Financial pain possible as GAA plan to combine forces
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Frank Mescall, chairman, addressing club delegates at the county convention in Bloomfield House Hotel.Image 2 of 3
Fiona Claffey, Westmeath ladies footabller (right) with Sinead Kenny (Roscommon): it is planned to integrate ladies football, camogie and men’s footballin the future. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile.Image 3 of 3
Westmeath camogie star Megan Dowdall.Westmeath GAA chairman Frank Mescall addressed the thorny issue of integration at the county convention in Bloomfield House Hotel, where he informed club delegates that the rising costs of men’s football will make it very difficult to attain.
The proposed integration of men’s Gaelic football, hurling, ladies football and the camogie associations is a live issue and there is a committee working on that very subject, but it will mean sacrifice if it is to become a reality, Mescall feels.
“We need to be careful what we wish for with integration. Everyone is in favour of it, including me, but what format is it going to come in and at what cost? The GPA are already integrated, they tell us. The camogie and ladies football are on board with our GPA body,” he remarked.
“Are the charters going to be the same? Will we have double the bills for county teams? I hope not. That is why I say be careful what we wish for. Our club is a different animal to our county and the way our county games are set up. Hopefully those with bigger brains than me will keep that in mind.
“Yes, we are in favour of integration and we are in favour of equality but I think our men will have to take a reduction if we are going to get equality,” he said.
Former President of Ireland Mary McAleese is independent chairperson of the steering group on integration for the GAA, the LGFA, and the Camogie Association. She spoke to delegates at the GAA’s Annual Congress in 2023 in Croke Park via a video message.
She made it clear that the integration will take place, and encouraged anyone with a vested interest to engage with the steering group who are currently undertaking an extensive consultation process.
“All three organisations have emphatically decided that their future lies in one integrated organisation based on equality,” she said.
The former president explained there will be operational implications of one association, particularly when it comes to practical things like fixtures, money, facilities, resources, or worries like protecting identity or respecting each association's unique expertise regarding its own sports.