“.…..Neither A Hurling Stronghold”
When describing Cork hurler Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh famously once said “His father’s from Fermanagh, his mother’s from Fiji. Neither a hurling stronghold”.
Fermanagh, along with four other counties, were due to be under the spotlight of the Central Competitions Control Committee last Saturday (2nd December), with a bizarre motion scheduled to go before the CCCC proposing that any county with less than five hurling clubs be excluded from the National League from 2025 onwards.
The counties who would have been affected by this proposal were Fermanagh, Cavan, Leitrim, Louth and Longford.
The rationale of the motion argued that the money spent running an inter-county hurling team for the duration of a National League season would instead be better spent on developing the game at an underage level in each respective county.
Due to an outcry from across the world of hurling - from the Gaelic Players Association, the Tier 1 Hurling counties, managers and captains, and from the five counties themselves - the proposal was dropped at the eleventh hour. That this proposal made it so close to a vote at the CCCC, and even received an endorsement at the Central Council, is yet another example of the ongoing fight for the soul of the GAA.
The struggle between the commercial pressures of running a multi-million euro organisation and the grassroots ethos of the GAA has manifested itself in a number of ways in recent times, in particular the cash-free turnstiles, digital ticketing, the GAAGO subscription platform, and massive discrepancies in commercial sponsorship deals that leave smaller counties behind.
This particular motion was halted by people power within the hurling community - hurling is the jewel in the GAA crown!
In order to grow the game in non-traditional hurling counties, it is absolutely vital that young people are given the opportunity to play the game, regardless of where in the country they reside, along with being able to actually watch their respective county compete in all competitions.
To borrow a phrase from women’s sport, “If they can’t see it, they can’t be it”.