Tullamore officers hope new parentage rule will clear up anomalies across Offaly GAA

AWARE that there will be questioning glances at the county's biggest club and population centre putting forward a motion that could expand their playing base, Tullamore GAA Club are very keen to explain their reasons to the wider GAA community.

They have submitted a motion to Offaly GAA Convention in December asking that a new parentage rule be added to the county's century old parish rule. The new addition to the Offaly bye laws will allow players play with a club outside the parish they live in if it can be demonstated that a strong family connection (via a parent or guardian) can be established with that club.

It is submitted specifically to deal with a local controversy where an investigation was carried out into the legality of young players living in Cappincur who had played games with Tullamore. The County Board ruled that the parish rule must apply for all grades and Tullamore were warned not to play or register these players.

Their motion was submitted in the wake of that but Tullamore GAA Club have stated that it will benefit far more than them as well as claiming that they will lose more players that they will gain. Club chairman Paul Dillane revealed on Tuesday morning that they have identified 28 players living in Tullamore but playing in different parishes and he stated that they have no intention of pursuing those, even if their motion is defeated.

Their motion will prove controversial as it aims to dillute a rule that has been the cornerstone of Offaly GAA since being introduced in 1909. The parish rule means that a player must first play with a club in the parish in which he lives – there are borders between a handful of clubs in some parishes, and these determine a players' club in those cases.

Tullamore GAA are aware that they will have their work cut out to get the motion passed – it requires a 60% majority - and have decided to contact every club to explain their reasons for it. An email was sent to club secretaries at the weekend and follow up contacts have begun since then. They have discovered that it affects far more than Tullamore and a lot of clubs have cases of players either playing or wanting to play with them but living elsewhere – in almost all these cases, they are playing with the club of their father.

Tullamore don't expect that their motion will result in the widespread movement of children outside of parishes and stress that it can only apply where a strong family connection can be proven between a club and a parent or guardian.

The full text of the Tullamore motion is:

“A person seeking to become a member of the Association shall be restricted to joining a club in the catchment area of his residence or a club to which he has “Other Relevant Connection” as defined below
“Other relevant connection – a member shall be regarded to having “Other Relevant Connection” with a catchment area if:
“It has been demonstrated to the satisfaction of the CCCC that a strong family connection i.e. parents/guardians exists between the player and the club with which the players wishes to become a member.
“Application from a Member to become a member of a club outside his catchment area shall be submitted in writing to An Runai Chontae on or before January 28th of each year.”

In an interview on Tuesday morning, Vice chairman Tom Moloney said:

“The reality is this is looking at families. Families are the core of any club and if you look at every club in the county, there is strong family connections within them clubs. Now we have a situation with housing and modern society, it is not always possible to live in the parish you want to live in. You mightn't be able to get planning permission or whatever the case may be and this is to allow the kids of committed family people within the GAA community to give them the opportunity to play where their fathers and grandfathers and all before them played.

“That is an option, it is not necessarily for everybody. Another thing that is very important, we acknowledge and respect the parish rule. This is an addendum to that. The first option is you play where you live and then if you wanted to bring in this other relevant connection, that is there. The reality is most people will play where they live. This is not going to start the movement of children all over the county.”

When it was suggested that small clubs will question this motion coming from Tullamore because of the town's size, Paul Dillane replied:

“The reality is we will end up losing more players than we will gain. You look at the way planning is going in the country, it is all in urban centres now. People from rural areas and villages will probably have to live in Tullamore. This will give an avenue for their kids to play where they grew up. We still respect the parish rule. It is what the county is built on but this supplements it and it probably clears up a lot of anomalies in the county at the moment with guys playing for clubs where their mammies and daddies are from. This makes them legal now.”

Both Paul Dillane and Tom Moloney acknowledged the importance of the parish rule to Offaly and have stated that they want this to remain but with an addendum that will allow for unique cases as well as acknowledging the social changes in Ireland.

Mr Dillane remarked: “We know of 27-28 playing outside our parish in Tullamore and it is not something we are going to be going after. At the end of the day, these are kids playing with clubs their mammies and daddies are from and we have no problem with that. This makes it legal for those kids to play with those clubs and it tidies up a lot of issues for the County Board. We also think the way society has gone, sometimes mammies and daddies are not living together any more and you could have a child living inside the town with the mother and his dad is from outside the town. This gives him the avenue to play with that club. The family unit isn't what it used to be when the parish rule was brought in. Society is changing as a whole. It is something the GAA needs to look at as well to make it okay or legal for a kid to play where his family is from while still respecting the parish rule.”

When it was suggested that the motion was a bit loosely phrased about the definition of a parent's or guardian's connection to a club and would need to be tied down more, Mr Moloney stated that it would be up to the Competitions Control Committee to adjudicate on each application and they would accept their decisions.

Mr Moloney wants the parish rule to remain the abiding principle of Offaly GAA.

“It is the bedrock of the GAA in Offaly and the bottom line is this supplements it. There is no attempt here to do away with the parish rule. If this goes through, great and if not we will respect the decision.”

He has also been surprised by the number of clubs in similar type situations to Tullamore.

“I found it affects a lot more than Tullamore. As a club we have committed to contacting every club and explaining where we are coming from. We will respect their decision. Even in a phone call this morning, I discovered how difficult people are finding it to get planning permission in their local area. People that are playing or have played senior football in their parish, there is not a hope that they will live in that parish. They have to go to the nearby town or whatever the case may be.

“As it stands at the minute, their children are basically playing with the club of their father. That will continue and this legalises it. No one has a corner on this. This benefits everyone. It is in Laois ten years and you are talking about a handful of applications each year,” concluded Mr Moloney.

CLICK ON THE LINK TO READ MORE DETAILS ON THE PROPOSAL

Controversial Tullamore motion aims to introduce parentage rule into Offaly GAA