How the Donegal GAA Co Convention has changed over the years

Since the first ever meeting of the GAA in Mountcharles in 1905, Co Convention has a chequered history in the county, although the version which will take place on Wednesday night of next week in Jackson’s Hotel, Ballybofey will be much changed from that of 30 and 40 years ago.

The arrival of the internet, emails and mobile phones has changed life in general, and the GAA Co Convention has been no different.

What used to take a full day (normally when there was snow or frost) in January, will now be condensed into two or three hours with minimal debate and most of the decisions made long before the occasion even commences.

Many of the changes have been for the good but the standout difference between the GAA of today and the GAA of 50 years ago is the sheer volume of activity. The increase in participation and (since the arrival of success at intercounty level) expectation makes the workload of those returned at Convention with running the task of looking after the affairs of the county a massive undertaking.

Up until 1997 when the Intermediate championship began, you had just two adult championships, senior and junior; no reserve championships; a very small number of underage games.

The GAA of the 1970s compared with 2023 were worlds apart. And looking through the archives, a look at the run-in and reports on the Donegal Convention of 1969 (held in January 1970) make interesting reading.

The total expenditure for the year was £3,092. There was a profit of £300 (due mainly to Donegal reaching the league quarter-final in Croke Park). But there were warnings from delegates that due to their being a deficit remaining of £166 in the accounts that costs needed to be curtailed.

One delegate queried why there were  13 subs travelling to intercounty games and that it should be curtailed to six.

But the one big statistic from that year was for the eight positions on offer (there were far fewer positions back then, no PRO, Oifigeach na Gaeltachta, Coaching Officer, Hurling Officer, Asst Treasurer) there were 200 nominees.  There were also 57 motions down for decision.

This week we spoke to two delegates who would have been ever-present at Conventions going back 40  years, Aodh Ruadh’s John Travers and Terence McGinley with St Naul’s and latterly Naomh Ultan.

“The one thing I remember most is the number of delegates that were at Convention  back then. There were three per club and we had an adult club, an underage club and a hurling club. So we had nine delegates. I remember going to Gaoth Dobhair once and we had to rope in any victim to make up the numbers,” said John Travers.

“You needed a very big room and the rooms needed to be big and they were packed. 

John Travers, Aodh Ruadh delegate

“The voting proceedings then were much more drawn out. There would also have been many votes. Nowadays the names are out there and people withdraw before the day.

“There were a lot of speakers and the votes went on and on. There were also a lot of speakers and I’m mentioning no names.

“Another thing then was that you had people reading out their reports. Nowadays the reports are taken as read and are circulated in advance. The streamlining of reports and the printing of them in advance means that Convention could be over now in two and a half hours.

“There used to be a break for dinner and at the end people used to go for their tea. It used to be an incentive that we’ll have steaks and the club will play for it,” laughs Travers.

He remembers the Millstone Hotel in Ballyshannon being packed in the 1980s and long meetings were part and parcel of not just Conventions but Co Boards as well, with some of them in Irish.

“Canvassing, that went on and was a major part of the excitement. Of course canvassing was not supposed to happen,” laughs Travers, who also said it was a badge of honour to be returned unopposed.

Of course that has changed now with term limits. “One good thing that has come about. People are there now and make their contribution and are not there for a lifetime.”

And while he agrees the level of volunteerism at county level is dwindling, he feels it is not at club level.

“Probably not at club level, but yes at county level. The demands on the principal officers, apart from the financial demands, budgets of millions to run a county board now, the demands with social media comments and issues that can become a major headache for officers, you didn’t have that in the past.”

He feels the big change that has taken place at club level is the arrival of women’s football.

“The amalgamation of Ladies football at club level, which is long overdue at county and national level, has changed the whole dynamic, certainly of clubs.

“That’s why I say you have far more volunteers now, because you have volunteers who are women as well as men.

“The whole ethos of clubs has changed. We (Aodh Ruadh) wouldn’t have won as many senior championships as in the past but the club is a far bigger unit now than it ever was, far, far bigger. The level of activity now is far greater in every club.

“The likes of Noreen Doherty, who was the first female to be involved and since then there have been quite a few and that really would have changed things.”

And Travers sees that continuing with the imminent election of Mary Coughlan as the first female chairperson in Donegal next Wednesday night.

“She obviously has a lot of experience and she has been involved with her club for the last 10 or 11 years. I did notice that the negative comments on social media would have started already, the political sort of stuff.

“She has served her apprenticeship with her club and I don’t envy her the position,” said Travers.

The Ballyshannon man has been involved with the Aodh Ruadh club throughout his life, being chairman at 24, and he has strong views on the GAA. “When it comes to election it can be a very parochial thing,” said Travers, who pointed out that he is also involved in the Irish Amateur Drama where you are vice-chairman for two years, chairman for two years, president for two years and vice-president for two years.

“I’ll finish my eight years next year. You are learning the ropes coming in and then you are not gone at the end. It’s about bringing people into areas where they have expertise.

“I think that’s where the GAA needs to change. There is the pretence of democracy about voting but sometimes you don’t get the right people in the jobs.”

And as for characters, especially at Convention, one name springs to mind immediately. “Oh Paddy Beag Gillespie. He was the classic.”

But while elections brought a certain amount of friction, Travers feels that they were left in the room

“You could have rows at Convention or at county board meetings, but if you meet the people the following week on the street, you knew you were part of a bigger organisation and it was left in the boardroom.

“I never had any personal experience of animosity towards me over the years. It’s one of the strengths of the GAA, you might have rows on the field or in the boardroom but those things are put aside when games are over.”

His biggest worry now around the GAA is the advent of social media which gives a voice to all and sundry.

“You see people calling for the resignation of the county board. Sure the county board is the officers and every club and it’s the clubs that elect the officers. So if they want to change it, they can change it themselves.

“If you look at the profile making these comments, they don’t live in the county at all and maybe don’t live in the country. And they certainly don’t have any involvement. But everybody now has their opinion.”

As for Conventions he says: “My main memory was the tediousness of the very, very long meetings. Some people who knew all the rules, they would speak the longest.

“But the opposite can now be true that people don’t speak because they feel that decisions are already made or else they don’t want to put their head above the parapet and maybe be subjected to abuse online.”

TERENCE MCGINLEY

Another delegate who represented St Naul’s as chairman in the late 1960s and then Naomh Ultan, was Terence McGinley, who said Conventions were a big day out.

“You  would look forward to meeting people. It used to be on a Sunday and go on for the whole day. And there was plenty of debate not like today.

“Even county board meetings now, you can’t talk on anything unless you have a request in before the meeting.”

Convention was a big day with the club delegates heading off in one car. But it was different to nowadays with all the technology there is

“There were some great reports but you would have to go through it all on the day.

“Convention went around all the areas of the county, Inishowen, Gaoth Dobhair, Dungloe and you had plenty of characters, the likes of Paddy Beag (Gillespie), Naomh Columba and Frankie Tom (Gallagher), Killybegs.

“Characters like Paddy Beag Gillespie. Paddy would spend some time on the high stool when we would be in at the meeting and then he would come in and would come up with some good quotes,” says McGinley.

Terence McGinley pictured at Convention

“There were lots of canvassing on the day, definitely. There might have been the odd ‘phone call but there was no other way of communicating. There were only landlines then.”

When I put it to him that there were 200 nominees and 57 motions at what was his first Convention in 1969, he replied.

“It was no wonder it took the whole day and a good bit of the night. But that day’s gone now. If you told that to the younger people now, they wouldn’t listen to you.”

One of the changes that has taken place in the last 10 or 15 years is the length of service an officer can serve and Naomh Ultan were central to the most recent change.

“It was Naomh Ultan who proposed the five year plan for chairman. I felt that it was too short and that with the five years it gave a new chairman the chance to put his stamp on things. The three year term was over too soon.”

McGinley remembers when the late Hugh Daly was secretary for 23 years and Noreen Doherty also served for 15 years.

“There was nothing wrong with that back then and the secretary had a lot of work to do back then.”

He agrees that there is no comparison to the GAA of that time and the amount of teams and facilities that clubs have now.

“A lot of clubs had just one team, and now all clubs have two teams and some clubs have three teams. The underage is much bigger. There is more work to be done now at all levels of the club.

“Convention gives people a chance to be elected and it is up to the clubs to vote for the right person if there is a vote.”

And what about the upcoming election of his neighbour as the first woman chairperson.

“As I always say, whoever comes in, you have to give them a chance and see how they perform.

“It used to be one position and then handed on to another.

“It will be different.  It is not easy to get people to take positions now, especially at club level. You get people coming to meetings but it’s different when you need people to take a position.”

But like John Travers, McGinley says that the integration of ladies football into clubs is the one big plus over the last 30 years.

Wednesday night next will see a new team of leaders elected to run the affairs of Donegal GAA for 2024. How things have changed on so many fronts from Conventions of the past.

An iconic picture of Paddy Beag Gillespie at Convention