There has been a lot of talk about the 'super clubs' in the GAA in recent weeks.
It certainly paints a picture of the strong getting stronger. Recently, Ballygunner won their 10th Waterford Senior Hurling Championship in-a-row. Both Watty Graham’s, Glen in Derry and Kilmacud Crokes in Dublin marked their third football county title in succession.
Kilcoo won the Down championship for the 11th time in 12 seasons and my home club Scotstown won the Monaghan title for the eighth time since 2013.
For these clubs and others like them, the future looks rosy. For many clubs though, relegation is knocking fiercely at the door. Clubs that were once “super” are now on the verge of drifting. Senior status, once a given, is now a challenge and there is no guarantee that once relegated, promotion back to the top will be plain sailing.
The status of clubs is inextricably linked with the movement of young people from rural to urban areas. The latest census report published earlier this year in the 26 counties shows that for the first time since 1841, the population of Ireland was more than five million people.
The top five largest towns in the state are in Leinster with populations of over 30,000 people. The GAA in their Demographics Toolkit Pilot Study report in 2021 conducted by the Community, Development and Rural Committee emphasised that the growth in population numbers in urban areas “pose a challenge for the efficient promotion of GAA activities”.
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Planning regulations in the south mean that it is extremely difficult to get planning permission for standalone dwellings in rural areas, even on family land. This also lends itself to people migrating away from their home region.
The lack of employment and services in rural communities tends to be felt more strongly than in urban districts. For Irish language speakers in the Gaeltacht, it has an even more detrimental effect, as the loss of Irish speakers and lack of services and employment 'as Gaeilge' has an influence on the viability of the language.
An Cheathrú Rua in the Connemara Gaeltacht is a club that has been relegated from senior to junior status in the past two years. A previous winner of the Galway senior football championship in 1996, their back-to-back relegation has shocked the area, but their story is not unique.
“It has to be said, firstly that the reason we are now junior is because the other teams were better than us” said Micheál Antaine Ó Loideáin, chairperson of the club.
"We lost games we could have won, but the number of players we have lost over the past few years is considerable”
Many clubs have found that, after Covid, a lot of players decided they wanted to travel and emigrate to other countries to experience a different way of life.
An Cheathrú Rua are no different, with over 15 players leaving to go to Australia, the Emirates, America and Europe. Micheál Antaine is keen to point out that relegation is not the whole story of the club.
“We have a vibrant club with both the GAA and LGFA teams underage very successful, reaching county finals including one at U19. We have players coming though, it’s keeping them, that’s the challenge.”
Both Austin Stacks and Kerins O’Rahilly’s, who were the AIB Munster Club champions last year, have been relegated from senior status in the Kerry football championship over the past two years.
Like rural clubs, both teams have lost players, but these are urban town teams in Tralee.
There is a separate issue in Kerry about how teams in the championship are relegated, but there would be an expectation that both clubs will get back to senior status in the not too distant future. The influx of people and players to the town will help. The continued cost of house prices may not, but Austin Stacks have not automatically, in their first year at Intermediate level, been promoted and the issue of divisional sides in the championship is not popular with all.
For rural clubs, though, dwindling numbers and lack of people migrating to the area means that some underage teams cannot field 15 players. Former President of the GAA, Nickey Brennan was the chairperson who oversaw the Laois GAA Strategic and Action Plan 2018-2020 and one of the findings showed that underage teams had to amalgamate.
This is already happening for a lot of teams, particularly on the western seaboard, but it is an emotive issue for many.
My own club here in Connemara, Naomh Anna Leitir Móir survived a relegation play-off for the second year in a row and will continue to play senior next year. Moycullen is the super club here in Connemara and Bearna who are also a senior club have that potential due to the catchment area.
There is a concern that, over the next 10 years, outside of Moycullen, there will be no senior club in south Connemara along the 42-mile radius that exists between Bearna and Carna.
For Leitir Móir, it is a massive achievement to maintain senior status, considering the numbers involved, but if players leave next year, how long can they maintain this?
For all GAA clubs around the country, outside of the obvious challenges of players, facilities and volunteers, there is the challenge of connection and making sure players and supporters feel that they belong to the club.
It is a given in rural areas that pride of parish and place and wearing the jersey for the people you represent is one of the driving forces of the GAA.
However, the rules of what constitutes a parish now is changing and if a club gets too big, do you lose what made the club great to begin with? That sense of community, identity and history? If you amalgamate, how do you incorporate your club’s identity and ethos into this amalgamation? If a new club is formed in the area, what way do you create this new allegiance?
Amalgamation has worked in Kerry, but it is interesting now that the divisional sides are the teams who are the serial winners and they have upset the traditional status quo.
Not everyone in Kerry is rejoicing about this which makes the idea of amalgamation difficult for some to stomach.
However, for certain teams in rural Ireland there is an inevitability about this.
To survive, amalgamation at adult level may be needed to thrive.
How this is framed and decided will determine the strength of GAA in rural clubs for years to come.