The annual convention of Bord na nÓg hurling took place last Thursday at the Auburn Lodge Hotel in Ennis. Sports Editor Seamus Hayes reports

 

ADDRESSING what he said was the last convention of Bord na nÓg hurling at the Auburn Lodge Hotel on Thursday night last, chairman Martin Reynolds said the decision to select, rather than elect, officers from next year onwards “is taking power away from the clubs but it’s the rule and we have to obey”.
Acknowledging the clubs and mentors for “the way they have promoted hurling in the clubs”, he said he wanted to pay “a special tribute to the mentors of the lesser teams, the Bs, the Cs and the Ds, who don’t get into the sunshine as much as the A teams”.
“There is tremendous credit due to them for supporting their clubs. They are the unsung heroes of the GAA. It’s very easy to become a mentor with an A team, if you think that team has a chance of winning a championship and getting the glory but I think the credit is due to the people who look after the lesser teams within the club,” he said.
Paying tribute to the referees, he said, “They are a much-maligned group. We have a panel who have never let us down. It’s very disappointing to hear all the criticism that is levelled at them from clubs that should know better and from clubs that don’t even have a referee themselves.
“It’s very easy to criticise a referee but those that don’t put forward people to referee games should shut up. They should put up or shut up.”
He went on to deal with the abuse of referees and officials at matches.
“This year, our disciplinary committee has dealt more with mentors than players, which is a sad reflection on the people that are looking after underage teams. Mentors are appointed by clubs and as far as this board is concerned, the responsibility for the actions and carry-on of the mentors is, from here on in, going to rest with the clubs.
“Suspending mentors is a waste of time and from next year on, any time a mentor is up before the board for abuse of an official, he will be fined. I draw your attention to the fact that the minimum fine is €200 and we will implement it because, at the end of the day, the mentors appointed by the club are supposed to be vetted by the gardaí and supposed to be responsible people, who have children in their care.
“Mentors who move up and down the sideline using bad language and abusing referees are not the example you want to see for young lads. I want every club here to have no doubt in their minds that from March when mentors are reported for abusing referees, their clubs will be fined a minimum of €200.”
He went on, “The referees have to take a share of the responsibility in this and it’s understandable in some cases when mentors see a wrong decision but I have been at games this year where every decision made has been questioned.
“We have met with the referees and we have agreed that in the new year, we will invite the chairman and secretary of all the clubs with any mentors they wish to come here to a meeting and the referees’ association will be here and hopefully we will have a frank discussion to see if we can cut out what is going on. It has to stop.”
The Clarecastle clubman said racial abuse raised its “ugly” head during the year.
“We are living in a multi-cultural society now, where we have people from outside the jurisdiction playing our games. Because they don’t look like us or because the colour of their skin is different to ours doesn’t give anyone a right to racially abuse them. There will be zero tolerance from this board and I want that message to go out loud and clear.”
He went on to acknowledge all the officers of the county board and he paid tribute to treasurer Bernard Keane, secretary Pat Fitzgerald and chairman Michael O’Neill, who completes his five-year term next week.
“He has been chairman of the county board during the successful period for underage hurling,” he said.
He relation to Fitzgerald, he said he is “without question the hardest working official of the county board, sometimes a much-maligned official and is one of the best administrators I have ever come across. He will tell it as it is. Sometimes you won’t like it and sometimes you will but you will get no bum steers.”
Dealing with the implementation of the rules, he said, “We are a sub-committee of Clare County Board and it’s our job to run competitions as per the rule and it’s our job to implement the rules as they are written.
“We have had a lot of discussion this year about isolated players and the rules pertaining to them. We didn’t make that rule. We implemented it. Every club in this county went to an adult board meeting and voted unanimously to pass that motion, which was submitted to Croke Park and passed.
“If the bylaw is changed, we will implement it. If it’s not changed, we will implement the present one,” stated Reynolds.
Concluding, he paid tribute to his fellow officers, particularly secretary Sandra Reynolds.

 

 

Promotion of underage hurling the primary aim

“THE promotion of underage hurling in the county is the primary aim of Bord na nÓg Iomaint and this year, we have witnessed very competitive and entertaining games,” secretary Sandra Reynolds told the convention in her detailed report.
She paid tribute to the schools for their work in promoting the games. Congratulating the various winners, she complimented Kilmaley on representing Clare in the national Féile finals in Dublin and Chris Costelloe from Wolfe Tones, who competed in the skills competitions.
Many tributes were paid to the Clooney-Quin official for her work as secretary.

Club-of-the-year awards
THE annual Bord na nÓg hurling club-of-the-year awards were presented at last week’s convention. Kilmaley were named as the winners in the A section and chairman Martin Reynolds presented the award to their delegate, Noel Clancy.
Inagh-Kilnamona were the winners in the B section, with Whitegate claiming the award in the C division.

Development squads
FORMER board chairman Sean O’Halloran, one of the co-ordinators of the development squads’ programme, paid tribute to the clubs, coaches and county board for their help.
Responding to suggestions by the Bord na nÓg chairman that consideration is being given to changing the dates of the U-16 championship next year, he urged the executive to “think carefully before deciding, as the squad system starts at the time you are looking at. I would urge you to tease it out more.”

Finance
BORD na nÓg Iomaint had an excess of income over expenditure of €8,001.01 in 2012, treasurer Joe O’Donnell reported.
Gate receipts for the year amounted to €21,331 with sponsorship realising €2,250, while fines brought in €600.
Trophies cost €3,465 and the treasurer informed the delegates a major overhaul of all of the board’s cups was carried out during the year.
Transport cost €3,720, telephone €2,308, catering €1,202, printing €1,560.71 and administration €1,381. The total expenditure for the year was € 16,572.99.

Motions
NINE motions were on the agenda for discussion and five of these were referred to the fixtures/structures committee.
A motion from Cratloe, which asked that if clubs wish to amalgamate, “they should maintain the same amalgamation for all age groups and should not be allowed to pick and choose clubs depending on the strength of the age group in question”, was carried without opposition.
Another proposal from the same club, asking that “amalgamated teams should play in Division 1 only”, was ruled out of order.

Executive
ALL of the outgoing officers were returned, without opposition, for another term. They are chairman, Martin Reynolds (Clarecastle); vice-chairman, Joe Pender (Newmarket); secretary, Sandra Reynolds (Clooney-Quin); assistant secretary, John Culligan (Clooney-Quin); treasurer, Joe O’Donnell (Cratloe); assistant treasurer, Tommy Hegarty (Clarecastle) and PRO, Tom Sheehan.

Tributes
COUNTY board officers Michael O’Neill (chairman), Pat Fitzgerald (secretary) and Bernard Keane (treasurer) all addressed the gathering and paid tribute to all involved in Bord na nÓg.
John Smith, chairman of Bord na nÓg Peil, acknowledged the officers for their co-operation during the season.

Candidates have their say
BOTH candidates in next week’s county convention contest for the position of chairman, Noel O’Driscoll (O’Callaghan’s Mills) and Michael McDonagh (Miltown, St Joseph’s) addressed the delegates.