The GAA’s Annual Congress is up and running at the Abbey Hotel in Donegal Town today and over four hundred people will attend over the next few days.
It’s just the third time that Congress has come to the county and a first since 1988.
The official opening is on Friday evening but Thursday is based around World GAA Day, with officials discussing the growth of the association across the globe.
Sean Dunnion, Central Council Delegate and chair of the local organising committee says it’s a great opportunity to showcase the county:
Audio PlayerSaturday is the day that delegates will discuss and vote on around 40 proposed motions.
The main motion (19) involves the All-Ireland SFC Championship structure reverting back to more of a knock-out style, in place of the current round-robin groups.
Currently, three teams qualify from groups of four but the new proposal put forward by the GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC), would see the eight provincial finalists, plus the next seven best league-ranked teams and the winner of the Tailteann Cup for the opening round of the Championship.
The winners advance to round 2A, where they would face off against each other and provide four teams for the quarter-finals.
First-round losers advance to 2B, producing four winners who would face the losers from 2A, with the winners making up the rest of the quarter-final places.
Among the others, Motion 12 would see players only eligible for inter-county play if they had already togged out in four competitive league games for their club in the same calendar year.
Replays for finals could also be introduced. The CCCC are looking to have replays for provincial finals after extra-time, with penalties only after extra-time in a replay. All-Ireland finals would go to a replay after 70 minutes.
Other big motions in play include, allowing GAA clubs to make decisions on whether to open up their facilities to other sports and groups and all clubs to have underage hurling teams.
Congress is expected to conclude around 4.30pm on Saturday.
