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Online Transfer System
Some Questions
General Questions 1. A player wants to transfer to a Club in another Province or transfer Overseas. Can he apply online? a. Yes. All Inter-County Transfers may be applied for online in 2015. A player should contact the Secretary of the Club he wishes to join and ask him/her to start the process as per the instructions on the Official GAA website (www.gaa.ie/clubzone/transfers-and-sanctions/).
2. A player wants to transfer between two Clubs in the same County. Can he apply online? a. No; not at present. Pending the success of the Online Inter-County Transfer System, it is envisaged that all players will be able to apply online for transfers within Counties in 2017.
3. A player wants to transfer between two Clubs in the same Province. Can he apply online? a. No; not at present. Pending the success of the Online Inter-County Transfer System, it is envisaged that all players will be able to apply online for transfers within Provinces in 2016.
4. A player wants to apply for a Sanction / Permit / Authorisation. Can he apply online? a. No; not at present. The second phase of the project which is to move all sanctions, permits and authorisations online will commence in 2015 and be available in 2016 pending the success of the Online Inter-County Transfer System.
5. Will be online system be available for Ladies Football and Camogie? a. No. The Ladies Gaelic Football and Camogie Association have their own transfer systems.
6. Once a transfer is granted by Central Council; how does a player apply for registration? a. There is no change to the current registration process therefore a player does not become automatically registered once his transfer has been granted. The following actions must occur in respect of registration: i. Both County Committees will be notified via e-mail once a decision is made on an application. ii. All parties have three days to Appeal the decision (R. 6.6 (j) T.O. 2014) iii. Only on the expiry of these three days, may a player be registered. iv. All players must be registered at least three days before a game (R. 2.3 T.O. 2014).
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v. This means that a player cannot play for, at the earliest, six days after the decision has been made on an application by Central Council. b. A Club Secretary should ensure that the Club Registrar registers a player on the GAA Management System in accordance with the Rules of the Association (R. 2.3 and R. 6.6 T.O. 2014).
7. Why does registration not automatically occur after transferring? a. The online transfer system was designed to move the current process online with minimal changes to the current processes pertaining to transferring and registering. b. The membership system is only used by Clubs in Ireland, Britain and Europe. c. The majority of Inter-County transfers involve Clubs in North America, New York and Australasia; all of these are Units that do not use the current membership system. d. Furthermore, Riail 2.3 T.O. 2014 makes it clear that the Club Registrar must register players. It is generally not the function of the Club Secretary.
8. When can I play after my transfer is granted? a. At the earliest, a player cannot play for six days after a transfer is granted in Croke Park. Once both County Committees are notified of a decision on a transfer application by Central Council, there is a three day period for an Appeal. This period must expire and cannot be expedited. On the expiry of these three days, a player can be registered by his Club and the transfer becomes effective. All players must be registered three days before a game. It is important to note that an applicant for a Transfer cannot apply for registration until after the time for an appeal against such transfer has elapsed or any such appeal has been determined (R. 6.6 (j), T.O. 2014).
9. Is it mandatory to use the new Online Transfer System? a. No. Not in 2015 as the online system is being operated on a pilot basis. Pending the success of the pilot, it will be made mandatory from 2016 onwards. Use of the online system is strongly encouraged due to the benefits for players and Counties.
10. What are the benefits of applying for a Sanction online? a. Quicker processing of applications. b. Less chance of incorrect information being submitted. c. Ability to check status of applications. d. Only designated administrators can approve transfers. e. Easy access to transfer history. f. Identification of trends. g. Less labour intensive process.
Player Questions 11. What is the traditional way of applying for a transfer? a. Obtain a Transfer Application Form from the Official GAA website.
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b. Fill in the relevant sections, signs the application and give it to Secretary of Club you wish to join. c. Club Secretary (Joining) signs the application and gives the application to the County Secretary (Joining). d. County Secretary signs application and posts, faxes or e-mails to the relevant Administrator in Croke Park. e. Administrator scans the application and e-mails to the County the player wishes to leave. f. County the player is leaving has 10 days to raise an Objection and sends the application to the Club (leaving) for consideration. g. If there is no issue, the Club signs the application and sends it back to the County Secretary. h. County Secretary sends the application back to the Administrator in Croke Park i. The decision is conveyed via e-mail to both County Committees.
12. How do I apply for a transfer online? a. Contact the Secretary of the Club you wish to join and give him/her the following details: i. Your personal e-mail address. ii. Name of the Club and County you wish to leave. b. The Club Secretary will then log in to the Online Transfer System and start the process by sending an online transfer application to you. c. You will receive an e-mail and be prompted to submit the details of your application. d. Once the Club is satisfied that your details are correct, the application will be sent to Central Council for processing. e. The Club and County a player is leaving will have 10 days to raise an Objection. f. All Clubs and Counties will be notified when a decision has been made.
13. Can I withdraw my application after I have submitted it? a. This may be possible if the transfer has not been granted. If you would like to withdraw your application, you should e-mail the Secretary of the Club you wish to join and ask him/her to communicate your wishes to Central Council, through the relevant County Secretary.
14. How do I know what stage my transfer application is at? a. Your Club Secretary can log in to the Online Transfer System at any stage to see which Unit has yet to approve the application.
15. What happens if my Club does not respond to my online transfer application? a. If there is no Objection to the application within 10 days of the forwarding of the application from Central Council, the transfer will be deemed to be granted and both County Committees will be notified of the decision via e-mail.
16. I know that the Club I want to leave doesn’t use the online system, can I still apply online? a. Yes. As long as the Club you wish to join is willing to apply online, your application will still be processed. Once the online application is received in
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Croke Park, if there is no e-mail address listed for the Club on the Online Transfer System, the Administrator will e-mail a copy of the transfer to the County you wish to leave for approval.
17. What can I do if the Club I want to join isn’t willing to use the online system? a. This is not a problem for 2015 as the online system will operate concurrently with the old paper-based system.
Club Secretary Questions 18. How do I access the Online Transfer System? a. Go to http://pts.servasport.com/login. b. Log in with your Membership ID and Password that you use for the GAA Management System. c. Please e-mail your County Secretary if you don’t have this information requesting that the details be provided. The County Secretary will contact the Games Administration Department in Croke Park to verify your request.
19. What if I don’t know my Membership Number? a. Option 1 – Locate the number is at the bottom of your Membership Card. b. Option 2 – Ask your Club Registrar to locate it on the membership system. c. Option 3 – E-mail your County Secretary with your request.
20. What do I do if I have forgotten my password? a. Follow the ‘Forgotten password?’ link on the login page.
21. A player wants to transfer to my Club, how do I start the transfer process? a. Login to the Online Transfer System. b. Click on ‘Transfers’ ‘Initiate Transfer’. c. Type in the player’s e-mail address and select the Club he wishes to leave. d. The player will now receive an e-mail with a link to the online application form. e. You will receive an e-mail once the player has submitted his details. f. You can either ‘Accept’ or ‘Seek an Amendment’. g. The decision on the application will be made by Central Council and you will be notified via e-mail.
22. How do I know what stage a transfer is at? a. You can log in to the OPTS at any time and see the status of any application.
23. When will I know if a transfer is approved? a. The decision on a transfer application will be conveyed via e-mail to both County Secretaries and both Club Secretaries. b. For 2015 County Secretaries are also asked to notify Clubs of the decisions on applications. o This is because in the event of e-mails from the Online System going into the junk mail or spam account of a Club Secretary’s e-mail account, the
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Club will have the option of lodging an Appeal within three days of the notification of decision. o It is not envisaged that e-mails will go into spam accounts but this is a preventative measure for the pilot of the system.
24. If a player wants to leave my Club, how do I approve his online transfer application? a. If a player wants to leave your Club, you will receive an online application (as long as the player has applied online). b. This e-mail will contain a link to a unique page where you can either ‘Accept or ‘Reject’ the application. c. You don’t have to log in to the OPTS but can do so to check the status of an application.
25. Can a hardcopy of the application be printed? a. Yes. If you log in to the OPTS, you can print a version of any application of relevance to your Club.
26. How does my Club object to a transfer? a. If a player wishes to leave your Club, you can ‘Reject’ the application and state a brief reason. b. A member of the Games Administration Department in Croke Park will contact you to outline the process for lodging an Objection.
27. How does Central Council know which e-mail address to send a transfer application to? a. Many Clubs will have a default list of Club Secretaries listed on the GAA Management System for injury benefit fund purposes. County Secretaries will be asked to review this list at the start of the year and identify any e-mail addresses which are incorrect for the purpose of the transfer system. In short, the e-mail address used for your Club will be the one which is recognised by your County Committee for that year.
County Secretary Questions Many questions that County Secretaries will have are answered in the sections above. Any questions can be clarified with the Games Administration Department in Croke Park.
28. How do I access the Online Transfer System? a. Go to http://pts.servasport.com/login. b. Log in with your Membership ID and Password that you use for the GAA Management System.
29. What do I do if an online transfer application is received? a. If a player wants to leave your County, you will receive an online application (as long as the player has applied online). b. This e-mail will contain a link to a unique page where you can either ‘Accept or ‘Reject’ the application. c. You will be notified when the Club a player is leaving has approved the transfer.
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d. You don’t have to log in to the OPTS but can do so to check the status of an application.
30. How do I know what stage a transfer is at? c. You can log in to the OPTS at any time and see the status of any application applicable to your County.
31. When will I know if a transfer is approved? 32. The decision on a transfer application will be conveyed via e-mail to both County Secretaries and both Club Secretaries. a. For 2015 County Secretaries are also asked to notify Clubs of the decisions on applications. o This is because in the event of e-mails from the Online System going into the junk mail or spam account of a Club Secretary’s e-mail account, the Club will have the option of lodging an Appeal within three days of the notification of decision. o It is not envisaged that e-mails will go into spam accounts but this is a preventative measure for the pilot of the system.
33. How does a County object to a transfer? d. If a player wishes to leave your County, you can ‘Reject’ the application and state a short reason. This will notify Central Council that you wish to Object. e. A member of the Games Administration Department in Croke Park will contact you to outline the process for lodging an Objection.
34. Why can I not access transfers that were granted before the online system was introduced? a. The OPTS will be operating alongside the paper-based system for 2015, therefore to minimise confusion, it was decided to continue with the live transfer list on the official GAA website for 2015. The inclusion of all transfers and generation of reports has been scheduled for the second phase of the online system.
More Information If you require clarification on any aspect of this document, please contact the Games Administration and Player Welfare Department in Croke Park:
T: 0 1 865 8698
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