At the finish, even the end-game of the most protracted strike in GAA history
went into an edgy period of overtime last night. The Cork county board’s in
camera meeting was set to vote for the removal of the football
management it appointed last November because Teddy Holland and his
selectors had declined to step down in line with the binding arbitration of
Labour Relations Committee chairman Kieran Mulvey. Given the tone of his
statement released on Friday, Holland clearly didn’t envisage remaining in
charge last night but he still took this battle to the wire.
Holland’s final offensive was two-pronged. Describing Cork’s defeat in last
year’s All-Ireland football final as “the most chaotic, abject capitulation
in the history of Cork football” was a low swipe at the players; his
decision not to resign was an arrow of retribution aimed at the county board
for using him and his selectors as a barrier in this entire mess. Holland
said that his “head on a plate was the players’ demand” but the board were
more than happy for Mulvey to provide the guillotine so that they could wash
their hands of his blood.
Holland should have seen this coming. The board had consistently peddled the
line that he had been “democratically elected” but they had never once
articulated their support for the manager. He was trying to claim the moral
high ground yesterday but he walked into a job that was always potentially
primed for detonation and with full knowledge of the cunning capacity of the
people in the board he agreed that deal with. This has been a dirty battle,
far more so than the players’ strike of 2002, but the players have emerged
once more with far more war booty than they could have hoped for. Apart from
the core principles they were fighting for, the players had staked the scale
of their offensive on the desire to ensure that the board would never ambush
them again. The board will hardly be prepared to make that mistake a third
time.
The players are bound to a commitment not to invoke strike action again but
the structures are in place to guard against such a possibility. The
memorandum provides for two players’ representatives to sit on the
appointments’ committee that chooses the new manager. The players were never
looking for a 50-50 say but at least now they have a right to a voice in any
management appointment, which is only representative of their part in the
Association. This is also a landmark case and Mulvey’s decision proves that
giving players a proper voice is the template for the future. The result
could also have huge implications for the GPA and strengthens their position
in such a delicate climate surrounding the government grants.
This strike also highlighted the importance of collective unity because 63
players from both squads never once broke ranks. Once more, the Cork county
board miscalculated that collective strength and were outmanoeuvred by their
strategic planning. It appeared early in the week that the players wouldn’t
agree to binding arbitration but they caught the board completely off guard
on Thursday when they opted for that route. Even by Friday morning, the
board were still bullish as to the outcome but the players’ trust in their
decision-making was emphatically endorsed. Although Cork were on a deadline
regarding their participation in this year’s leagues, the situation still
remained totally deadlocked last Sunday night when the players unanimously
decided to persevere with their strike after a two-hour meeting. The
combined panels also voted to reject the memorandum of understanding
proposed the previous week as the basis for resolving the crisis.
There were two motions taken at the meeting. The first was taken by the
hurlers on their own and concerned a proposal by the footballers that the
hurlers disengage from the dispute and salvage their league campaign. After
the footballers had withdrawn, the matter was put to secret ballot and
unanimously rejected. There was another secret ballot on whether the players
should accept the document-proposal recommended by Paraic Duffy and Mulvey,
which was also unanimously rejected.
The meeting between the hurlers was highly emotive. A number of senior players
had emphasised the doomsday scenario of the outcome of their decision, with
the probability of numerous retirements along with the possible
ramifications for young players of withdrawing their services for one
season. What followed was a sequence of highly charged speeches, one of
which from one of the youngest panellists – who outlined his desire to
continue playing with all the senior members – was described as significant.
The dominant feeling afterwards was a sense of finality to their process. They
said that there would be no more collective meetings. The 12 players’
representatives were still unsure as to their next move and arbitration
seemed unlikely. However, in an interview with the Evening Echo on Tuesday,
Mulvey had indicated that arbitration was still the best chance of settling
this issue because it would guarantee a fair hearing for both parties.
At a packed county board meeting on Tuesday night, a proposal from the
executive that the negotiating committee would enter into binding
arbitration was passed by 96 votes to 13. There were also two other
proposals raised about the football management. When county PRO Bob Ryan was
asked afterwards about the debate on Holland’s position, he said that there
was a proposal from the floor but that “it failed to get a seconder”. That
was more county board spin because after the arbitration proposal was taken,
there was no need for a vote to be taken on Holland’s position. That spin
angered some delegates.
The players’ representatives met in Diarmuid Falvey’s office in Cloyne again
on Thursday – Falvey is the solicitor who also advised the players during
the 2002 strike. After discussing the terms of reference from the
arbitration, they decided that the signals from Mulvey were positive enough
to take a chance with the process. They felt it was the honourable way to do
business and they sent texts to every player to inform them of their
decision.
The word on the ground was that the players’ representatives must have been
given some indication from Mulvey of a favourable judgment to consider
entering into binding arbitration. But his professional integrity and
position made a mockery of that notion.
The stakes were now huge for the players’ representatives. After having
manoeuvred the process into such a strong position on their behalf, they
were now conceding control for the first time. Defeat would have been
devastating. One hurler who has played in five All-Ireland finals said that
he had “never felt as nervous or under as much pressure”.
When four players’ representatives met with the board and Mulvey in the
Rochestown Park Hotel that evening, Donal Óg Cusack and Frank Murphy put
their respective cases forward to Mulvey. There was no need for discussion
or point-scoring because once both parties walked into the room, the strike
was over.
The details released on Friday were a huge victory for the players but the
future will still focus on building bridges and siphoning the poison out of
the relationship between the players and the board. Both panels issued a
joint statement on Friday night which said that they “look forward to a new
era of cooperation with the Cork county board so we can all go forward
together from here”.
There’s no doubt that Frank Murphy’s reputation has been heavily damaged by
this latest defeat but he is still standing for now. The footballers could
not work with Holland but they have to work with Murphy and the board
executive. The players, though, feel that the new conditions will at least
facilitate that process. The arbitration proposed that a new football
manager be appointed as quickly as possible and two of the footballers will
have to work alongside board members in the coming days.
Appointing a football manager is not going to be easy but it needs to happen
soon. One credible candidate said that he “wouldn’t be interested if asked
again because of the recent hassle and the squad’s lack of a preseason”.
Finding selectors is also likely to prove difficult.
On the face of it, the job isn’t an attractive one. But given the history of
Donal O’Grady’s appointment after the 2002 strike, now could be the best
possible time to take over this group. It’s likely too that the footballers
will have learned the value of unity, discipline and loyalty from the
strength of the hurlers. The footballers had to agree to certain codes of
honour before the hurlers agreed to engage with them in this battle and the
experience of such synergy is sure to stand to the young players on their
panel in the future.
This latest victory is also sure to unify the hurlers even more. They’re back
training in Páirc UÍ Chaoimh today at 2.30pm. The pressure is on them to
deliver again but that’s the way they like it. This isn’t the first big
battle that they’ve won.
