Blessing of New Rooms Before Convention
The annual Convention of Kildare G.A.A. at Droichead Nua on Sunday will be held for the first time in a place of assembly owned by the Co. Board. The new Committee Rooms, at St. Conleth’s Park able to accommodate 250 delegates will be blessed by Right Rev. Monsignor Miller, P.P., V.F. and formally opened by him at 1.15. This ceremony will follow Mass at noon for dead G.A.A. members in St. Conleth’s Parish church, Droichead Nua. Convention starts at 1.30, and delegates will be entertained to dinner afterwards in the Town Hall. The agenda is a fairly lengthy one but should be completed by about 5 p.m. Convention will consider 24 motions on widely divergent topics, senior players in junior leagues, venues for various competitions, the automatic suspension on being ordered off the field, admission of army teams to the junior hurling championship ……
But probably the most interesting will be three relating to the structure of the areas allotted to clubs from which players can be selected. A bye-law in the county allows a club operating in one parish to be granted portion of another parish as part of its “selecting territory” this meaning that it can get the services of a player or players not otherwise available to it. There was in fact one instance where a team that won the senior championship got several of its best players from another parish, and there are many cases of one or two being introduced to a team from an “outside parish.” Objections to new rulings on the matter are expected but, of the three motions on the subject, it is anticipated that the one under the aegis of Maynooth will stand the best chance of getting through. It asks that Bye-law 21 be deleted and replaced by the following: “That the parish boundary be that under the jurisdiction of the parish priest and only players who have taken part in Senior, Junior or Intermediate Championship or League under Bye-law 21 as constituted in 1960 be allowed to play for their existing clubs.” Clane sponsor a motion which, in view of the current state of the county senior side, will evoke a lot of comment. It wants the selection committee to be composed of a representative of each senior team in the county.
Several motions are sponsored by Athy, who want a Parish League, instruction for referees and a three monthly report on the progress made on motions passed in each year in convention to ensure that they were not left in abeyance. The Leinster Leader Cup is subject of two motions. Carbury would like it played on the home venue of one of the competing teams, with areas arranged for a two year period so that the venues would alternate from year to year. A motion by Naas asks that the cup be divided into two sections and the 1962 senior championship contested by the four top teams of the two sections. Other motions seek various rule changes and with such a large total at least two hours should be needed to get through them.
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