NO FAITH…Kevin Cassidy feels that players should be represented more at Congress

AFTER this year’s Annual Congress, I decided to hold my council on the issue as I wanted to see the general reaction of the GAA public before I offered my views.

I said here a few weeks back that I had no real faith or interest in congressional matters as I disagreed heavily with how the whole process works, and after the shambolic outcome of the meetings my opinion hasn’t changed at all.

If these guys are going to have the power to change the face of our games, then they are going to have to deal with a few home truths.

The majority of people given the power to attend and vote at these gatherings have probably never kicked a ball in their life so that fact that they can rule on issues that will affect actual footballers is ludicrous.

If you have never played the game at a decent level then how on earth can you decide what will work and what won’t?

The introduction of the mark without a proper trial is crazy, I know there was a short trial period during the League one year but from a players point of view I felt it never worked so which Einstein decided to float the idea again? And who were his golf buddies that voted it in?

I have always said that players should have more of an input into decisions like this. Instead of clubs sending delegates who have no experience whatsoever of playing the game to county board meetings they should instead send a senior player from each club as one of the delegates. Likewise at county level, a senior county player should be one of the delegates who attend Congress.

This simple step would ensure that the motions being put forward would be brought back to the actual people that are going to be playing the game resulting in better feedback of what might actually work before a decision like this is taken.

The argument will be made that players up and down the country don’t attend their club monthly meetings etc, etc, and would have no interest in accepting such a post. Well take it from me, if players had more faith in how business would be conducted at these Father Ted style gatherings then players would attend and contribute more.

The second issue that irked me from annual Father Ted Congress was the decision not to shorten the inter-county season allowing more time for club football. To me this was the worst of them all.

I would like to know if all of these delegates who sipped on tea and munched on ham sandwiches all weekend had their heads buried in the sand over the last number of years. Did they not read any of the reports about club football being played in the rain, hail and snow in December? Did they not read about the ever-increasing number of young GAA players heading to America each year in search of football? Are they not aware of the shambolic club calendar that exits in their own county? To allow this to continue was the worst crime they committed at that meeting.

Since then I have read interviews and tweets from current inter-county players slating the decision well I’m afraid you guys are as much to blame. If county players demanded to play for their clubs then this would all be sorted out very quickly.

One free week of club action before an inter-county championship game is plenty and if you go along with any more than that then you are directly contributing to the problem.

One player even suggested that we split club and county football completely just like the rugby meaning that county players would no longer play for their club. Lord, give me strength!

If you are good enough to make a county squad then it’s you that should be making the extra sacrifice of playing more games not players who don’t make the county squad making the sacrifice of playing less football as a result. The time has come for county players to stand up and be vocal about wanting to play for their clubs that’s presuming they actually do.

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