The Integration of Gaelic Games

Change feels different when you can see the road ahead. We take you inside the GAA, LGFA, and Camogie integration push with Mary McAleese’s framing of unity as both heritage and strategy, and we map the concrete steps that move this from concept to calendar: a clear mandate from 2022, provincial roadshows for real feedback, and defined milestones through 2027 when the unified association will come to life.

We break down what structural unity actually means on the ground. You’ll hear how the One Club model informs county and provincial governance, why a single membership and unified injury fund can unlock transparency, and how subcommittees for competitions, youth, culture, coaching, and county teams provide the grip for daily delivery. 

We also get candid about transition bumps—aligning presidential roles, updating player protocols, and translating equal versus equitable funding into policies that feel fair to clubs of every size, from intercounty powerhouses to community teams training under rented floodlights.

The practical detail matters as much as the vision. We outline the July target for final structures and codes of practice, the August motions, the October special congresses, and the first combined Congress in 2028. 

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Chapters

• 0:37 Welcome And Roadshow Context
• 1:25 Mary McAleese Sets The Vision
• 3:49 Mandate And Steering Group Origins
• 5:16 Consultation And Provincial Roadshows
• 6:45 Timeline To Congress And Launch
• 8:47 Transition Speed Bumps And Roles
• 10:50 Funding, Equality And Equity

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:37

Hello and welcome to the Sports for Business Daily Podcast. I'm your host, Rob Hartness, and this morning we are looking back on an important Gaelic Games roadshow which took place at Crogue Park last Thursday evening. It was the first in a series of four talking about the developments, uh the timelines, and the progression of integration between the Gaelic Athletic Association, the Ladies Gaelic Football Association, and the Camogee Association into one new body, the new GAA. If you want to learn more about the coverage we give every day to the commercial world of Irish sport, then you can do so at sportforbusiness.com. And if you enjoyed this podcast, you can subscribe wherever you get your podcast from. Invoking the founding spirit of Gaelic Games and the idea of cordia or friendship that underpinned it, Mary McAleese played the role of inspirer in chief at last Thursday's first of four provincial roadshows on integration with a reflection on the original vision of Michael Cusack. Cusack was born in Caron in County Clare in 1847. Black 47, the worst year of the famine when a million people died of starvation and disease. Somehow, this one child survived and created a vision and a plan for a sporting entity. He surrounded himself with people who shared that. If they had thought too hard of what they were trying to create, they might have walked away. But they did not do that. Instead, they created what we have, an organization that is unique in its local power and influence around the world, out of belief and faith in each other. When we spoke to the membership, the idea of an integrated organization came back as the will of the people. There are fears it will take financial, emotional, logistical, and many more resources, but it can be done and it will be done. Cusick's idea, Mary McAlee suggested, was rooted not only in athletic revival but in community, in belonging, hospitality, and shared cultural identity. That founding impulse, she said, now finds expression in a new chapter for the Games, the creation of a single association for the sports. Integration is not a question of if anymore, nor when, it is about how, she said. The journey began formally in 2022, when motions passed at the Congresses of the Gaelic Athletic Association, Ladies Gaelic Football Association, and Kamobi Association committed the three organisations to pursue integration and prioritise a clear and deliberate process. Those votes, MacAleese emphasized, followed years of discussion and increasing collaboration across the bodies, as well as a growing recognition that the long-term strength of Gaelic Games lies in structural unity. A steering group on integration was established soon after, with Macaelis appointed independent chair. Its first formal meeting took place in October 2022. What followed, she said, has been a thorough and sometimes challenging process, always guided by deep respect for the traditions and identities of each organization. Consultation has been central to the work. We have listened to every conceivable constituency across the country, she said, outlining engagement with players, administrators, volunteers, and supporters. What has been most striking is the goodwill and enthusiasm across all three organizations to come together as one. The roadshows, one in each province, are designed not only to present detailed proposals, but to gather further feedback. The aim is to refine the model before bringing final recommendations to the central councils of the three organizations and ultimately to special congresses. It will not be a guillotine process, MacAlise said, it will be a process. It will also be a relatively quick one from here on in. This and three more roadshows will be held before the end of March, with further potential refinement being taken on board from each of those and from the way in which the proposals are socialized in deeper fashion across the units of the association. That may include the detail being sent to all those who contributed to the initial survey, or indeed the full registered membership of each association for comment and feedback. By July of this year, the structures, codes of practice, and the one membership model will be finalised and put to the central councils of all three of the organizations, as well as to those of Gaelic Hanball and Rounders. Motions will be drawn up in August to go before three special congresses to be held in October, with provincial, county and club AGMs again across all three codes, or in a one club fashion for those 800 clubs already operating in that way by the end of this year. The new structures, outlined in greater detail in a few moments, will be in place then by April 2027, and the new GAA as an association will be up and running next year by the self-imposed deadline of 2027 with that first combined Congress held in 2028. There are some potential speed bumps along the way for this, but all of them are transitionary. For example, the GAA will elect a new president-elect to serve a three-year term at next weekend's GAA Congress. Will that term actually be just for one year before being subsumed into the role either as president or for the new association or vice president for GAA as opposed to LGFA or Camoge matters at national level? The protocol agreed between the GAA and the Gaelic Players Association will also have to roll into a related one with ladies football and Camoge, ahead of it becoming a single one, negotiated between the players and the new unified body over the first few years. The financial requirements of fundraising and expenditure previously done separately will need to be worked out on a unified basis, and one of the issues there will be the difference between equality and equity. Is there a basis at the club level which represents most of the teams playing the games for a baseline of equal funding, bolstered by additional sponsorship or fundraising that might be sought at a team rather than a club level? Does the intercounty men's football team playing before a full house at Crow Park start the year with the same level of funding as the intercounty camogey team that might play all of its matches before crowds that rarely get to more than three figures? These could be questions that break the idea of genuine unity before it has even begun, if they were allowed to. But the leadership does not propose that they be answered in full before anything else can be agreed. So what of the structures? Well, those that have been proposed follow broadly along the one club model. Each county will have a single county board representing all Gaelic games. It will be made up of an elected chair and vice chairs for each of GAA, LGFA and Camogi, a secretary or CEO, which may be one or two roles depending on size, and a treasurer. These six or possibly seven positions will be replicated across each county and at provincial level. There will be an additional six to twelve roles at executive or management committee level, again depending on size and determined by each county, comprising a coaching and development officer, a communications officer, delegates to provincial and national councils, a safeguarding officer, a maximum of two additional dependent on each county's bylaws, and up to four additional nominees, which may be needed to provide fair representation for each code depending on the makeup of the other officer roles. The proposal lists fifteen county subcommittees, ranging from competitions and finance to youth, culture, coaching and county teams, each of which will have its own terms of reference. The provincial structure follows a similar path, but with additional representation for schools and colleges. Club level, the proposal lists seven key factors to be considered and implemented. First, the club executive must have overall responsibility for managing the affairs of the club. Two, all codes in which a club participates must be adequately represented on the club executive. Three, each club could have a subcommittee per code to manage day-to-day running of that code unless the club decides that it is better to combine those codes. Four, club finances and fundraising must be administered at club executive and not at a code level. The executive should ensure and be able to demonstrate fair allocation of funding to all codes. Fair allocation of facilities across all codes must also be achieved. The overall structure must comply with association rules and a new club constitution which requires preparation. And finally, the flexibility that will be needed on club structures and counties should be allowed to determine some variances in club structures via bylaw while still complying with the structure enshrined in rule. At national level, the structure will be broadly similar, with representation secured through a flow up from county to provincial to a national central council and Kishtabanishti, as outlined below. I suggested from the floor last night that there should be a role of VP for GAA to match that in the proposal for LGFA and Camogi, so as not to draw the inference that the role of the president will automatically fall to the legacy GAA, and it was said from the top table that this would be considered. At its most basic level, it is proposed that there be a single membership with four tiers of adult, youth, child and social, with a single baseline national fee paid once a year that can be added to by each club depending on needs and circumstances. The registration upwards at county, provincial, and national level, and into a new unified injury fund will also be singular and administered through an upgraded FIRIN system. From parish fields to global communities, Gaelic games have evolved over the past 142 years through vision, determination, courage, and cooperation. The road to integration is another chapter in that same story. Rooted in heritage, shaped by consultation, and driven by a shared belief that Unity can secure the best possible future of the games. As part of Cooler GAA Club, I was part of a small group that presented our experience of operating as a large urban club under the One Club model to the Integration Committee. That model is the basis for the news structures that were outlined last week, and in greater detail for the first time. It can work because it does work at club level. As a club, we do not yet own any of our own pitches, but we have access to seven spread across Dunleary Rathdown County Council, and each code finds a way to train and play through the year, at times borrowing and paying as a club for floodlit pitches from other clubs and schools, but ultimately making it work. We deal with the challenges of each section as a section level and then bring it all together at Kishta level for the bigger picture stuff, and that is also what is envisaged. There are some who say it is too quick or too complex, and that nothing should be agreed until everything is agreed. What we have now though is a picture of how this will look and work in time, and the first steps needed to maintain progress and momentum towards that. There is no going back, and we should not be afraid that it looks too hard. If human endeavour has been shaped along those lines, we would be lesser than we are. If you want to learn more about the work we do in the commercial and societal world of sport in Ireland in 2026, you can do so by visiting us at sportforbusiness.com. We produce daily news bulletins which you can subscribe to for free. And if you wish to subscribe to this podcast, you can do so wherever you get your podcast from. We've got events coming up in Cork looking at the power of sport to drive economic gains and economic benefit, and also at the question of name, image, likeness, and personality, which will be of interest to players, teams, and sponsors across the community as well. Thanks for taking the time to listen to us, and we will see you again soon.