Parish Rule remains important in Tipperary
By Shane Brophy
Parish Rule remains important to the balance of GAA in Tipperary according to the county’s assistant secretary Tom Maher.
In his report to County Convention, the long-serving official admitted it won’t continue to work if abuse of it by some people and clubs when it comes to transfers continues.
“I still believe that (Parish Rule) is a very important part of the GAA in our county, but I think that while most clubs have the same opinion, I wonder do they act that way,” he remarked.
“It’s easy now to win an appeal to allow a player play with a club, even though in reality that player may not reside within the parish area.
“If we want parish rule, we all have a responsibility to abide by it and not just give it lip service. Is the tule governing the attachment to the first club being adhered to?”
The CCC also signs off on inter-county transfers with 150 players transferring out of the county up to November 30th in 2025, down by 15 on the previous year. 102 players transferred into Tipperary clubs over the past year, a rise of four on 2024.
Football Concern
In another comprehensive report, 480 games were governed by the County CCC from the start of the leagues in early March to the under 21 finals in both hurling and football on St. Stephen’s Day.
Commenting on the formats in club competitions, Maher said: “hurling is in a good place” in the top three grades but is concerned about the junior hurling championship where clubs second teams are coming out on top on a more regular basis with Tipperary this year sending South champions Clonmel Og to represent the county in the Munster Championship despite exiting the county championship at the quarter final stage, a competition won by Holycross/Ballycahill.
Maher poses: “Is there a space for a junior championship involving teams from clubs with higher graded teams to play a championship of their own, and let the first team junior clubs play a separate championship with the winners going forward to the provincial championship?”
In terms of Gaelic football, Maher believes it is “in a time of change.” Structures in the senior and intermediate championships have been tweaked to reduce numbers to twelve teams which should make it more competitive but overall, he feels the split season has negatively impacted the game in the county.
“Clubs that are hurling committed will put more into that code with the other code suffering, and the split season has widened that gap.
“I think firstly the football committee need to look at giving support to clubs that play football with a love for the game rather than chasing clubs that have no real interest in the code.
“We have strong football clubs suffering a bit, mainly because of de-population among other things. These clubs need help.”
Age change warning
Commenting on the decision of clubs to revert to even age grades from 2026 onwards, the Moyne-Templetuohy clubman, particularly the return of the minor grade to under 18 and the removal of the under 19 grade, Maher warned: “One thing we cannot allow is for our younger age championships to be held up so as to allow adult competition to carry on.
“Games for the younger cohort must be moved along so as there is continuity with their games and not to be held up for reasons like we need them to fill out adult teams.”