Focus turns to upcoming GAA conventions

As the GAA playing season draws to a close, attention switches to indoor activities and the upcoming conventions of the various boards.
Bord na nÓg football will have a new chairman for 2012 as Billy Archbold from St Breckan’s has completed five years in the post and is obliged by rule to step down. All other members of the executives in this board, Bord na nÓg Iomaint and the county committee are eligible to continue for another term, if re-appointed.
County convention will not be electing a youth officer at this year’s gathering. Sandra Reynolds, who is the secretary of the underage hurling board, currently fills the post.
Instead of a youth officer, each board will have a children’s officer who will be selected as opposed to elected.
The annual convention of the county committee will take place in mid-December and if discussions and board meetings in recent months are any indication, then there should be plenty of debate at this gathering.
It’s likely that changes in the format of a number of competitions will be   considered as delegates seek to get competitions completed earlier in the season. However, it remains to be seen if the clubs will support a call for a reduction in the number of senior teams in both hurling and football in the county. This has been mooted by some delegates this season, most recently by O’Curry’s chairman Michael Curtin at the October meeting of the board.
The Ennis-based accountant, who is chairman of the board’s audit committee, called for a full review of competition structures in the county and suggested that “radical changes” are called for. He posed the question if there are 20 hurling and 16 football senior teams in the county. A number of people have called for a reduction in the number of teams at this grade in recent times and it’s thought a proposal will come before convention aimed at bringing about such a reduction over the next few years.
As clubs in rural parishes across the county continue to struggle to field teams due to the continuing increase in the numbers emigrating, it’s expected that there will be proposals to allow for more amalgamations, while there are also likely to be calls that will allow for some competitions between teams of nine, 11 and 13 a side.
Curtin’s proposal for the setting up of a committee that will consider such proposals was accepted by the October meeting when the chairman, Michael O’Neill, undertook to have the committee in place for the November meeting, which is scheduled for next Tuesday. The new committee is, according to Curtin’s proposal, to have their recommendations ready for county convention.