Jarlath Burns: ‘We could see Ballygunner playing Ballygunner in the final. Is that what we want?’
GAA president Jarlath Burns has called for local and national authorities to rethink “the profound impact that the GAA has on communities”.
As Burns launched the GAA’s demographic plan to tackle the existential difficulties faced by rural clubs and facilities deficiencies experienced by urban units, he spoke of how Cork and Kerry have made strong calls for local councils to do more for GAA clubs who sustain communities.
In his convention address earlier this week, Kerry chairman Patrick O’Sullivan suggested clubs which have liquor licences should be exempt from commercial rates.
“That is something that Cork GAA have been on to us about as well, about having to pay commercial rates on premises,” said Burns. “And because the GAA is not for profit, 83% goes back in clubs, I think there needs to be a realignment and a rethinking of the profound impact that the GAA has on communities.
“For example, there is nowhere in the GAA’s Official Guide that states you should have a walking track around your ground. And yet why am I going around the country opening walking tracks? It’s because the GAA is focused on community, improving the lives of people, and making the GAA club a place where people can come.
“It’s the third place, the first being home, the second being work, the third being a place where everybody knows your name, there’s safety and sameness, all of the family can be there, and it’s a safe space for us to talk and be ourselves.
“The human condition needs that place, and we provide it free of charge. We do so much extra, and it’s just putting a value on that.”
Burns cited the demographic quandary that was presented at Central Council on Saturday last when the Waterford County Board proposed Ballygunner have two teams in their 2026 senior hurling championship as their second team won the premier intermediate title.
To the contrary, the GAA’s rules advisory committee sought to introduce a rule to prohibit any club from having more than one team at the same grade. As some delegates saw it as a matter solely for Waterford to address, no decision was made.
“Ballygunner is now so, so big,” Burns remarked. “We saw the one that won the (Munster club) final last weekend. They have won the Intermediate A final that it’s affecting the senior and Intermediate in Waterford.
“And that’s not Ballygunner’s fault. They’re just in an area where there’s a population explosion. And a solution to that problem that is being presented by Port Lairge is that Ballygunner have two Division 1 (senior) teams.
“That means we could see Ballygunner playing Ballygunner in the final of Waterford. That is the unintended consequence of that, which could very well happen. Is that what we want?”
Staying on the subject of Ballygunner, Burns referenced Midleton chairman and former Cork hurling star John Fenton’s admission earlier this week that a new club will likely need to be formed between the town and Carrigtwohill because of the significant population increase between them.
“People in Ballygunner, I know, will say, like John Fenton said, ‘We probably need a new club in the area.’ But the nature of our association is that I can’t say, ‘Okay, let’s set up a new club.’
“People in Ballygunner have got to make that decision themselves. And we just have to wait on it. And that is definitely a glitch in our own system.”
