GAA Annual Report and Accounts 2020 – Brothers and Sisters

“Our links with Camogie and Ladies Football have never been stronger. In a time of extreme adversity for all three organisations, every key decision that we made was taken in consultation; every step was taken in common. This approach was borne not out of any structural or contractual arrangement, but out of a simple recognition that our fates are closely intertwined and that we are stronger acting in communion rather than individually.”

Consistency

That did provide a degree of consistency at club level, without which the return to action at both adult and juvenile would have been much more difficult.

That level of cooperation extended further as well.

“There were a number of particular landmarks this year that are referenced elsewhere in these pages as fundamental to the GAA but which were joint and combined efforts with our colleagues from the other organisations, added Ryan.

“Our communications programme to clubs and beyond; the new player pathway; the Covid Advisory Committee to name but a few. These may not have garnered headlines but they are sterling evidence of three organisations working effectively in tandem on the most fundamental of issues.”

Cooperation is essential and is being well managed across the three organisations but there is still a level of misunderstanding, even among many who are active members that ‘the GAA’ is a single organisation.

In the main that does no damage, though when issues like the switch of venue for the All Ireland Ladies Football semi-final arise, there is an undercurrent of why such a thing should only happen, why would a game of such importance play second fiddle in the first instance to a training session for the Men’s Senior Hurlers in Limerick?

Give and Take

The simple fact is that while the three are separate, there will also have to be give and take in terms of facilities and bookings.  The LGFA selected limerick’s Gaelic Grounds as a venue to suit both Cork and Galway but it was with the caveat that should Limerick make it to the All Ireland Hurling Final they would be training at the same venue on the day.

If it was a ‘GAA’ decision then accommodation could have been reached, indeed it probably still should have been.

Then a frozen pitch at Parnell Park and a late switch to Croke Park where TV set up was not possible to carry live coverage brought the issue to the fore again.

Lessons will have been learned and improvements made in terms of scenario planning but this was during an extraordinary period.  Yes, it was a problem for the Galway team who had delayed travelling to Dublin until that morning, unlike Cork who came the night before, but the resulting cloud made it appear that the GAA was treating players who should be equal in a different manner based on gender.

They were.  But it was not on gender but on the basis that they were working still as different organisations, with different structures and that is not ideal.

“You will recall that we each committed some years back to a route towards closer cooperation and integration. That agreement expired at the end of 2020,” writes Ryan.

“I am sure that but for the events and pressures of the latter part of 2020 we would have concluded a new understanding. In fact, we have already started discussing our renewal, and what the next phase of our relationship might bring. I think I speak for all three of us when I say there is a very keen appetite on all our parts to move to closer alignment.”

“The precise shape and form of that alignment will emerge over time, but it cannot be unilateral. Camogie and Ladies Football are independent and distinct bodies. They are well run and eminently capable, and they deserve the right to determine their own destiny. Merely assuming that they would be better served in an all-encompassing GAA does them a disservice.”

“I believe that true success here will be measured in terms of outcomes, not in terms of processes or structures. In other words, we are striving for the day when there are no apparent differences between us in all of our key policy objectives and how we deliver them. Indeed that we deliver them as one. ”

“This can be achieved irrespective of constitutional change. That is not to either pre-empt or discount any eventual constitutional changes, just to de-emphasise that side of things. There is already a flourishing model to build upon – the one club model where a club offering diverse codes flourishes as a single unit – irrespective of the games it offers or the vagaries of its committee structures.”

Alignment

They are true words and indicate that the closer alignment is on its way but every week that passes is another in which there is potential for failure and misunderstanding.

The simple fact is that the GAA, Camogie Association and Ladies Gaelic Football Association are now the only national sporting organisations that are based on a single-gender model.

The FAI and IRFU have developed ways of supporting Men’s and Women’s development under the same roof, as have now more recently Golf Ireland.

It is unfortunate that the extension of the commitment fell down the agenda in the madness of 2020.  That can be forgiven but movement does need to take place sooner rather than later so that all parties can communicate clearly to members, to the non Gaelic Games sporting community and to government that it is going to happen.