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The integration of the three Gaelic games bodies has a better chance of becoming a reality if it is done organically, says Laois chairman PJ Kelly.
The Timahoe man has reiterated his reservations about the 2027 deadline for the merger of the GAA, Ladies Gaelic Football and Camogie Associations.
Earlier this week, Camogie Association president Brian Molloy said that 2027 was the year the organisations committed to and added the female sports would have “equal status, equal standing and equal support” to men’s Gaelic football and hurling.
However, Kelly remains pessimistic about the amalgamation process being completed in that timeframe and is unsure those charged with overseeing the integration have done enough to bring people with them.
“It’s like anything that comes to an end, it can come to a natural ending as well and people find that a lot easier to accept,” says Kelly, who will be in Croke Park on Sunday to support Laois’s premier junior camogie team against Armagh. “So, similar to when you’re starting out, it’s a massive change in culture.
“If people felt that they could maybe take ownership of it, they wouldn’t want it to fail. Whereas, if you’re directing people below you that you have to do it this way, there’s an element of resistance.”
In December 2023, Kelly argued that the integration steering chairwoman, former President of Ireland Mary McAleese, gave “false hope” for the completion of the process.
Although it’s known the group meet in Croke Park monthly, have held several consultations, conducted a roadshow and established a fixtures oversight body earlier this year, Kelly highlights the lack of updates from them.
“Jim Gavin came in and spearheaded the rule changes. Probably the most significant and seamless changes we’ve ever had in the GAA. And people are behind it, spectators, players, administrators. But you have to say the right person was put in there, Jim Gavin.
“There is massive respect for Mary McAleese in her own regard but putting her in there she was probably outside of her comfort zone. When’s the last time Mary McAleese came out with a statement? I don’t want to run down Mary in any regard, but I still think that she gave us false hope in the beginning.”
Nothing Kelly has seen has changed his mind that the 2028 date was on the aspirational side. “Integration doesn’t seem to be gaining the same traction as it did when it was brought out first. From working on the ground, the expectation from both the LGFA and Camogie Association is still there.
“We are facilitating it as best we can, but the same challenges are still there such as pitches, finance, etc. You could ask the question, what has changed in the last two years to give you a level of comfort to say that it’s on track for 2027.”
Kelly speaks of volunteers who are already stretched without taking on more work.
“To try and bring this together is probably a challenge that’s been overlooked as well. Because I know from clubs, from county boards, it’s getting harder to get administrators.
“A lot of them are burnt out at the moment, and this is probably the biggest challenge facing us. And where are we going to get the glut of new people with all this energy? I don’t know.
“I can’t see it (happening in 2027). I hope I’m wrong, but I cannot see this. I can’t put my finger on enough parts of the process to say this has changed, that has changed in the last two years, to say that we are where we need to be.
“I’d say if people on the ground were honest, you’d hear similar views. Of course, high up, they want it to work on time. If I see progress, I’ll reconsider my position but I haven’t yet.”
The one-club model has been heralded as a means of expanding integration from the bottom up but there are issues with that too, Kelly points out. “We have clubs that operate that policy in Laois but when the JP McManus money came and it was welcome, suddenly they weren’t one clubs because the LGFA and Camogie Association in those clubs wanted their share and we split the money that way. How strong is that one-club model when it comes to money?”
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