The chairman: in his own words

On Tuesday night next Michael O’Neill will step down from the post of chairman of Clare GAA, having served his five-year term. He spoke to Sports Editor Seamus Hayes about what he sees as the major issues facing the organisation in the coming years

 

Since his schooldays, Michael O’Neill has been actively involved in the GAA, an organisation he describes as “the most democratic and most open in the world”.
He plans to continue his involvement with the games he loves. Emigration, dual players, fixture schedules, and club v county decisions are issues he says the GAA must resolve. He also believes it is time for someone from Clare elected as association president. “We should be pushing somebody from Clare to be president sometime in the next ten years,” he notes.

 

Club v county and dual clubs

“The club v county question is something that is still causing friction and it’s something that has to be worked on. It’s only since the qualifiers came in that it has caused problems.

“There is so much pressure on now that if you do lose in the Munster Championship, there is pressure on straight away to do well in the qualifiers; that wasn’t the way 15 years ago.

“Before, if you were beaten in May, which wasn’t right either, you were gone out of the championship that meant you had the whole summer to play club games.

“Now, no matter what, it’s going to be July at the earliest before a county is out but the clubs went for the master fixtures play. There was a fair deal of work put into preparing a programme last year and outside of the U-21 football, I thought there was a good job done. I wouldn’t have agreed with the U-21 football going back to when it did but the clubs voted for it. One or two questioned it but there was no major resistance,” the Ballyea clubman said this week.

“Dual clubs are a bigger issue than the dual county player. Most of the dual clubs are strong in both codes. In my opinion, it is not possible to give a commitment to both at inter-county level. Inter-county players need to be preparing five nights a week the whole year round if they want to be at the top table. In Clare most of our dual clubs are down the middle of the county. We are struggling with de-population in the west and east.

“Dual players are likely to give their commitment to hurling because of the higher profile it enjoys. The club v county issue is a massive one but I don’t have all the answers,” he said.
In relation to the national league format, O’Neill says he favours a system of four evenly divided groups in football.

“Playing in Division 4 and then been drawn against a team that could have been All-Ireland champions the year before doesn’t help. It’s not possible to get up to that standard overnight. In hurling we need to keep going the way we are.”

Commenting on the recently announced recommendations by the National Football Review Committee, O’Neill says the main thing is that the recommendations are given time. “There are some I agree with and some I don’t but they must be given time,” he said.

‘We must get Cusack Park surface right’
Agreeing that “we must get the Cusack Park playing surface right”, O’Neill pointed out that “the weather we have had in recent years has been the worst for many, many years, possibly 15”.

“We did a job in the park around 2000 and it worked fairly well but the amount of teams training on it and the amount of games over the past ten years has been huge.

“The work that has been done on the park has been very important. We are verti-draining it on a regular basis and I hope it is just to tease out the problems with the drainage.

“When Caherlohan comes on board, there won’t be as much training on it except coming up to championship matches when all teams will want to train there. A lot of training has been taking place in Clareabbey in recent times,” he continued.

“Getting up the capacity at Cusack Park is a priority and I will be working with the incoming chairman to get that done. There will be a carry over for six to 12 months.

“I will still be chairing the Caherlohan project which, when available, will ease a certain amount of pressure. It’s the project we need badly in the county. The pitches and the buildings etc will cost in the region of €2.1 million that will be more or less paid for.

“The best part of half a million has been spent on the park over the last five years. We need to spend at least that, if not twice as much, over the next two or three years. If we are lucky enough to get the bit of ground at the town end, it would enable us to upgrade and bring the capacity back up. That would attract bigger games and we may be in a position to have discussions on home and away championship games.”
The opening of the county headquarters at Clareabbey has been a great asset to Clare GAA.

“It’s open practically 24/7. Treasurer Bernard Keane is always available, so am I and certainly the secretary is.”

Development squads
“The hurling development squads are working well under Sean O’Halloran, while people like Eamonn Keane and Michael Nealon are doing a lot on the football front.

“The clubs are doing mighty work in difficult times but there are still some clubs out there who must do more.

“The success of the minors is a reflection of the success of the development squads. The next three years will really tell and the same applies to football, the minor footballers were only four points away from Kerry,” he noted.

Floodlit games
O’Neill agrees that floodlit games might help the fixture schedule. “Playing games on Saturday or Friday night would release players on Saturday and Sunday. It has a place. It would create a better atmosphere How to pencil it in is the big thing. In Clare we have a number of pitches with floodlighting for games. However, weather is still a problem.”

Role of club officer
Mr O’Neill believes the role of the club officer has become greater. “It is more time consuming. There probably is more paperwork now than ever. Technology has helped but the role of the club officer has multiplied and a lot of time is required.

“There are more people involved in the majority of clubs but some clubs are still struggling. When some people are elected into positions, they are often not appreciated by some of the people in the club and that should not be the case,” according to the Ballyea man.

GAA’s important role
“The GAA has a very important role to play, it is so important to community life and the nation as a whole needs the GAA, more so now that ever before. I would hate to see the day when it would change from a voluntary organisation to a professional one.

“I have no problem with players being looked after with expenses, particularly county players. There are many club players who would not look for a penny for travelling to play for their club, they have huge pride in their native places,” according to the outgoing chairman.

“There has been a big change, particularly in relation to the economy, in the last five years. There is not as much money there now and there is less sponsorship available.

“We have to adjust accordingly to the fact that money is not as freely available. It has brought back a touch of reality again. The cost of preparing teams is greater. We have to look after players.

“Counties have to bring in the experts with regard to medical issues, physios, strength and conditioning, diets etc. It’s costing money on the one hand but it’s helping to avoid injury,” says O’Neill.
On the issue of finance he said that “inter-county teams might have cost more but we also brought in more. If you want success it will cost a little more. We had a round less in the football championship but there were a few replays. Hurlers did well in the league and it brought in more money.”

Emigration
“Emigration is an area all to itself. If we sat down five years ago, the word emigration would not come into the discussion, not an issue pre-2007.

“I saw a slowdown in May and June 2007 but I could never have envisaged a slowdown to the extent we now have. It is worldwide. People had to leave to get employment. Those who emigrate to places like Australia and Canada go for a few years and maybe for longer.”
He agrees amalgamations are on the way but said that, “hopefully clubs will be able to keep their own identity even if it means fielding teams at 11-a-side”.

Support needed for Shannon airport
O’Neill is strong in the view that everyone needs to support Shannon airport. “I would hope that the moves re Shannon at the minute will be to the benefit of the region. Dublin is Dublin but from the midlands to the west and south-west has to be catered for and Shannon did that well for years. But for some reason it lost its appeal, mainly for lack of support.

“Brendan O’Regan was a visionary who saw to it that Shannon was top of the priority list. We need more drive for Shannon and we need everybody working together. Now is the time to correct it and bring it back up to where it was.”

Refereeing
O’Neill notes that “Compared with other sports, particularly rugby, the referee has the total respect of the players and the crowd even though he might be as right or wrong as a GAA referee in his decision. If the GAA was to introduce the TMO as in rugby, would the crowd have the same patience? I doubt it.”

He believes linesmen should have more power. “The linesmen, four umpires and the fourth official make up eight officials at a game, which is more than enough. I would be very slow to go for a second referee.”

Family support
O’Neill is adamant that family support is vital for those who hold office in the GAA. “My family is steeped in the GAA. I was chairman of my club when I was 18 or 19. We all saw what the late Michael McTigue, was putting into the game. He convinced me to be chairman of the club. I have been involved in administration for many years.”

In 1987 he got involved in Bord na nÓg. He says he spent “little time in the rearing of my three children but I got full support from them and particularly from my wife”.
“If it wasn’t for that support I could not see how anyone could give the commitment. We used to go to matches together. It’s important for those coming in not to forget their families, particularly in the times we live in.”

His love of the GAA has clearly rubbed off on his family as his daughter is the Ballyea club treasurer while his son, now living in Tipperary, continues to play for the club.
“They are all passionate about the GAA. The backup from home is vital, as is the backup of the community and we are fortunate in Ballyea to have a vibrant community,” according to O’Neill who is looking forward to “spending more time with my grandson”.
He also singled out his late brother Frank as a great influence. “He was involved in every organisation in Ballyea, credit union, community centre, parish council. He was a hardworking official in these and that rubbed off in me. You have to have that support,” he stressed.

“Community life is vital. I have never left Ballyea. I still live there. I go to as many matches as time allows. I hope to get to more now. Many people came to Ballyea in the good times and they all got involved in some parish organisation.”

No regrets
Despite the amount of time required, O’Neill says he never regretted getting involved in the GAA.
“That’s coming from the background I came from. Nobody twisted my arm to do the job.”

He admits that “It’s an ambition I had for a number of years and I enjoyed it fully. I never lost sleep over it. If I felt it was impacting on my family, I would have stepped aside.

“You have to be able to get the balance right. There is up to 60 hours a week involved in the GAA outside of my 40 to 45 hours at my work. It’s great to have had the privilege. I will continue to be involved. If more people got involved they would get enjoyment out of it. I would like to think that I have dealt with people in a fair way,” he said.

O’Neill stresses that he “loves hurling and football and I am, naturally, delighted to see my clubs, Ballyea and Clondegad making such progress. They won their respective U-21A titles this year, having won the B titles in the last few years. There has been massive progress and many proud moments. The day you lose where you come from, you have lost everything,” he said.

The Clare chairman is currently involved in a committee in Croke Park and will be, he says, “for the next two to three years. I am also involved in a number of committees in Clare”.