*Jim Hickey (centre) proposed the motion for Cratloe. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
CRATLOE GAA club were accused of delaying a long-running issue with Parteen/Meelick with their attempts to let a player living in another parish line out with the club of their parent.
At Tuesday’s Clare GAA Convention, Cratloe’s motion was heavily defeated and drew strong criticism from Parteen/Meelick. Both clubs have been involved in a dispute over players, the tensions of which were evident with the remarks made in Hotel Woodstock.
In their proposal, Cratloe GAA sought to change by-law seven by allowing “a player where the parent(s)/guardian are registered /playing/active members of a club that that player is then entitled to become a member of the same cub under the parent rule”.
Proposing the motion on behalf of his club Jim Hickey referred to the closure of shops and businesses in rural areas and the drop in numbers attending schools. He noted that many people who had moved away to work came back to their parishes and built homes. “The biggest problem now is getting to build homes in rural areas. Most of the people who have moved to urban areas for work are settling there and their kids are going to school there”.
“As a referee I see it when I referee school games. The schools in the big urban areas have numbers but when I go back to West Clare I see that the schools have to have girls playing to make up numbers,” Hickey commented.
“This is not a local issue, it’s a national issue”, the Cratloe clubman stated noting that “many clubs in the bigger areas can field second teams in the same grade whereas clubs in the rural areas haven’t enough to field one team and must amalgamate. “If children from their parent’s club want to go back and play for that club they should be allowed”, he said
Shortage of houses is hurting clubs like Cratloe, Jim said. “I am from a club that never had an issue with regard to employment as we are close to Shannon Airport, Shannon Industrial Estate, Ennis and Limerick. The problem we have now is finding houses and sites to buy and live in the parish. They can’t do that and have to move to other areas”.
Following a query from Clondegad delegate Seamus O’Reilly as to whether or not the motion had been seconded, St Joseph’s Miltown delegate Gordon Kelly seconded before later suggesting that it should be withdrawn. “This is a very topical discussion. We are all very aware of the issues. We see merit in the proposal. We are seeing a vast decline and its quite clear in the demographics the parish rule does need to modernise. We need to look at this thoroughly. We need to look at this strategically and we recommend that the motion be withdrawn until the work of the strategic committee is done and a full report is presented”.
Newly elected Chairman of Parteen/Meelick, Colm Davoren opposed the motion. Pointing out that he hails from the Burren area having played with Michael Cusacks, he said he is “fully aware of the challenges in fielding teams and on the face of it this motion could be interpreted as an effort to address the issue. This motion is clearly fundamentally flawed on a number of areas. It’s a significant risk to many rural clubs. There is a lack of clarity in the motion. How can the county Board judge what is an active member.
“Laws open to interpretation are open to abuse. There is no time limit in this motion. The lack of clarity in this motion is the abandonment of the parish rule and should be opposed. There is no mention of restriction this to the county boundary. This motion was drafted with a specific agenda in mind. We have a long running dispute with Cratloe GAA and this continues. This motion is another tactic to delay resolving the issue. We reject this ill-advised motion,” Davoren added.
Cooraclare delegate P.J. McGuane asked “are we going to adhere to parish rule or is it going to be set aside. Parish rule has been the bulwark of what we live by all our life. As one of the only clubs in the county that puts out underage teams completely unassisted, everybody is born and reared within the parish. What does this mean for my club”.
Fintan Ward of Cratloe in response to the comments from the floor outlined, “I am from Cratloe bu for the past number of years I live in Bunratty so, technically my club would be Newmarket-on-Fergus. I have got three kids and I am a five minute drive from Cratloe GAA pitch and I would like my kids to continue to play for Cratloe”.
On a show of hands the motion was heavily defeated.
