Naomh Ultan hit out at Killybegs’ ‘granny rule’ motion

On a night when a number of motions were on the Clár and voted on, a Killybegs one re-ignited the thorny issue of GAA boundaries within the county. 

The motion, which was moved by Ed Byrne, called for underage players to be allowed to play for the club where their grandparents came from if they moved to another club area. 

It read as follows: A person seeking to become a member of the association, shall be restricted to joining a club in the catchment area of his permanent residence or a club, which he has a relevant connection. 

The relevant connection is: (A): A sibling of the player in question is already registered and is currently eligible to play in official competitions for the club which the player wishes to become a member of.  

(B): That the parent(s) of either parent of the member were at the time of his birth resident in the catchment area of the club which the player wishes to become a member of.  

Byrne continued: “It is a first club motion, and we all know that it is the first club that we all have a relevant connection to. Our motion is based on the facts of the rural/urban demographic shifts. 

“The relevant connection here is the grandparents. The biggest challenge facing the clubs in the future as outlined by the GAA in a worrying report in 2019 about rural clubs declining and despite increases in population the rural clubs struggles to provide games while the urban club struggles to cope with the increase in membership. 

“Rural areas have seen the Garda stations and Post Offices closed but the one constant in the community is the GAA club. This motion wants to ensure that Donegal clubs won’t join the shops, the Post Office and the Garda station in being no more”. 

Mr Byrne pointed to the decrease in housing in Donegal as a huge factor in rural parts of Donegal. 

“The movement of population will be from rural to urban areas. This motion gives the child the choice to play for the club in the area where he was born or, the area of which he has a relevant connection. 

“From Glencolmcille to the tip of Donegal Town in the next four years, which is five club areas, we will see 17 social houses built, all in Killybegs. 

“The relevant connection allows anyone living in these houses to return to play for their club once they satisfy the relevant connection. 

“This motion would safeguard the growth of rural clubs in Donegal, and it gives clubs an option and provides certainty that the GAA here remains at the heart of our community for future generations” 

Red Hugh’s delegate Andy Doherty supported the motion saying they were a small rural club and people were moving to larger centres which was a threat, but this could be a way of keeping their players. 

But Pat Keaveney, of Naomh Padraig Muff, said he was “slightly worried about this motion”. 

He said he felt it might not just do what the proposer expected. “It could make things worse. Does it mean that the child can play for any particular club?  If I was from Glenties, can my children now play for Naomh Conaill”. 

In reply Ed Byrne said it went back to the grandparent. “An example of how this works is that Nathan Mullins was born in Donegal and had a connection so he was eligible. 

“We are not suggesting that it should be anything other than a relevant connection. It has to be the grandparents. It is to protect the smaller club”. 

Naomh Ultan delegate Colm Shovlin spoke against the motion labelling “very out of the ordinary. 

He said the grandparents part of the motion smacked of a rule brought out by a professional organisation in the country some time ago. 

“It was commonly known as ‘the granny rule’ where players from the four corners of the world were eligible to play for a certain team. These last few years we in the GAA have been pandering to outside forces. 

“In football, we have marks of all descriptions, systems, penalty shootouts to decide all of our most important matches.  Where did all of this come from? And now the Killybegs club wants to bring in the ‘granny rule’. 

“The GAA is based on the community. Every club relies on the community and some are big and some are small but the bottom line is that the Killybegs club want to extend their community into the heartland of the Naomh Ultan club, pure and simple. 

“This motion is a bare faced attempt to legitimise what is already going on.  That is the blatant disregard for club boundaries and it can also be seen as an attempt to get around the findings of a recent club boundary report. 

“This motion is primarily aimed at under age players of the future. But the Naomh Ultan club feel it is totally unfair if not unethical. Don’t think that this is just about Naomh Ultan. 

“If this motion is passed every club in county, sooner or later, one way or another, will be affected. It is our duty to ensure that the principals of our great organisation are not undermined”. 

The motion was put to the floor and won by 74 votes to 63 but did not succeed as it failed to reach the mandatory 60 per cent majority.