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Abstract
The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) is Ireland’s largest sporting organization. It has a membership of almost 1 million people and a presence in every part of the island. It has advanced an amateur ideal for the 125 years of its existence, albeit in recent years there has been a considerable growth in the professional administration of Gaelic games activity in the country. This article deals with the question of corporate governance within the GAA, an issue that to date has never received any form of academic coverage. It argues that the current approach to governance in the association is outdated, unwieldy and inefficient. An argument for the adoption of a stewardship model, with the appointment of a professional board of directors, is outlined throughout the course of this article. This is seemingly all the more pressing when one considers the growing number of stakeholders who would wish to have a say about the way the GAA manages its affairs. Indeed it is notable that many of the association’s fiercest critics on this matter have emerged from within its own ranks. As these are the same individuals on whom the GAA has relied to secure its current position of strength, their growing levels of dissent should be of concern to those in positions of authority within the organization.
Notes
1. On international governance within association football, for example, see Jennings, Foul; Sugden and Tomlinson, FIFA and the Contest for World Football; and Sugden and Tomlinson, Great Balls of Fire.
2. For example, see A. Jennings, Foul.
3. Bairner ‘Creating a Soccer Strategy for Northern Ireland’, 27–42. In this article, Bairner outlines and critically engages with attempts on behalf of local government and football authorities in Northern Ireland to deal with a crisis within senior soccer in the country. He argues persuasively that issues that emerge at a ‘local’ level and are apparent within all national governing bodies of sport exist as meaningful barriers to progress for those wishing to chart a better future for their sport.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., 28.
7. GAA, Annual Report, Citation 2010 .
8. Mandle, The Gaelic Athletic Association and Irish Nationalist Politics, 1884–1924.
9. DeBurca, The GAA: A History.
10. Ibid.; Sullivan, Story of the GAA.
11. Cronin, Sport and Nationalism in Ireland.
12. Meenaghan, ‘Ambush Marketing’, 305–22.
13. DeBurca, The GAA: A History.
14. GAA, Annual Report, Citation 2000 .
15. For example, see McGee, ‘GAA is Getting Rich Quick But What of its Poor Relations’, 60.
16. GAA, Annual Report, Citation2010.
17. For a balanced and informed overview of this debate, see Crossan, ‘GPA Strike Could Split Up the Game’s One Big Soul’, 49.
18. GAA, Annual Report, Citation2010.
19. McNamee and Fleming, ‘Ethics Audits and Corporate Governance’, 425–37.
20. For extensive coverage of this, see Turnbull, ‘Corporate Governance’, 180–205.
21. See GAA Strategic Review.
22. Ibid., 161.
23. GAA Strategic Review.
24. The only exception to this would be in the case of a ‘Special Congress’ called to discuss salient, often controversial issues (e.g. the removal of Rule 21).
25. GAA Strategic Review, 163.
26. GAA, Annual Report, Citation2010.
27. GAA Strategic Review, 163.
28. McGee, ‘GAA is Getting Rich Quick But What of its Poor Relations’, 60.
29. Donaldson and Davis, ‘Boards and Company Performance’, 151–60.
30. Ibid., 153.
31. GAA Strategic Review, 10.
32. Ibid.
33. Rhodes, ‘The New Governance’, 652–3.
34. Henry and Lee, ‘Governance and Ethics in Sport’, 27.
35. Quoted in ‘GAA Must Embrace Change’, The Kingdom, November 14, 2002, 14.
36. Quoted in ‘Business “Strung Up in Red Tape Bias” – Quinn Attacks the ‘Non‐risk‐taking Dead Hand’, http://www.irishconsultants.ie/news. Accessed July 19, 2007.
37. Quoted in ‘Croke Quiet on McCloy Criticism’, http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/northern ireland/gaelic_games. Accessed December 12, 2006.
38. For a similar analysis of ‘network’ governance within the sphere of association football, see Holt, ‘The Ownership and Control of Elite Club Competition in European Football’, 50–67.
39. McGee, ‘GAA is Getting Rich Quick But What of its Poor Relations’, 60; Heaney, ‘Rocketing Profits Lead to Record Investment’ places this figure at ‘Euro 29.1 millions (approx. £20 millions) over the next three years’ (62).