Congress 2017 was a day the GAA crossed a rubicon, when the people who administrate on gaelic games opted to drive wedge between themselves and the people who play gaelic games. Both the CPA and the GPA members are against the Super 8 proposal but yesterday 76% of delegates voted in favour of the round robin format. The disconnect is gobsmacking.
While the GAA likes to project an image of itself as a united, community-driven family, yesterday's Congress made it blindingly obvious that the GAA has never been more divided: administrators versus players, club players versus intercounty players, hurling versus gaelic football, successful counties versus so-called weaker counties. The solutions seem straightforward to most reasonable people sitting outside the tent, but we learned plainly yesterday that GAA administrators don't value the input of the people who play the games, and are downright suspicious of their opinions.
Sligo against the motion. Says CPA are in their infancy and not sure what their agenda is. #GAACongress17
— John Fogarty (@JohnFogartyIrl) February 25, 2017
It was commented often on Twitter yesterday that it was unusual to see GAA players being so forthright in their opposition to the Super 8 proposal. This is true, but there was one striking thing about the Super 8 criticism: by in large, it was coming from the counties being shut out of the Super 8 process.
Absolute joke about super8, all down to money and the GAAs greed. Money rules a voluntary organiation #GAAcongress17 #gaa
— Ian Ryan (@ianryano89) February 25, 2017
Surely a chronic imbalance in July/Aug 2018 . 19 football games 5 hurling . How are we going to show off our sport fairly .might call it GFA
— Anthony Daly (@DaloAnto) February 26, 2017
Where were the voices from the GAA's upper crust? Mayo, Dublin and Kerry are annual All-Ireland semifinalists at this stage but we didn't hear much from their players yesterday. Aidan O'Shea had a cryptic tweet and suggested he had a lot to say about the issue, though blamed the medium.
Kevin McManamon made the case for a shorter GAA season but didn't elaborate about how he'd like to see it achieved.
A scroll through the Twitter accounts of players from the GAA's elite counties will unearth a lot of tweets about Claudio Ranieri but little about Congress. The likes of Mark McHugh and Joe McMahon were two of the only voices of dissent we could find from players whose counties would have made the Super 8 if it existed last season.
I fear massively for our Game after today..Both Club and Intercounty. #NoVoice #GAA
— Mark McHugh (@MarkMcHugh1) February 25, 2017
RIP club football #congress
— Joe McMahon (@Bigjoemc) February 25, 2017
Yesterday made it clear that the solution to the GAA's fixtures crisis will only come from the players. The administrators have different interests, obviously, but the games belong to the players. Pratically-speaking, change will only be achieved when the players who fill Croke Park on those big weekends in August and September say enough is enough. These are also the players who will gain the most from the Super 8 motion, whose access to the fringe benefits of intercounty life (the 171 Opels, the brand ambassadorships) will only increase with the Super 8s. The GAA can tell itself the new motions were not commercially-driven, but the Super 8 will inevitably lead to greater fame and wealth to players from the established elite. Why would they vote against it?
These players from the Super 8 counties, of course, have their own union. The record shows that the GPA was against the Super 8 motion, though their contribution to the debate on the GAA calendar has been deferential. There would be no CPA if club players felt that the GPA spoke to the concerns of all players.
There is a lot of talk about radical solutions to the GAA's fixture crisis but until the players from the GAA's big counties get onside with this reform movement, it is hard to see a solution any time soon. Their silence yesterday spoke volumes.
