Off the Post: Local media in the dark as managerial issue to be addressed

Tomorrow night’s the night when hopefully all the “will he, won’t he?'' speculation about Donegal manager Declan Bonner will finally be resolved when the county committee meets in Convoy.

It needs to be resolved either way as there are some serious issues to be addressed in relation to the county team and the style of football being played. But this matter should have been settled already and not let drag on in the manner that it has.
However it is still worth pointing out that it is the clubs who have the power to ultimately decide this matter either. They as the county committee collective are the ultimate ruling body while the Executive are tasked with the day to day running of the association.

Brian McEniff made a very sensible call a few weeks ago for the management issue to be sorted by the time of the championship. And if there is to be a change tomorrow tonight, then it would be possible to do that.

McEniff is backing Bonner to stay if that is what he wants, so if Bonner decides to stay and there are no counter proposals then the county should accept it. As stated many times, his service is unrivalled and he owes the county nothing.
But there is an on-going matter of more long-term concern and that is that the local media are excluded from full county committee meetings.

For years the more conservative elements of the GAA operated on a “knowledge is power” stance and I remember some particularly arrogant major GAA figures and a few counties who regarded the press as mushrooms to be kept in the dark.
It was a major step back by those who rule the GAA in Donegal and one wonders what they are afraid of?

Diver feels Naomh Conaill have what it takes to retain league crown

Kilcar are the only side to have beaten Naomh Conaill in the All-County Football League in three years but Damien Diver feels Martin Regan's should shade the Division 1 final this Saturday

And it is not really all about us getting a big back page story. The monthly meeting is full of valuable titbits of information for clubs throughout the county - ordinary things which are important to them. Instead, it is left to the delegates to let their club know what has happened.

And if a delegate is of a cynical nature he/she might omit certain things they did not want out in the public domain. This might only be a tiny minority of delegates but that mentality suits the suits very well in quite a number of counties.
If the local reporter is there, the public will at least get a flavour of what went on with no local or other agendas. Secret government is always a bad government.

And the ban is more puzzling as, like many other counties, Donegal has the old reliable called the Executive Meeting where more “thorny issues” can be discussed.

So again, you would wonder what are they afraid of? But arbitrary decisions like these are part of a wider plan by those in power to have a compliant media, a bit like a pet alsation with no teeth.

Those who rule us in the wider sphere have realised that he/she who controls the media controls the message.
I am not suggesting that those who run the GAA in Donegal are this extreme, but in banning the media from reporting county committee meetings they are leaving the county open to potentially all kinds of unhealthy rumours, half- truths and speculation.

And this burden should not be put on delegates who are doing their best to represent their clubs. Of course when the press are present some delegates like to do a bit of grandstanding which annoys those in power. But better a grandstanding delegate in full public view than meetings that are becoming more like a secret society. Even more concerning is the ban on players talking to the media before important matches and in Donegal’s case only if they win that important match.

Holy God, when did they start to lose the run of themselves so much and this is not confined to Donegal. And it really grinds my gears to see ”amateur” players refusing to talk to the press, often at the behest of paranoid managers and then singing like canaries at a gig where they are getting paid.

And that is fine too, but how about a bit of perspective lads, it is a game about a ball filled with air-not a matter of life and death. So bring back the press in to cover county committee meetings and stop this “It’s my ball and you can’t play with it” mentality.