The GAA are finding Newton’s Law very difficult to resolve

Colm O'Rourke

An U-19 tournament could be pathway out of split season headache

Meath players celebrate after winning the Electric Ireland All-Ireland MFC final against Tyrone at Croke Park last August. Photo: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

December 12 2021 02:30 AM

Recently, Joe Brolly wrote in this paper about how the change in age for minor football from 18 to 17 was causing a fall-off at adult level and various luminaries (isn’t that a great word) of the game had made contact with him to endorse his views. This, though, is a very good example of something which seems simple but is, in fact, quite complicated.

There is a bit of a history lesson involved here, not quite back to Napoleon as this change was only made in 2018. That year, the GAA decided to change the minor age to under 17, and under 21 to under 20. This alteration was not taking a sledgehammer to a nut, it was done after careful consideration. What change was ever made in the GAA without careful and deliberate consideration?

The arguments for change were and still are valid. Minor players at 18 were being squeezed in various directions. First of all, many were in their Leaving Cert year and in most counties there was a hectic training schedule at county minor level for a competition which usually started in May, so it did have an impact on exam preparation. Now most young men can cope with that, being a top-class athlete in any sport brings disciplines in time-management and there are the benefits of a healthy lifestyle which improves mental performance.

In fact studies show that a majority of very active sports people perform better in exams than those with a more sedentary lifestyle. A lot of young people hang around, do nothing and complain about pressure and anxiety. For the most part, active students cope well with that. Of course, there is overload and that comes with too much pressure.

I have seen plenty of examples of this phenomenon. As a school principal, my immediate priority is the education of young men. Football — or any sport — comes second, but they should go very well together.

That is all right if there were not so many competing forces at play, literally, in a minor’s football life. For many years I experienced county minor managers who wanted complete access to their players in the spring time as they prepared for the first round of the championship. This would also be right in the middle of the latter stages of the schools championship. We wanted our players, the county wanted them, clubs would be starting their competitions and the best players were being promoted to the adult team in their club.

It caused me a great deal of frustration over a 20-year period when St Pat’s Navan was involved most years in the business end of the championship. Most county boards favoured their own minor manager so often the tug-of-war was at the cost of the best players, who wanted to play for everyone. It was not fair and I often just backed off – the player’s well-being was more important than any football team. If anything ever showed the need for a player welfare officer with power, then these were the situations, where the sheriff needed to put manners on people whose egos ran away with them.

By changing the age from 18 to 17, many of those problems disappeared. Most of the new minors were not doing state exams in either jurisdiction and they also could not play adult football. How often were adult championship matches called off in the past because a club had a county minor away with that team? Fixture-making was made easier.

I probably have more experience of it than most as I have managed at all levels that these players were involved with school, county minor, club minor and adult club so I can see the benefits. However, all sorts of anomalies are now arising. There is no doubt that there are problems at present and I can see all of them myself.

The age limit at school level is far too high for a start. It is now 19 and favours schools in the North with six-year cycles, those with a compulsory Transition Year and those who run a specialised Leaving Cert repeat class.

The vast majority of schools are disadvantaged by this age limit as most students do their Leaving Cert at either 17 or 18. The other anomaly here in schools football is that someone aged 15 or 16 can play against a 19-year-old (man) while he can’t do so in any other competition.

Riddle me that. That rule needs to be amended. As things exist, schools are squeezed again here – some players on county minor panels and the older ones on county under 20 squads.

The age gap between 17 and 20 for competitions is too big and there is a fall off in playing numbers when lads go to third level and find out the delights of life.

Coppers has a lot to answer for!

On top of that, the under 20 club championship in most counties is played off at this time of year and on nights when you would not put out a rumour never mind a game of football.

The other downside of the minor change was that all other age limits were altered by a year too, so then there was under 13 and under 15. Maybe we should go back to under 12, 14 and 16 but the jury is still out on minor, despite the arguments put forward by our learned member of the bar, Mr Brolly and his friends.

We do not want to go back to a situation where players were traded like cattle to satisfy various team managers. And this situation would be exaggerated further now with the minor championship starting in March next year because of the split season. That would bring chaos between school competitions and county minor championships if the age was 18.

Newton’s third law of motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. That law applies in the GAA too. So switching any age causes problems which cannot be foreseen. With the benefit of hindsight, we should be able to come to a better conclusion on the minor dilemma.

My own view is that minor at both club and county level should be raised to 19 and played in October/November. If a player is involved with his adult club in the championship then he is out for the county team. A competition at this time could have proper status and could be played on a league basis. This would solve the whole problem of the age gap between underage and senior.

So the ages could be under 12, 14, 16, 19 and then you have to swim in the big pond. It would also protect the integrity of schools football from the sharks and the age limit for second level schools should drop down to 18 and half, maximum. If you’re at school after that then tough.

Bringing back minor to 18 solves nothing but, with the new split season, creates more problems, at club and school level, than there was pre-2018.

So the best thing is to scrap the under 17 and under 20 and bring the age to 19. I rest my case.