ANNUAL CONGRESS:FOR A long time it used to be a cause of great angst to Croke Park that they would bring expert-driven ideas to congress and see carefully crafted provisions go down in flames, ignited by frequently offbeat objections or roof-raising demagoguery.

Saturday’s congress in Killenard, Co Laois, marked a definite turnaround in such concerns.

Facts will show that out of a hefty clár of 77 motions, a less-than-startling 42 (55 per cent) made it into the Official Guide, but drilling into the statistics it emerges that before lunch when the first 35 motions, all on the initiative of the GAA’s Central Council, were taken only two were defeated, which left a strike rate of 94 per cent.

Afterwards, however, when the counties and other units floated their proposals the acceptance of congress proved harder to secure. Of the 42 motions debated in the afternoon, just nine (21 per cent) got through.

GAA director general Páraic Duffy said he felt the success rate of Central Council proposals related to the latter being issues that were known to concern the membership whereas many club motions arose from issues that affected a particular county.

New president Liam O’Neill said delegates didn’t mind voting against Central Council either. He was referring to the two motions that had slipped through the net in the morning session. They were contained in a bundle of suggested reforms to annual congress and fell into the much-loved category of the attitudinal survey of turkeys to Christmas. Firstly, the idea of confining congress to Croke Park except in “exceptional” circumstances failed to get the required two-thirds majority. Then the concept of reducing the number of delegates attending was shot down more decisively.

Unsurprisingly, it was the larger counties who most objected, citing everything from the composition of another well-known (Capitol Hill) congress to the fact that larger delegations tended to come from counties where hurling was stronger and that they formed a necessary bulwark against the predations of football.

New York’s Larry McCarthy, asked that consideration be given to marking his own board’s 2014 centenary by taking congress across the Atlantic.

Afterwards, O’Neill artfully observed: “The assurance we have given New York is that we will mark their centenary in the best way we can do it – that’s for sure.”

Technology at congress took a big step forward with the successful introduction of electronic voting after the comical lapses of last year’s aborted trials. Ex-president Seán Kelly queried would it be possible for the results screen to indicate the actual delegate count on each vote as opposed to simply the percentage. It wasn’t.

Most issues were, however, decisively dealt with and no vote was sufficiently close to cause difficulty. The big issues were resolved as expected. The controversial closed season was modified to operate on a staggered basis with counties, who exit the championship at an early stage permitted to start training earlier than those who have gone farther.

Proposing, management committee member Con Hogan agreed that the old “one size fits all” period of prescribed inactivity in November and December had been breached more than it had been observed, despite the serious medical issues of burn-out.

Accepted by a large margin of 84-16, the new schedule provides for a November 15th return for those eliminated the previous June, December 1st (July), December 8th (August) and December 29th (September). The days around Christmas, December 21st to 28th are closed for everyone. Dr Cliff Beirne, the leading consultant on maxillofacial injury, addressed congress on the recommendation to make mouth guards compulsory. He said jaw and dental injury was the fourth most common in 2011 and that the proposal would decrease their occurrence in Gaelic games (it’s four times more likely in football).

He also cited the impact of the introduction of compulsory helmet usage in hurling, saying that the rule had brought about a 47 per cent drop in head injuries between 2009 and 2010. Patiently addressing concerns that mouth guards would be too much trouble, he cited a pilot scheme in Cavan where the surveyed children were 100 per cent compliant. The motion was accepted 86-14.

Armagh’s Jarlath Burns demonstrated the virtue of patience when two years after his unavailing protests at the rejection of the 2010 experimental playing rules proposals, he guided through one of the then rejected ideas – the modification of the controversial ‘square ball’ rule. It was accepted by a whopping 90-10.

Longford’s John Greene also got the go-ahead for the motion that begins the process of addressing the six-day turnaround for some defeated provincial football finalists before they have to play in the All-Ireland qualifiers. The proposal was passed 98-2.

CONGRESS 2012: Main Motions

Motions 7 to 16 (Central Council): House keeping proposals to tidy up provisions on playing eligibility, transfers and declarations. Accepted en bloc [on a margin of 80 per cent to 20].

17 to 22 (Central Council): Proposals made on foot of the Congress Review Committee Report met a mixed fate. The motion to hold congress each year prior to 1st March (in keeping with the GAA’s new financial year, now ending in October rather than December) was accepted [78-22]. The two other most noteworthy ideas – unless in exceptional circumstances to hold it in Croke Park [approved 52-48 but failing to reach necessary weighted majority] and to reduces significantly the number of delegates [36-64] – were defeated.

26 (Central Council): A significant proposal to address the infamous six-day turnaround for some defeated provincial finalists proposed that All-Ireland quarter-finals be played over not more than two consecutive weekends and completed by the second weekend in August. Accepted [98-2].

27 (Central Council): Proposal to modify the controversial closed season by staggering its application depending on when counties exit the previous season’s championship. Accepted [84-16].

28 (Central Council): Intended to remedy a situation brought about by a motion accepted at last year’s congress, this restates and in some cases expands the competitions and rounds in which extra time must be played. Accepted [95-5].

30 (Central Council): Mouth guards to be made compulsory in football at under-age from next year and at all levels from January 2014. Accepted [86-14].

31 (Central Council): Modifying the square ball rule in line with the 2010 league experiment, allowing players (in football only) to enter the small rectangle before the ball but not before the ball is played in. Accepted [90-10].

44 (European Board): The European Board proposed that it be allowed representation on Central Council. Accepted [87-13].

61 (Clontibret, Monaghan and St Brigid’s Roscommon): That clubs playing in provincial and All-Ireland championships be allowed expanded panels of 30. Accepted [77-23].

67 (Galway): Proposing an open draw for the All-Ireland under-21 hurling championship to be organised on the basis of four groups of four counties with top teams qualifying for semi-finals. Defeated.

68 (Monageer-Glenbrien, Wexford): Allowing the defeated Munster and Leinster finalists to re-enter the under-21 hurling championship. Defeated.

69 (Boyle, Roscommon): All-Ireland finals to be played on the second Sunday in September and hurling finals two weeks previously. Withdrawn.