are capable of doing so but that’s a matter for the GAA themselves – Cork to improve their teams and the fixtures Croke Park choose to send to Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
There may not be a bonanza in the pipeline. Thomond Park’s lack of naming rights makes it easy to switch matches and ECC fixtures may follow but the IRFU has always made it clear up to now that any big rugby events in Dublin will be staged at the Aviva despite the extra 30,000 who could go through the turnstiles across the river.
At least such knotty considerations are on the table of other sports organisations and at long last, not exclusively the GAA’s.
e: sean.moran@irishtimes.com
