THE Club Players Association has said that a list of motions set to be added to next month’s Special Congress clár “fall far short of what is required from the leadership of the organisation.”
The Congress, which will be held on September 30, was called to deal with proposals for the reform of the Hurling Championships, although the GAA also said it was open to proposals from the Central Competitions Control Committee to make more weekends available for club games.
Whilst revealing their own fixture proposals last month, the CPA called on the GAA to discuss significant changes at the Congress and asked that three main options be examined – the ring-fencing of April as a club only month, that the club All-Ireland competitions be played in a calendar year and that December be kept as a month of downtime and rest for all players.
The seven motions that will be discussed, however, contain tweaks rather than any notable changes with the CPA’s three issues ignored.
One motion will see inter-county challenge games limited to Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday evenings after the conclusion of the National Leagues unless it is within 13 days of a Championship fixture (or within 20 days of an All-Ireland final).
Those limits could be even shorter if a separate motion is passed regarding inter-county player unavailability to clubs. It is proposed that the 13-day rule is changed to 10 days and the 20-day rule for All-Ireland finals reduced to 17.
Other motions that will be discussed will try and aid the completion of inter-county games on a single day while there’s a call for British provincial senior, intermediate and junior club champions be accommodated within the structure of the provincial club championships.
“It is the view of the CPA that the seven motions circulated fall far short of what is required from the leadership of the organisation,” said the CPA. “Leadership that repeats and uses the rhetoric of the club and the club player being at the centre of the GAA.
“There is a serious discord and disconnect between the idea and the reality in the GAA in the current era, and it is threatening the fabric of our Association.”
One of the motions set to be discussed may have an impact on the likes of the Shamrock Cup and the Conor McGurk Cup as it proposes that inter-county tournaments outside the provincial and national fixtures will now be restricted to U16 and below.
