THE GAA have responded sharply to claims from London players that their preparations for the Connacht championship have been disrupted by the implementation of a rule change at last month’s annual congress.

Last Friday the London football panel issued a statement taking issue with the new provision, which obliges players transferring to a different county to have played championship for their new club before representing the relevant county.

This became known as the ‘Séan Johnston rule’, a reference to the Cavan player whose application to switch to Kildare comes before tonight’s CCCC meeting (see left on this page).

London averted the crisis of having large numbers of the players who played in the National League ineligible for the championship by bringing forward the club championships, but there were complaints that the county had been caught in the crossfire of the Johnston issue.

However, Feargal McGill, the GAA’s director of games administration and player welfare, said that the Johnston case was a red herring.

“The motion passed at congress was introduced to address a situation that had been arising in London. Last year, there was a strong feeling that players were going over there to play inter-county and when that season was finished, returning to play championship for their home clubs. This was intended to ensure that players have to commit to clubs in London before playing inter-county.”

McGill also rejected criticism that the new rule had been sprung on London, adding that counties would have been aware of the proposed rule change since February.