A GAA crisis: Demographics chief outlines why some clubs are on life support

Benny Hurl is the GAA’s chairperson of the Demographics Committee. With numbers dwindling in some clubs, the Association is sleepwalking into a crisis. How long can they stay alive? He spoke with Michael McMullan

IN terms of the long-term health of the GAA, Benny Hurl doesn’t sugarcoat anything. His hammer hits the nail with the first swing.

The context. The county scene, a runaway train, can always hold its own. With the exception of Kilkenny not playing league football, counties don’t fold.

There will be a hierarchy, but everyone will always field.

We have the talk about new rules and the split season and structures. A bottomless pit of chatter.

Now Hurl lifts his hammer. One swing is all that it needed. Club level is in bother.

He asks the question. Will the GAA commit the same level of resources to saving our clubs as was committed to Jim Gavin’s FRC in their attempt to save the game of Gaelic football?

The average fan won’t realise it but the alarm bells are ringing. There are red lights flashing everywhere.

Some rural clubs have facilities but they don’t have the most important resource – people. A concern? Totally.

In the cities, the super clubs are growing into monsters. Tiers of adult teams, from elite to recreational. Their issue is not having enough grass.

Elsewhere, other urban clubs are struggling to get players out. In some cases, a super club’s spotlight beams brighter and families will truck their kids past other clubs.

Back in rural Ireland, players can’t get planning permission to live in the parish they were reared in.

They’ll work in an urban sprawl. When they marry and have families of their own, they’ve a decision to make.

The kids can play for the club where they live, or, if the roots are strong, commute home to pull on the same jersey a parent once wore. The Gael is a parochial beast.

“We’re sleepwalking into something that’s going to be catastrophic,” Hurl sums up.

He has said it before in interviews. Speaking again now, he stands by it. Completely.

Hurl, a championship winner with Ardboe, knows the lie of the land. As a photographer for Team Talk Mag, he attends more club games than the average Joe.

And, as chairman of the GAA’s Higher Education Committee and involved with Ulster University teams, he sees students peeking out the other side of teenage life. Players beginning to think about the real world. Mortgages. Work. Marriage. Kids.

Having attended a presentation on GAA demographics in Croke Park “many moons ago” Hurl heard the penny dropping.

“I came away realising we were on the road to something very dangerous,” he recalls.

“We really needed to be careful and, that, if we didn’t intervene, the outcome was going to be catastrophic.”

The use of the word catastrophic, in Hurl’s opinion, isn’t sensationalism. It’s reality. Followers of the county game won’t realise it, but the club game is in trouble.

Having served on a national committee looking into urban and rural community development, Hurl’s passion for demographics steered him into the thoughts of Jarlath Burns.

On becoming President, he assigned Hurl to a role as chairman of the GAA Demographics Committee.

A year on, they’ve been visiting counties to present the concerns of where the Association is heading. They’ve been hearing the voices on the ground.

Every county now has a person on their management committee with a focus on demographics, in the same way someone looks after other aspects.

There is ownership like money, fixtures, coaching or anything under a board’s remit.

“It’s now being talked about, it’s now being discussed, it’s now being written about,” Hurl said of the demographics debate.

In a layperson’s terms, demographics in the GAA is a study of whether clubs will have enough bodies to field teams and to stay afloat.

“Up until this, people were writing the odd article about it and not much was being done,” Hurl added.

“Demographics is, in my opinion, the single greatest threat to the health of our Association and that’s not an exaggeration.”

Why? Hurl produces the map below. It depicts Ireland with a sliver “25 to 30” mile wide down the east coast, from Belfast to Wexford.

Eastern Seaboard
Population:        3,071,222
% of Total Population:  43.5 %

Clubs:          299
% of Total Clubs:    18.6 %

Members:         139,785
% of Total Members:   25.4 %

Rest of Ireland
4m people
1300 clubs 81% of the clubs
75% of the membership

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What do the numbers mean? The eastern sliver currently contains 44 per cent of Ireland’s population.

“Think about that,” he asks. “I am going to shock you even more. Only 18 per cent of Ireland’s GAA clubs are located in that area. That’s one in five or six. Think about that.”

Only 18 per cent of Ireland’s GAA clubs are in an area that houses 44 per cent of the country’s population.

“Only one in four of the overall membership of our Association live in that space,” Hurl adds of Ireland’s Eastern seaboard.

He speaks slowly and definitely. The numbers have dominated their thoughts. This deserves airtime.

“Three out of every four of our members live to the west of that line.”

While super clubs like Kilmacud Crokes have numerous teams, other clubs in Dublin are struggling to field.

Former All-Ireland champions St Gall’s were recently forced to amalgamate at minor level.

“Most people, when they think of demographics,” Hurls points out, “they think about the small rural club but the urban issue might be bigger than the rural.

“The urban clubs simply can’t get the children out to play,” he adds, something that arose from presentation delivered in Longford.

On the rural side of the equation, government planning policies are forcing a move towards urban centres.

The standalone house being passed on a family farm is becoming rare. The same for a rural housing development.

In Leitrim, the underage club scene is critical. After the same cycle of hammerings and meeting the same faces, interest has waned.

They’d rather head across to Donegal, Cavan, Sligo or Cavan for varied action and a similar level.

Clubs can lobby government and the GAA are putting a committee in place. Somewhere to lean on for this and other issues. A club support network.

“We can’t sit back and feel sorry for ourselves, hoping the government solve our issues,” Hurl also warns.

“We must solve them ourselves. Government can do certain things for us but we have to first of all, recognise that we have a problem.

“Secondly, we must put in place solutions that will help our clubs.”

In the case of Leitrim, could there be the flexibility of a league traversing county and provincial borders?

Tricky? Yes, but, at the end of the day, players want an acceptable programme of games. Whoever wears the opposition jersey is irrelevant.

Hurl looks at the example of inter-county hurling. In his native Tyrone, football is the focal point but hurling can set down roots.

They’ll never come up against an Antrim but they tick away at their level and have since pushed into the third tier. Incremental progress. There are other examples.

“In counties, we should have multiple divisions,” Hurl suggests on club structures. Why does it always have to be senior, intermediate and junior?

DANGER…The GAA are in danger of losing some of their clubs due to issues with demographics

Yes, they are the champions who will advance to various provincial levels. Can we have a provincial and national series for the clubs that are demographically challenged?

Multiple tiers work in inter-county hurling – it can work at club level too. Below senior, intermediate and junior, players just want to play and make progress. Promotion will open a door.

With ambition, they can climb the stairs, but the door is open. That’s the main thing.

Tyrone CCC are splitting club football’s Division Three into two this season. A welcome change.

Where Dublin or Cork can accommodate multiple tiers, Tyrone might have six. Derry and Fermanagh might be better suited to four. Every county is different. Their club scene needs to be reflective.

Hurl’s word is flexibility. It keeps creeping up. During a lengthy chat that refers to work and housing in rural areas as aspects government can influence, the GAA need to realise the time for reinvention is here.

The long to mid-term health depends on it. Not today or tomorrow, but soon.

Not total reformation, just a little. He strongly states how the GAA is the greatest community organisation in the world. Bar none.

During Covid, clubs were a beacon. Food was delivered. Elderly and ill were looked out for. Everyone helped each other. The strong helped the weak, to an extent that government realised the GAA had more feet on the ground that anybody.

Last weekend, clubs opened their doors to families needing hot water or a charge of electric in the wake of storm damage. Community.

“If we are to survive for the next 140 years, we have to do things differently,” Hurl said, hinting again at the importance of being flexible.

From a survey in South Kerry, where numbers are dwindling, most see themselves living and playing for their local team in 10 years’ time. That’s the wish. It’s dependant on both employment opportunities and availability of housing.

Irish people like home. And they love getting one over on their neighbours. It lets them pump out their chests. That’s why GAA roots are so strong but they’re being tested.

“All the facilities are in the right places but all the people are in the wrong places,” was a statement offered from one of Hurl’s presentations in Kerry. Another angle on the problem. It’s bang on.

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Another part of the debate is dropout. Deeper than this topic but important nonetheless. If a decline in numbers is the crux of the debate here, then keeping everyone involved in paramount.

Hurl is not saying anything new when touching the subject of players dropping out. It has always been there.

People have travelled, they’ve found other paths in life and there are other sports, something that is more relevant know.

Between Irish dancing, drama, basketball, study, a relationship and a part-time job, a teenager’s schedule soon maxes out. Gaelic games, in some cases, can be taken or left. A flashing light on the dashboard.

That’s why elitism spilling out of the inter-county senior game towards clubs is another issue providing a spanner in the demographics’ works.

There is a growth in underage teams having sweepers, GPS units or strength and conditioning coaching.

The Go Games’ model has been excellent. Everybody plays. Everybody is welcome.

“Things start to get a bit more serious about 14, 16, 18 and then in adult,” Hurl explains.

He also sums up the findings on dropout. Why do young players partake in Gaelic games? Here you go.

The LGFA results pointed towards making social connections and friendships. Building relationships is important. Everything else, like success, falls into line.

For the boys, it’s about winning. Hurl doesn’t see that as a problem. It just doesn’t need to be too young or so intense.

Keeping people involved. That needs to be the focus, so that senior teams will always have numbers. Players need to enjoy it. If they do, they’ll develop. Silverware might come at youth level. Or it may not.

For the long-term health of a GAA club, it’s the size of a senior squad further down the line that really counts. Will the gates be open or padlocked?

“In the GAA, “we all belong” is the strapline,” Hurl states.

“It’s this pursuit of excellence that it killing us. The GAA should be about participation. Full stop.

“The ruthless competitive streak is coming out in our coaches, assisted by some parents, all over the Association and many of our young people are saying no.”

In a world where many clubs are under the pump, and where have other options than GAA, participation is everything.

That’s why things need to change. The initial challenge is realising it. A problem shared is a problem halved and all that.

It won’t affect every club, but if their rivals begin to fall off the earth, who do they play? The game dies. By a thousand cuts. Leitrim’s underage scene is glum.

Having a demographics officer in every county is a start. It begins the dialogue. When the GAA introduce their hotline for clubs to call, it will be another move.

It’s the tightly strapped GAA structures and boundaries that need loosening. Not rubbed out for good. Just moved.

Hurl hints at a menu for county board to pick from. Horses for courses.

Take the parish rule and players having to play for where they live. There needs to be flexibility.

It will need properly managed. For every Shane Walsh transferring to play where he lives and works, there are other lower profile moves. But essential ones.

Take a club going to the wire. Imagine they shoulder an urban club who have more players than jerseys.

Hurl wants counties to be able to amend their by-laws. In this case, a player, not getting a game for the so-called bigger club, can make the move to get a regular game of football. A loan of sorts.

“We’re going to enable more people to play for clubs that don’t have enough numbers,” Hurl outlines.

“We’re going to try and facilitate the survival of those clubs.”

There is always the option of moving back. It’s not that simple. Some parents won’t want their Johnny or Mary to move, but that’s their decision.

Hurl’s flexibility word comes back into play. If counties can’t stop it, the door opens on more players getting a game.

They’ll never develop sitting on the bench. Better still, if the bigger club puts their u-13 team into a lower division, it can form the basis of next year’s u-14s.

If they need an extra few u-12 players to top up their u-13s, then, hey presto, everyone is a winner.

These are all solutions GAA clubs don’t need to lobby local government for. It’s the Association’s future in their own hands.

“These proposals don’t damage the GAA,” Hurl concludes. “It helps the GAA because it will sustain clubs and improve clubs.

“We have 1,610 clubs at the minute. We need to do everything to try and make sure that we still have 1,610 clubs in five or 10 years’ time.”

Benny Hurl’s door is open. A problem shared is a problem halved. The time is now.