Other than the acceptance of the Rulebook Task Force's interim report and recommendations and the anticipated green light for the Hurling Development Committee's proposals to restructure the All Ireland championship, the most newsworthy item to emerge from the proceedings at Hotel Kilkenny yesterday was Nickey Brennan's call for a new GAA stadium in Dublin. A 25,000-capacity all-seater venue with floodlights, corporate box and premium facilities, and possibly a roof, was required to help cater for "the ever-growing population areas of the commuter belts of Meath, Louth and Kildare", the president asserted. Such a stadium would host schools' and colleges' games as well as national fixtures and could also facilitate other sports, he suggested.

The need for a new stadium in the capital was compounded by the recent extensive use of Croke Park, which, Brennan pointed out, has handled 31 separate events to date this year, a level of activity that "cannot be sustained". In addition, he went on, the Croke Park pitch will as a matter of course require a significant level of reconstruction over the next five years.

"We have to be realistic and prudent as to the boundaries that our hospitality can extend to, even in the period while Lansdowne Road is being developed."

Elsewhere in his presidential address, the man who famously declared at Congress 13 years ago that hurling "was dying" was much more upbeat about the current health of the game. "I firmly believe that the hurling vista has changed dramatically at grassroots level in the interim and that the seeds being sown will flower in the years ahead.

Never in the history of the association has so much effort, expertise and finance been committed to hurling." In regard to football, by contrast, Brennan expressed concern at the way the game is being coached and played and at the decrease in emphasis on the traditional skills of catching and kicking.

While supporting the notion that some counties should sell their existing grounds and move to new locations on the outskirts of towns, the president warned that the economics relating to the capacity of proposed redevelopments should be seriously thought out. "Our association has not adequately managed the strategic redevelopment of county grounds in the past and I remain sceptical as to our ability to do so again in the coming years, " he said.

Other issues raised by Brennan included the role of fulltime county board officials, who he declared must assume a "much wider brief" with a clear focus on strategic development as opposed to simply continuing the role undertaken by voluntary officials in the past, and the ongoing "unacceptable level of misbehaviour" on playing pitches across the land - not the first time and surely not the last that an incumbent uachtar�n was moved to bemoan indiscipline in Gaelic games.

Delegate approval for the HDC's proposals to revamp the hurling championship means that, from 2008, the Munster and Leinster champions will go directly into the All Ireland semi-finals, as was the case up to 2004. As of next year, the qualifiers will entail a first phase involving Galway, the Ulster champions and two first-round losers in Munster and Leinster; a second phase involving the four beaten semi-finalists in Munster and Leinster playing one another on a cross-provincial, knockout basis; a third phase involving the top two teams from Phase 1 playing the two winners from Phase 2; and a fourth phase involving the beaten Munster and Leinster finalists playing the two winners from Phase 3.

"This will eliminate the meaningless matches we've had in the qualifiers in the last couple of years and make for a more meaningful All Ireland championship, " HDC chairman Ned Quinn promised. Congress agreed with him.

CONGRESS MOTIONS

?? That Congress adopt in principle a further interim report and recommendations of the Rulebook Task Force. PASSED

?? That former chairmen of county boards shall have the right to vote at county convention. LOST ?? That former provincial chairmen shall have the right to vote at provincial convention. LOST ?? That the maximum period of of"ce ?? ?? for any specific officership of a county board be five years, with the exception of treasurer. PASSED That a divisional, group, college or university team that wins a county championship may not participate in the provincial and All Ireland club championship, with the relevant county board nominating a club to represent it. LOST That divisional or group teams made up of not more than three clubs, or a population of 6,000, winning a county championship participate in the senior provincial and All Ireland club championship.

LOST ?? That the Hurling Development Committee proposals for the All Ireland senior championship come into effect in 2008. PASSED ?? That the minimum "ne for each unful"lled club league "xture be increased fromEuro40 to Euro100. PASSED