CORK County Board has put forward a number of proposals which it hopes will help in the running of underage GAA in the county.

At Tuesday night’s county board meeting in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, delegates were presented with various suggestions, including the appointment of a full-time Rebel Óg secretary. The proposals will go before a special convention to be held on Tuesday, October 1st.

Another stand-out change is the move to bring grades in line with those at intercounty level, with U21 changing to U20 and the minor grade becoming U17. A one-off U18 championship would be run to facilitate players ‘missing out’ on minor.

In tandem with the minor move, the U15 and U13 age-grades would be prioritized, with secondary competitions continuing at U12, U14 and U16 for clubs with large numbers.

The primary age-grades at child level would be U11, U9 and U7 and would be organised by the Rebel Óg secretary along with a competitions control committee (CCC), working in conjunction with the games development staff.

In order to increase links between Rebel Óg and the county board, the Rebel Óg chairperson is to sit on the executive, which would annually nominate the holder of the role. It is hoped that, like other Rebel Óg roles, it would be for a maximum of five years.

In addition, the current ‘Central’ region would be subsumed into Rebel Óg, joining with the main Coiste na nÓg to form one governing committee. This would incorporate the CCC, consisting of the chairperson, vice-chairperson, secretary, assistant secretary and a representative (secretary or chairperson) from each of the four regions. 

It would be chaired by the Rebel Óg vice-chairperson and its remit would include fixtures, discipline and grading. It would have sole responsibility for organising the two Premier grades and would have an oversight role in regard to regional fixtures and ensuring county championship deadlines were met.

The four regions would be confined to six officer roles, mirroring the Rebel Óg roles, namely chairperson, vice-chairperson, secretary, assistant secretary, treasurer and PRO, all with maximum terms of five years. It is proposed that officers would not be allowed to move ‘sideways’ at the end of their term, as is the case at county executive level.

The new full-time Rebel Óg secretary would report to both county secretary Kevin O’Donovan and the Rebel Óg chairperson. 

The position is to be advertised on Monday, July 15th, with a closing date of Wednesday, July 31st. Shortlisting will be completed by August 10th, with interviews taking place on August 20th. The role will be filled by September 1st, with the appointee beginning work on or before October 1st.

The interview panel will comprise of one from the Cork county committee, one from Rebel Óg and one from Munster.