Dublin CB reject Eamon Fennell's transfer request - were they right or wrong ?

[Canalman]

Maybe I should have stated that Fennell said that there would probably 25+ lads at hurling training the previous night. Iirc, the O'Tooles comment about numbers of lads football training was made in Jan/Feb 2010 when running laps/ sprinting in the muck can easily be spinned as football training.

Fact is OT are mainly concentrated on hurling and Fennell prob feels this is to his detriment.

[orangeman]

Storm threat lingers over Fennell's rough crossing
The Eamon Fennell transfer saga remains unresolved and a sore point in Dublin GAA, writes Dermot Crowe

Sunday November 28 2010

L ATE last year a sheaf of transfer applications arrived at the offices of Dublin County Board. Some read like peace accords, with no scope for conflict, while others were borne of conflict or their contents made dispute inevitable.

Of all the transfers lodged before the December deadline, one stood out from the crowd -- that of Eamon Fennell. His second attempt to leave O'Toole's sparked a debate between two opposing schools of thought: one guided by the principle of loyalty; the other arguing for individual choice and freedom of movement on certain grounds.

Fennell's transfer request exercised the hearts and minds of the delegates of the county board on a night last January when all the other cases before it for decision failed to raise comment or cause undue delay. Finally, after a lively exchange and a vote, the room was split right down the middle -- 33 for, 33 against. By then, Fennell, by choice, hadn't played any club football in over a year at a time when he was striving to establish himself as an inter-county midfielder. But the casting vote of the chairman saw his bid turned down a second time.

The last public statement made by Fennell, an agreeable and personable individual and an attractive target for bigger clubs, seemed partly resigned that his efforts to leave O'Toole's have failed. That hasn't been absolutely confirmed, and there are murmurings of a possible legal challenge, but at the moment talks between him and his club are ongoing with a view to finding a resolution. There is only one solution on offer as O'Toole's see it, however, and that is an amicable reunion which will see him resume playing for the club to which he is still registered.

"Well, I think it is all depending on what my answer is to O'Toole's now," he declared recently. "I have to sit down with the legal side and see if there are other avenues that we can go down. It is not looking too good at the moment, but I will have my verdict to them soon enough." A spokesman for the club contacted on Friday said they were still hopeful of persuading him to return and dropping his transfer bid.

If they can agree to a truce and the player returns, then it will mark a victory, as some see it, for smaller clubs who feel their better players are preyed upon by larger concerns -- although there is nothing to suggest that St Vincent's solicited Fennell; the move was initiated by him and he had previously been linked to moves to two other northside clubs, Ballymun Kickhams and Oliver Plunketts. Clearly, he was a restless figure and appears genuinely frustrated by the direction football was going in a club where hurling has been more prominent. Fennell hasn't played for O'Toole's since November 2008.

His second transfer attempt ended up in arbitration earlier this year. The DRA did not overturn the decision but highlighted certain misgivings over various procedures employed along the way and referred it back to the county committee for fresh consideration. This time it was advised that Fennell should be in attendance to offer him the chance to put across his case. The GAA says there is nothing to prevent a player from attending the county committee meeting, but it is accepted Fennell wasn't aware or notified of this right previously. In any event, the second vote yielded the same result, with more delegates now against the proposed move.

A county committee, or county board, has final adjudication on a transfer request, retaining the absolute right to grant or deny it. A sub-committee can be appointed, as is the case in most counties, to process the initial applications and then a recommendation is made. If the player is refused he can have an oral hearing. The outcome is then put forward for a final decision to the county committee. No appeal is allowed after that.

The fact that Fennell has missed two years of club football at a time when he was establishing himself as a county player gives the case added public interest and pathos. It has been a long and troublesome journey for Fennell and his club but if it has created a greater awareness of the need to improve the welfare of football in O'Toole's, then perhaps Fennell may yet see the effort as worthwhile. "I want to play club football at higher level on a regular basis to improve myself," he wrote on his first transfer form. O'Toole's did not accept and refused to offer their consent.

"Our club believes that the GAA is based on parish and local loyalty. Allowing transfers to bigger more successful clubs would undermine the basic unit of the GAA -- the club," they argued. They added that giving consent would be helping to create super clubs which would not be in the interests of Dublin GAA. The club was "building" its football team and didn't want to lose its better players. And it also asked that the time and effort put into developing players like Fennell be recognised.

GAA clubs of all sizes and ambitions will have watched with a keen eye. In the course of last year an important event also took place that affected the Fennell case even if that was not the specific intention. At a special convention of Dublin GAA, a new bye-law was introduced which essentially tightened up the rules governing transfers and arguably made it more difficult for a player to leave his own club for another within the county unless in exceptional circumstances. This followed an intercession by the GAA's Bye-Laws Committee earlier in the year which recommended that the Dublin bye-law should be brought more into line with the GAA's aims and ethos.

GAA policy on transfers is committed to the fundamentals of loyalty to one's club. If there were free movement without controls then it would lead to disorder but players have rights too. They are entitled to fair procedure and to have their personal circumstances considered objectively and without prejudice. Clubs cannot exercise a veto on transfers.

Before that special convention on October 5, 2009, Dublin County Board maintained a bye-law which contained a 12-month rule whereby players who had remained idle for a year, refusing to play for their club, would no longer require their consent in seeking a transfer. Other players have used this loophole in the past and Fennell may have felt that by sitting it out he would be in a stronger position when his transfer was resubmitted 12 months down the line. But the new bye-law changed all that. It read: "As the GAA is community-centred, based on the allegiance of its members to their local clubs, the object of which is to promote the Association's aims at local level, the transfer rules in the Official Guide and this bye-law reflect that ethos. A player is considered to always owe allegiance and loyalty to the club he first legally participated with in club competition."

It added that it would give "serious consideration" to the response of the player's club and be cognisant of the role played in developing and nurturing the player, the impact of a transfer on the current club and the impact of that transfer on the promotion of the GAA's aims in Dublin. There appears to have been some pressure placed on Dublin County Board to alter the terms of their rule governing transfers to bring it more into line with the Official Guide.

The chairman of the GAA's Bye-Laws Committee, Jimmy Treacy, said on Friday that their chief concern was that county committees would make the final adjudication and that that decision be final. He stressed that clubs could not decide this. Fennell has been a senior player with O'Toole's since 2000 and played with the club all his life. Since around 2006 he had desired a move.

The year Fennell lodged his first transfer request, St Vincent's had won the All-Ireland club title and O'Toole's were an intermediate club better known for their hurling exploits. O'Toole's have brought in high-calibre players from other clubs too, like Liam and Kevin Flynn, and leave themselves exposed to charges of double-standards. But they contested the claim that they were neglecting football.

Club officials regarded stories of poor training attendance and other possible signs of neglect as natural troughs that all clubs experience. Now they maintain football is on the rise, with a recent promotion win from Division 3 of the senior league bearing evidence of a march in the right direction.

In his second transfer bid a year ago, Fennell went a bit further in striving to outline his problems. He reported "serious disagreements with the club since 2004" regarding the management of senior football which led to a "complete breakdown in trust". He added that his grandfather played with St Vincent's and he wanted "to progress my career by joining them."

The club responded. It said there was no breakdown as outlined and noted differences in the latest reasons to those expressed previously and stood by its previous reasons for opposing the transfer. A few months ago, club chairman Noel Kelly made it clear they held no gripes and want him back playing for O'Toole's. "Everybody will be delighted to have him back. I think the important thing was that at no point was there any rancour between O'Toole's and Eamon. We did our best to keep it clean. We didn't do or say anything that would adversely affect relationships. I would be happy enough that there is a good relationship there and hopefully we can repair things."

Fennell recently talked of returning with the tail between his legs but it is unlikely that O'Toole's will see it as an occasion for the sackcloth and ashes. If he does stay put, they'll just be happy they haven't lost a player they are proud to still call one of their own.

Sunday Independent

[INDIANA]

Fed up reading about this. Quite honestly we dont need him and he should stay where he is. This is being pushed by other concerns outside our clubs walls.

He is a decent club footballer and an average county player. You'd swear it was David Beckham that was looking for a transfer. We've a couple of young lads who are doing fine. And thats the way it should be.

For far too long Dublin football has been destroyed by transfers. He's on the county panel. Which in Dublin means he'll see his clubmates for 2 months of the year. I cant honestly see the necessity for him to transfer. O Tooles got him on the dublin u21 team and the senior panel.

O Tooles got promoted to div2 and are on the slide at hurling. They will be among the favourites to progress to div1 next season.

[lynchbhoy]

I'd have to say that if I was in Fennells shoes i'd quit before going back to o'tooles.
I find it hard to listen to that the 'club' have done nothing to wreck any link with the lad.
too much hassle from ex-club mates imo hasnt helped either.
Fennell should join Dunshaughlin or someone like that.

Another ruling should be brought in that transfers within counties mean that players can only join junior clubs (not teams , CLUBS of the same code they play in). that will dissuede players from looking to leave in the future !

[heffo]

It looks like there may be another ex- Dublin panelist going on strike shortly from a club in div 2..his application to join a neighboring club was blocked by his home club

[Gael85]

It looks like there may be another ex- Dublin panelist going on strike shortly from a club in div 2..his application to join a neighboring club was blocked by his home club

What player is this?

[heffo]

It looks like there may be another ex- Dublin panelist going on strike shortly from a club in div 2..his application to join a neighboring club was blocked by his home club

What player is this?

I'd rather not name names at the moment - he scored eight points or so in an O'Byrne cup game v Carlow a couple of years ago..

[Gael85]

I know who it is now.The club he wants to transfer to now is orginally his home club

[heffo]

I know who it is now.The club he wants to transfer to now is orginally his home club

Thats the fella - he left the 'home' club when he was about ten.

[RMDrive]

Why does he want to move? Chasing trophys?

[INDIANA]

Why does he want to move? Chasing trophys?

The club he is going to is div 5!!!!. Hardly chasing glory.

[RMDrive]

Why does he want to move? Chasing trophys?

The club he is going to is div 5!!!!. Hardly chasing glory.

fair enough

[Gael85]

believe club he looking to transfer to have brought in a few lads from north,looking to push up a few divisions

[heffo]

Why does he want to move? Chasing trophys?

The club he is going to is div 5!!!!. Hardly chasing glory.

Persistent rumour that he'll be allowed leave the smaller club after one year and go to one of the big clubs - he wouldn't be let do that from where he is now...

[Zapatista]

Why does he want to move? Chasing trophys?

The club he is going to is div 5!!!!. Hardly chasing glory.

He still might be improving on his chances to win more trophys