New charter for managers

New charter for managers

By Eugene McGee

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/new-charter-for-managers
-1484901.html

Monday September 29 2008

For the first time since the team manager concept was developed by Kevin
Heffernan and Mick O'Dwyer in the 1970s there are moves afoot to bring
this species into the rest of the GAA fold. Up to now the term team
manager was never mentioned in GAA rulebooks. As the power of the
manager grew and grew over the last 30 years many of them developed into
the most important men in county GAA structures, better known and more
powerful than even county board chairmen or secretaries.

Amazingly, for all that time there was no attempt to have managers as a
category covered by basic GAA rules in the same way as players and
elected officers are in clubs and county boards.

This has led to massive changes in the way things are done in the GAA,
mainly regarding the control which some managers exerted over club
fixtures between May and September. While many county boards drew up
elaborate annual fixture calendars at the start of the season, these
were often blown to smithereens when the county manager started getting
club championship games called off to facilitate the county team.

As a result, we have a common situation every year where the first round
of club county championships may be played in April or May but then, as
the county team wins a few matches, everything is shelved at the request
of the manager, often until as late as September or October.

This means club players who are not on the county panel but have a
county panel member in their ranks can be left without a championship
match for three or four months.

In all my time getting messages from readers this has been the single
greatest complaint from players in all parts of Ireland and it has
reached a critical level in some counties.

For this and many other reasons GAA president Nickey Brennan set up a
task force to bring county managers into the GAA administration as a
category in their own right. Presidential candidate Liam O'Neill is
chairman and the members are: Michael Burns (Monaghan), Simon Moroney
(Munster Council sec), Pat Toner (Louth), Dermot O'Malley (Dublin), Des
Cullinane (Third Level), John Murphy (Sligo), Aidan Brennan (Mayo) and
Dara McGarty (GPA Officer). Their remit is to examine club/county and
county/player relationships and their proposals, due to be presented at
the Special Congress on Saturday, are certainly interesting.

Under the title 'Team managers' Charter', several controls are proposed
to ensure that club players get a fair crack of the whip. County panels
will be limited to 30 at all times. Panels for league games will be 24.
Managers will commit to agreeing a schedule for the release of all
county players and panelists for training with their clubs. County
training will not be allowed interfere with this arrangement.

County chairmen and secretaries will meet with the manager and work out
the club training programme for the year allowing for county team
training, matches etc. Postponements of club matches will not be allowed
except for exceptional cases, such as the county team being in a replay.

There are also published rules for the needs of the county manager to
ensure "fair and reasonable" access to county panel players. This is
meant to ensure that county boards provide all the facilities needed for
modern county teams.

The charter also re-emphasises the authority of county boards to manage
the affairs of the county and the county teams. For example, team
managers must get the approval of the board for any extra financial
expenditure for the county team. All fundraising for county teams,
including supporters' clubs, will be referred by team management to the
county treasurer and board for approval.

The team manager will have to notify the county secretary five days in
advance of a game of the team selection. County chairmen will have to
agree, in consultation with new team managers, to have all the required
backroom staff available to the county teams.

The charter makes it clear that this reflects the importance of
inter-county players to their clubs, their fellow club players and their
status as role models in their local communities.

Team managers agree to comply with the requirement to actively promote
observance by inter-county panel members of their club obligations. Team
mentors with underage teams shall be aware of their responsibilities
with regard to alcohol. This charter is to be signed by the team manager
and the county board chairman and secretary.

This is a significant proposal for the GAA as it wrestles with the power
of managers and the decimation of club games in summertime, among other
things. It could be a lot stronger and the abuse of money in relation to
managers' illegal payments will not be stopped by this.

The restoration of parity between clubs and county teams is the most
important thing in this charter and for that alone it is worth having.