“DIVISIVE and mean-spirited.” Is that Congress itself, John Costello, or just the Donegal pleas that fell on deaf ears in Wexford?
The Tír Chonaill county’s reward for winning last year’s Ulster title was to play their first Super 8s game on neutral ground that just so happens to be in Dublin and to have hosted every Dublin home game for almost a decade.
Their motion to Congress on Saturday essentially put two options in front of the delegates that flocked from counties, provinces and overseas. It was a straight choice between the integrity of the GAA’s flagship competition, and the financial consequences of taking a home game off Dublin.
64 per cent voted against taking the Dubs out of Croke Park.
Wexford delegate Tony Dempsey said: “We oppose the motion for a couple of reasons. At a very basic level we've talked about a loss of income and attendance. Croke Park adds to both because of the facility it is.”
Wexford are, of course, one of the band of counties included in the ongoing East Leinster Coaching Project, which has seen significant amounts of money ploughed into a host of Dublin’s neighbours in a bid to repeat the success in the capital.
They, like so many of the counties that opposed Donegal’s motion, could only have had finance in mind. Given their current plight on the pitch, Wexford aren’t likely to see the Super 8s any time soon.
Given that the Leinster counties for so many years voted to do the same in the provincial championship, putting the extra income above the competitiveness and load-sharing of the games themselves, it’s hardly a great surprise.
But it was one of a handful of votes from the weekend that, as seems to be the way each year now, casts doubt on the suitability of Congress as the GAA’s decision-making body.
For instance, we’d love to be able to tell you exactly which counties voted against the motion but when a motion was put forward last year to bring transparency to the voting process, 83 per cent of delegates voted against it.
Turkeys don’t hand the farmer the shotgun, you suppose.
All that does is remove accountability, really. Many of the delegates travelled to Wexford with no mandate. And even if they had one, there’d be no way of knowing if they abided by it.
The clubs have become disaffected by the process. Just one motion put forward by a club or county was passed at the weekend, a trivial one from down regarding playoff fixtures. The rest were hammered, withdrawn or never made it as far as the floor.
Those brought by Central Council, meanwhile, breezed through. That includes handing the CCCC the power to fall back on “safety” in its decision-making process when setting venues for championship games.
That’s exactly the stunt they tried to pull last summer only Kildare had the backbone to stand up to them, and the rules were too ambiguous for the GAA to fight their way out of the corner. That loophole has been tied up now, and it would be interesting to see what would happen if the same scenario was to arise this summer.
Indeed the top table tried to shovel the motion in with a block of others that were always going to pass easily, only for Kildare to stand up and object and ask for a separate vote, which then took place.
It mattered not. 80 per cent were in favour of tightening the rule.
That was early in proceedings on Friday evening, and the theme was unchanged right until the final motion of the weekend, namely Donegal’s motion to take the Dubs out of Croker.
“Are we more interested in finances or fairness?” questioned their delegate Seamus Ó Domhnaill before the triggers were pulled.
Just over a third of delegates sided with Donegal. Finance, so.
Of course, if there was any stock placed on the integrity of the competition, the rule would never have been written to allow Dublin two home games at the tail end of the season.
It’s all well now but given how likely they are to retain their Leinster title, that ‘neutral’ game this year will be against the Connacht champions, most likely Mayo or Galway.
You can’t argue that Dublin-Mayo in Croke Park is not a different game from one played in an actual neutral ground.
The right decision seemed fairly obvious to most. And when the GAA’s primary decision making body is getting simple calls so spectacularly wrong, you have to question whether it’s fit for purpose any longer.