Club GAA Rules Enquiry

Necro

Hi all,
First time thread attempt so apologies if it's not appropriate. I'm currently in the middle of a dispute with a friend of mine on a particular rule and I was hoping someone more knowledgeable than us could help me out.

Our club is involved in a Senior Relegation Semi-Final this weekend, and as a result of last week's crunching encounter, we have another four players added to our long injury list for the rest of the season. The club's junior team has several players that are going to be called up to the senior squad to make up the numbers for the bench this weekend, and here is my query:

If these players are fielded in the Relegation match - can they play in the Junior Championship again? My understanding is that they won't be able to, but my friend believes that this became an issue a number of years ago and players were allowed to play in both.
Can anyone clear this up for us?

Clareman

It does depend on the local counties rules, but I know in Clare that relegation matches aren't counted for "playing senior"

munchkin_utd

nope. Once you play senior championship you are no longer eligible to play junior
The rule is:
"Subject to Age Restrictions set out in Rule 6.16, all players are eligible to participate in Inter-Club Junior Grade except:
(a) Those who have played on a Club Senior or Intermediate Team
other than: (i) A Divisional or Group Senior Team or (ii) A College Club Team, as allowed in Rule 6.7, Exception (3),
in the current year’s Championship or, unless regraded, in the previous year’s Championship"
http://www.gaa.ie/content/documents/publications/official_guides/official-guide-2013-part1.pdf page 81

EDIT: if theres a county bye law that states theres an exemption to the rule for playoffs then you'd have to ask the county secretary as county bye laws dont seem to be published anywhere.

Necro

Clareman wrote: »

It does depend on the local counties rules, but I know in Clare that relegation matches aren't counted for "playing senior"

Thanks, I suppose the only way to confirm is by checking with county board. Just to clarify, this concerns Sligo by the way. We've had an awful time of it, two of our best players out for another two months, in fact we haven't managed to field our best 15 once since the start of the year due to little niggles.

Necro

munchkin_utd wrote: »

nope. Once you play senior championship you are no longer eligible to play junior
The rule is:
"Subject to Age Restrictions set out in Rule 6.16, all players are eligible to participate in Inter-Club Junior Grade except:
(a) Those who have played on a Club Senior or Intermediate Team
other than: (i) A Divisional or Group Senior Team or (ii) A College Club Team, as allowed in Rule 6.7, Exception (3),
in the current year’s Championship or, unless regraded, in the previous year’s Championship"
http://www.gaa.ie/content/documents/publications/official_guides/official-guide-2013-part1.pdf page 81

EDIT: if theres a county bye law that states theres an exemption to the rule for playoffs then you'd have to ask the county secretary as county bye laws dont seem to be published anywhere.

Yeah that was my understanding also! Luckily, I happen to be club secretary so I might just shoot him an email to confirm.

Clareman

Relegation playoff matches aren't regarded as Senior Championship though in some places, they are technically a separate competition. A very good friend of mine played in a senior playoff match last year and is eligible to play Junior again this year as the match didn't affect his senior status.

premierstone

As clareman says it depends on the county, in Tipp we have three senior chamoionship as in the regular county (Dan Breen), the relegation and a sort of Senior B for teams that are in neither (Seamus O Riain) in our case both the the Dan Breen and the relegation affect senior status but the Seamus O Riain does not.

Necro

Thanks for all your contributions guys. Just to update, I received confirmation from the county board administrator that the Senior Relegation competition is considered seperate from the senior championship, and therefore junior players would not be affected by taking part. Interesting to know!