Munster show yellow card to Clare over fixtures

THERE were only Clare men in the room when officials from the Munster Council and Clare GAA met this week to discuss an alleged change by Clare to the county’s masters fixtures schedule.

Robert Frost (chairman) and Simon Moroney (CEO) represented Munster council, while Michael McDonagh (chairman), Pat Fitzgerald (secretary), Bernard Keane (treasurer), Eamonn Fennessy (coaching officer) and Sean Chaplin (Clare Games manager).

The issue was raised at a recent meeting of the association’s management committee in Croke Park when, it is understood, a claim was made that Clare had altered their fixtures schedule without seeking permission from the Provincial body.

According to rule, all counties must submit their masters fixtures plan each year to the provincial body and after that, changes can only be made with the consent of the respective provincial council.

Speaking following Tuesday’s meeting, which took place at Clareabbey, Clare secretary Pat Fitzgerald said, “We had a discussion on the claim that fixtures were changed. Munster pointed out that they didn’t have our fixtures booklet but they accepted that we didn’t change anything.”

Robert Frost was unavailable on Wednesday but speaking on Tuesday ahead of the meeting, he confirmed that the meeting had been called. “The issue came up at the last management meeting and Munster were directed to investigate and report back,” he said.

In the Clare fixtures booklet, copies of which were distributed to all clubs in the county back in March, round 2 of the senior and intermediate hurling championships are listed provisionally for June 29/30 and also listed for the weekend of August 17 and 18

The provisional listing for last weekend (June 29/30) was dependent on Clare qualifying for the Munster final.

At the June meeting of the board which was held in Scariff, delegates voted not to go ahead with games on the last weekend in June due to the fact that they would not know until the previous Sunday evening whether the matches would be taking place. Instead they voted to stand by the masters fixtures plan and play the round 2 games in August.

Both Robert Frost and Simon Moroney attended the June meeting of the Clare board to promote ticket packages on behalf of the Provincial body.

While the matter may be put to bed for now, Clare officials seem determined to learn who, initially, brought the matter before the management committee.