*Michael O’Neill collecting votes from delegates at the 2019 County Convention. Photograph: John Mangan
A TOTAL of seven motions are to go before the clubs of Clare at County Convention this Tuesday.
Ruan and Tulla have both tabled two motions each with O’Callaghans Mills, Cratloe and Wolfe Tones also submitting proposals before the annual Convention.
Tulla GAA club have asked that a schedule of all motions adopted over the last ten years of Convention be issued to all clubs.
They have also requested that Clare GAA in collaboration with the Referees Association introduce an initiative whereby referees would give a score between zero to ten indicative of the behaviour of each team, their players and management. “The team with the greatest score at the end of the competition will receive a non-monetary prize,” the motion reads and is submitted in a bid to encourage positive behaviour towards match officials.
Equal weighting to the Friary entrance to Cusack Park has been sought by Ruan GAA club. They stated that this would help in “the continuing struggle against COVID” and also respect “loyal GAA followers attending from west and north of our capital town”.
Need for “an urgent report” from Croke Park “into the causes of career threatening cruciate and hip injuries in Gaelic players” forms the other proposal from Ruan. The findings from this report is hoped to bring about “the elimination or moderation of training or match day activities or indeed their intensity with a view to seriously reducing the amount of these injuries in the years ahead”.
Adoption of postal voting for County Convention has been pleaded for by O’Callaghans Mills. They argue that each club could avail of the opportunity to use their vote via this method.
Allocating all coaching and development funding to individual counties on an equal basis based on registered GAA members in the previous year up to a maximum variance of five percent is the proposal issued by Wolfe Tones. “Any proposal to allocate coaching and development funding in excess of five percent variance must be brought to Annual Congress every two years for approval with a transparent plan and business case for such increased funding”.
Amendments to the bye-laws of Clare GAA have been proposed by Cratloe GAA club. This will recommend the appointment of a County safety facilities officer, a training committee and a child welfare officer. The title of Development Officer will be replaced by Planning and Training Officer if the motion is passed. The planning and training committee will assist clubs in the development of a club plan and details on financing this, it will also aid the implementation of a county plan and monitor demographic changes within the county.
