Going through the motions at Mayo GAA Convention

Going through the motions


Daniel Carey

ALL-IRELAND tickets and ‘starred’ league games dominate the motions submitted by clubs ahead of next Sunday’s Mayo GAA Convention at Breaffy House Hotel, which will start at 12pm.
No fewer than six motions relate to the controversial issue of All-Ireland final tickets, a hot topic after Mayo GAA Board discovered that their allocation in 2013 was lower than in 2012, despite the involvement of both the senior and minor teams on the big day.
Ballintubber have called for current members of the Mayo ladies football team to be given the option of purchasing All-Ireland tickets, more tickets for the families of Mayo minor players, and the allocation of tickets in the lower decks of the Hogan and Cusack stands to elderly people.
Moygownagh have proposed that in future, no GAA club be levied in return for All-Ireland tickets, presumably a response to the decision that clubs who raised €1,000 for the County Board in the run-up to the last two finals got the option to buy 20 additional tickets. The North Mayo club also suggest that the extra allocation for clubs who sell large number of County Board Draw tickets be split into the top two senior, intermediate and junior clubs.
Four motions relate to so-called ‘starred’ league games, whereby clubs play without their county players. Three rounds of the league were ‘starred’ this year, and motions from Ballaghaderreen, Swinford and Knockmore call for an increase to five or six, with Ballaghaderreen suggesting one round in June, one in July, two in August and two in September depending on the progression of the Mayo senior team through the championship.
Meanwhile, the Ballintubber club have called for ‘starred’ games to be abandoned, insisting that the league ‘clearly has no value when not played with full-strength sides’. The West Mayo side, who had five Mayo senior panellists and three minor panellists in 2013, propose dividing the top two divisions into three groups of eight, and offering a training weekend away for the winners of the Michael Walsh Summer League.
Westport, meanwhile, have suggested having three leagues – senior, intermediate and junior – dependent on championship status, with no relegation.
Ballycastle have revived the idea of exclusive junior clubs entering combined teams in the Mayo Senior Championship under the banners of North, East and West Mayo. A slightly different version of that proposal comes from Moygownagh, who have suggested that Ardagh, Ballycastle, Kilfian, Lacken and Moygownagh be allowed to enter a combined team in the Intermediate Championship.
Ballaghaderreen want to see divisional boards abolished, home advantage in the Mayo championship quarter-finals given to the teams that top their groups, a calendar finalised by the end of January 2013, and the under-21 championship played over an eight-week period commencing in November.
Asked at last week’s meeting by Ollie Dillon (Ballintubber) what the reason for starting Convention at 12pm was, Mayo GAA Board Chairman Paddy McNicholas said he wanted delegates to ‘travel in the bright and go home in the bright’. Recalling ‘bad roads’ in 2010 and 2011, he said three delegates were ‘lucky they weren’t killed’ on the night of the 2011 Convention.