Tom Ryan’s seventh annual report took a few well-aimed shots at a variety of targets, dropping hints rather than bombs on matters from the possible pushback of All-Ireland finals to August to the sustainability of county teams spending €44 million on preparation.
He also included a futuristic riff on what the association might look like in nine years’ time when it is due to celebrate its 150th anniversary, introducing his thoughts thus:
“What follows is not a list of ambitions, not targets, not even hopes. They have no status other than some [possibly] idle musings on what a future GAA might look like.”
Among the elements the director general envisioned were:
- All Gaelic games codes are governed by a single organisation
- Intercounty football and hurling are played successively, not concurrently
- Club football and hurling likewise (but in reverse order)
- Senior intercounty teams reflect multiple diverse backgrounds and nationalities
- There is one single, tiered, intercounty competition for each code
- Hurling in the northern half of the country is flourishing
- Every county has the same club championship structure
- International provinces and counties have a flourishing local championship and don’t need to enter Irish competitions
- Every school field multiple teams at all ages
- Counties share county grounds with neighbours, and they are in public ownership
- Managers only manage teams in their own club
- There is general Association membership for those not affiliated to clubs
- Members have a more direct voice in the direction of the Association
- The All-Ireland championship below adult is an amalgam of intervarsity and intercounty
- Players at all levels train less frequently, travel less distance and stay in the games longer
- 50 per cent of children who take up the games at under-8s are still playing at adult level 10 years later
Asked about one of the most attention-grabbing ideas – that hurling and football have separate seasons – Ryan emphasised the speculative nature of his list.
“Look, there’s 101 reasons and probably more why that either doesn’t work or isn’t desirable but it’s in there as an example of stuff that it’s no harm to challenge our thinking now and again and see.
“There are five or 10 things listed in that little chapter, some of which are genuine and are things that we really, really have to do. And we should set our shoulder to the wheel with other ones, maybe just a little bit more provocative.”
Calendar considerations were also floated, as Ryan appeared open to adding a couple more weeks to the season and extending the championship to August, as opposed to July when All-Ireland finals have been held for the past three years and will be again this summer as the experimental season concludes its last year.
“There is a gathering mood to shuffle the finals back by a week or two, and that may well transpire in the future,” said Ryan. “Stretching the season out a little would be no bad thing – but I don’t foresee a return to September.
“A further opportunity to stretch the season might well present itself at the other end of things, in January. Perhaps the suspension of the provincial preseason competitions could point to starting the Allianz Leagues a little earlier in future? It’s probably too early to reach conclusions around this yet. 2025 is just a trial and the competitions are still on hold. But it merits debate.”
Spending on intercounty teams reached €44 million in 2024. Described as “a runaway train” at one stage, this expenditure has risen by more than 30 per cent in two years.
“That’s a responsibility that sits jointly between counties and ourselves,” said Ryan. “It’s difficult to see how the level we have now, where that’s going to take us in five, 10 years’ time if we don’t arrest it. So, what it means is it means spending less, spending less effort.
“It means a collective acknowledgement on the part of everybody that, you know, maybe we centralise procurement and we put some of the burden at this table here for procuring, whether that be travel or whether that be related ancillary services around teams.”
Another change that is in the ether is revision of the current rules on replays. In the aftermath of last year’s Clare-Cork All-Ireland hurling final being decided in extra time, there were questions asked of how fair it was on players. Ryan referenced a motion before congress later this month.
“Congress is also asked to consider reintroducing replays for drawn provincial finals, and to dispense with extra time after a drawn All-Ireland final,” he said. “Instead, we will go straight to a replay. These proposals both address specific scenarios which arose this year and gave rise to some disquiet.
“That is the value of a trial. You learn, you listen, and you adapt. I know that opinions are still divided, as well, on the summer All-Ireland final dates. Of course they make for a congested season, and a very pressurised seven months for players, and officials.
“Perhaps our media profile, and even attendances, are curtailed as well. I acknowledge that there are drawbacks. The pay-off is a strong bond between the club and county game, and the necessary breathing space for the club game to flourish and some fixture certainty for all players.”
Other motions to be heard include a restructure of the football championship to eliminate the All-Ireland round-robin series and replace it with a tiered knock-out system.
Tribute was paid to Jim Gavin’s Football Review Committee, which Ryan said would be the model for a similar exercise in hurling, which wouldn’t be as extensive but would use the same “rigour and quality” in its techniques.
Might some of the FRC rules on discipline and dissent be adopted by hurling? “I would certainly advocate that,” said Ryan.
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