Apparently the GAA has recently set up a work group to examine the Association’s organisational and competitive structures. Uachtarán Seán McCague has given some indication of the focus of the group’s work with his public utterances about the possibility of amalgamating and splitting up counties in order to even out the chances of All-Ireland victory, or of placing more emphasis on clubs in the organisation’s competitive setup. This suggestion has already generated some comment in An Fear Rua’s "Speak Out" pages.

The GAA’s original decision to base its organisational structure on the county system was peculiar in many ways. For an organisation which from the beginning was dedicated to the ending of British rule in Ireland, it was a little strange that they should adopt what was the prime territorial unit of English colonial rule in Ireland. Even more peculiar, at the time the GAA was formed, the counties had much less popular resonance than they have today. The first county councils were not elected until 1899 – twelve years after the first All-Ireland championships. Furthermore, the decision to adopt the county system was profoundly inequitable, given the huge population differences between counties which gave some a much greater chance of championhip success than others.

The figures speak for themselves. The 12 counties in the Republic with current populations of over 100,000 have won 172 of all senior All-Irelands (football and hurling) won by southern counties, while the 14 counties with populations of less than 100,000 have won just 50 (county populations in the North do not reflect GAA strength as closely as they do in the South). If one excludes Kilkenny, this falls to just 24 All-Irelands won by 13 counties. Only one county with over 100,000 people – Wicklow – has never won an All-Ireland, compared with six of the fourteen smaller counties.

There are some anomalies, of course. Kilkenny have swept up 26 hurling titles with a relatively small population by making a wise choice at an early stage that it was better to be excellent at one game than mediocre in two. In some ways, Offaly’s performance in winning four hurling and three football titles despite having their modest population of 60,000 divided almost equally between separate hurling and football territories is even more impressive. It may be that Westmeath will make the breakthrough with their current fine team, but if one takes the long-term view, the fact is that smaller counties will always be at a disadvantage when it comes to shaping up against the big guns.

Rather than tinkering with the county system by artificially splitting or amalgamating some of them, An Moltóir reckons that the central position which this system occupies in the GAA’s competitive structure needs to be reconsidered in the association’s long-term interest. Basically, the more teams that begin the year with a chance of meaningful championship progress, the greater the spread of public interest. This points to the need for replacing the county with the club as the focus of GAA national competitions. The reasoning behind this should be obvious. Counties with virtually no hope of championship success have been making much more of an impact at club level. The cases of Éire Óg and O’Hanrahans of Carlow in football and several hurling clubs from Antrim immediately spring to mind. Waterford haven’t won a Munster hurling championship in almost forty years while Laois have to go back even further for their last Leinster title, yet the top clubs in these counties have regularly been there or thereabouts in the club championship.

The more open nature of the club championships is undoubtedly a major reason for the rise in the level of public interest in recent years. The frequency of tremendous games between evenly-matched teams is another factor. The decision by TG4 to give extensive coverage to these competitions has certainly added further to their popular appeal. They continue to be hampered by the fact that they take place in less than ideal weather conditions. Nevertheless, the finals on St. Patrick’s Day are now regularly attracting attendances in excess of most intercounty championship games.

In the long run, it would serve the development of Gaelic games better if the club championships were given premier status within the GAA’s competitive structures. What An Moltóir has in mind is a league-style championship running from April to August involving, say, the best sixteen clubs in the country. These teams would not simultaneously play in their own county championships. The two clubs coming last in the league would be relegated back to their counties, to be replaced by the two finalists in what would be a separate knock-out club championship involving county champions, as with the current club championship. The inter-county championships would be played off as secondary knock-out competitions in September and October.

While, under this system, a county could have several clubs in the premier championship, overall it would offer weaker counties a more realistic chance of aspiring to All-Ireland success (via their top clubs) than is currently the case. It would also give an additional edge to both county championships and the club championship involving county champions, by providing direct access to the premier club championship. As a result, public interest in Gaelic games would be both broadened (more counties realistically involved) and deepened (keener championships at all levels).

The proposed system would have numerous further implications. Inevitably, the best players would be drawn to the best clubs and professionalism would not be far behind (although this is going to happen anyway, in An Moltóir’s view). At the same time, the standard of premier club championship would be greatly enhanced if the participating clubs represented most of the top players in the country. Another important consequence of the proposed system is that it would give county boards a free run to play off their own championships through the spring and summer. The current trend towards more games in the inter-county championships will increasingly play havoc with club competitions. If this trend continues, An Moltóir foresees a situation in a few years time where the intercounty championships will be run off on a round-robin basis with all counties playing a minimum of three and possibly more games. If the national leagues are retained, this will create a situation where county players, in effect, will rarely play for their clubs (as has happened with provincial rugby players in the last couple of years).

However, if the intercounty competitions continue to hold pride of place in GAA affairs, the championships will forever be dominated by the bigger counties. The smaller counties may get more games, but will still find themselves largely excluded from the final stages. The system An Moltóir is proposing will both broaden the base of prospective All-Ireland winners while minimising interference with club competitions by county teams. Here’s hoping Sean McCague’s working group comes to similar conclusions.

Season’s greeting to all readers of this column. May all your counties enjoy All-Ireland success in 2002!

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