Ard Stiúrthóir releases annual report for 2016

Tuesday 24th January 2017

Ard Stiúrthóir Chumann Lúthchleas Gael Páraic Ó Dufaigh

Páraic Duffy, Ard Stiúrthóir of the GAA, released his Annual Report for 2016 in Croke Park on Tuesday morning.

Click here to read the full report.

The Annual Report is the Ard Stiúrthóir's main opportunity to give a public review of the Association's activities and to discuss prevailing issues.

In this year's report, Páraic Duffy reflects on a number of areas, including:

-The All Ireland Hurling and Gaelic Football Championships

-Video Review of Decisions

-Club Players Association

-Gaelic Players Association

-The National Sports Campus

-Media Rights

-Gambling and Sport

-Impact of Rural Decline

-World Games 2016

-Stadium Devlopment

-Strategic Plan

-Croke Park Stadium Overview

In his conclusion to the annual report the Ard Stiúrthóir stresses the value and importance of providing club players with an adequate and fair fixtures schedule.

He writes: "Whatever the outcome of Congress’s deliberations on the central questions of the proposed new format for the All Ireland football championship, on the limiting of replays and on the tightening of the fixtures calendar, individual counties will still be faced with the task of addressing the issues faced by clubs, namely that players of all ages and abilities must be catered for, that club players must be offered an adequate number of fairly scheduled, meaningful matches, and that inter-county players have a strong desire to play for their clubs (a factor that must be borne in mind by inter-county team managers).

"There is a core truth about the GAA that cannot be emphasised enough – the Association exists and thrives because of our clubs. It continues, therefore, to be a matter of crucial importance that the prosperity of our clubs be foremost in our minds in our decision-making. Counties have different structures in place and have different practices that have evolved over the years with regard to club fixtures scheduling, but, whatever the individual nature of the challenge facing counties, the common goal of protecting and fostering the vibrancy of our clubs must act as our guiding principle."

The Ard Stiúrthóir goes into considerable detail on a number of key issues, as follows:

FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

"As Congress 2016 did not resolve the issue of the structure of the All Ireland senior football championship, I prepared a discussion paper for An Coiste Bainistíochta and, with its approval, then circulated its report with the aim of encouraging Congress 2017 to address some of the deficiencies in the championship structure, while recognising the need to meet the demand from our club players for a fairer schedule of games.

"The background to the proposal that will go before Congress, outlined in these documents, is well known at this stage. The current structure of provincial championships and All-Ireland qualifiers, in operation since 2001, has obvious drawbacks, most obviously an unhealthy predictability about the outcome in two of the provincial championships: Dublin has won eleven of the last twelve Leinster titles, while either Kerry or Cork has won every Munster senior championship in the past 80 years with the exception of Clare’s win in 1992.

"The qualifier system, too, seems to have lost some of its appeal, with a decline in attendances that shows little signs of being reversed. Too often it is said that our football championship does not really begin until August."

VIDEO REVIEW OF DECISIONS

"Professional sports such as rugby, basketball, baseball and American football have all adopted the video-review model, yet it is hugely frustrating for the spectator or viewer to wait through the time taken to reach a decision. It should also be noted that the use of video review in professional sport has been expanded far beyond its original remit.

"And we can be sure that this would happen in our games, too, if we were to go down the road of reviewing difficult decisions in games. It was interesting to read the recent comments of top rugby referee Nigel Owens, who wants to see fewer decisions referred to the TMO. He expressed the view that rugby should go back to where it was five or six years ago, where it was used only on the goal line. He believes that overuse of the TMO is eroding the authority of the referee and that the focus should be on improving the decision-making of match officials."

CLUB PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

"The Club Players Association (CPA) has its origins in the frustration of club players with the failure of our fixtures calendar to provide them with a coherent schedule of games throughout the year. The very fact that club players feel there is a need for such an organisation simply reinforces what we already know – that we must find ways to support club players by creating more space for the playing of club games and by rebalancing our priorities in a way that our attentions are devoted more to our clubs and less to inter-county activities."

GAA AND THE NATIONAL SPORTS CAMPUS

"Our National Games Development Centre (NGDC) at the National Sports Campus at Abbotstown was officially opened in April. €12m was invested in the twenty-five-acre facility, situated adjacent to the National Aquatic Centre and close to the main entrance of the campus.

"The GAA property includes a total of five playing pitches – four of them full size and all of them floodlit – a 3G pitch, a hurling wall and a pavilion housing ten dressing-rooms, a reception area and gymnasium, and associated facilities for physiotherapy, referees, meeting rooms and dining facilities. A covered, seated spectator area adjoining the pavilion can cater for 400 people."

MEDIA RIGHTS

"Throughout the second half of 2016, in anticipation of the negotiations for the allocation of new broadcast rights to begin later in the year, we formulated the Association’s objectives for this process. There were two key objectives. First, we needed to ensure that our games would continue to be widely available on TV and radio to our domestic Irish audience and to our units abroad. Our home base of members and supporters, attached to their clubs and counties, constitute our single most important audience, while our commitment to our members abroad is unwavering.

"Second, we needed to protect the vital part of our revenue generated by income from broadcast rights. The GAA can only achieve its goals and fulfil its mission if it retains the capacity to fund the work of its clubs and units at home and abroad. We believe that we have achieved our goals in both respects through a five-year deal that provides stability and that places a significant value on our broadcast rights."

IMPACT OF RURAL DECLINE

"The consequences for the GAA are serious and are already having a very negative impact on rural clubs all over the country, but particularly on clubs in counties along the west coast. For many clubs it has meant a reduction in the number of teams competing in county competition; for others, it has been a struggle simply to remain in existence.

"This is a crisis that is not within the power of the GAA to resolve. We know that our clubs will fight as hard as they can to continue to exist, either by coming together at underage level or through full amalgamations. We can, of course, review our rules to make them flexible enough to allow clubs and teams to continue. But rural decline is a problem that must be a priority for government. The starting point is to challenge the accepted truth that this decline is inevitable and irreversible."

Click here to read the report in full. Below this article is a download link for the report.