OFF-the field instances of counties standing up to the GAA in recent weeks will prove “healthy” for the association going forward, says Roscommon boss Kevin McStay.
Indeed, the Rossies started the ball rolling last month by digging in his heels over the venue for their Connacht final clash with Galway.
They were entitled to home advantage but the Connacht Council indicated that Dr Hyde Park, with a capacity restricted to 18,000 and work still needed at the venue, was unsuitable for the decider.
McStay, however, was adamant that Roscommon would not forfeit home advantage and the final – which Roscommon lost – was staged at Dr Hyde Park.
Last week saw the ‘Newbridge or Nowhere’ saga that surrounded Kildare’s Qualifier clash with Mayo, while Donegal most recently took the GAA to task over Dublin playing two Super 8 games in Croke Park.
“I think the last two weeks has been healthy for the GAA, I really do,” said McStay, whose Roscommon side take on Armagh in a crucial round four Qualifier in Portlaoise today.
“A mistake was made, the temperature wasn’t gauged correctly. Kildare did what they did and fair play to them. We did what we did and Donegal now are attempting to get some clarification as I understand it.
“A lot of this goes back to Congress where the debate is not rigorous enough, where delegates are not engaged in the business at hand.
“There had been a great sense that a lot of us – and I include myself – sometimes we think we’re not members of the GAA. Or certainly that the people up in Croke Park are members of a different organisation and we blame each other for all sorts of things.
“But what people forget is our wants on the ground when it comes to playing matches, or when I’m the manager my focus on the day of the big match is very often at odds with the focus of the event controller.
“You know, we want to be warming up on the pitch - no, they want to have a band on it. There’s always competing requirements and it’s always best that communication is seen to be the order of the day.”
And with that, McStay says, must come the end of the days when big decisions affecting several parties were taken behind closed doors at Croke Park.
“If you talk about these thing in advance and tease them out, there’s always the best chance that you’ll come to a good conclusion,” added the former RTE pundit.
“I think the GAA have learned it’s no longer okay just to have a meeting in a room and say ‘well it’s this or nothing else and if you don’t like it, you can lump it’.
“That type of an approach, that’s gone. If we’re all part of the one association, we all have to be part of the solution to these issues.
“I think we’ll look back on it and say, you know what, it was a bit sore, a few egos got a bit of a walloping, but it was a good thing to happen.”
