PERHAPS it is best to start with a little clarification before I examine the always contentious subject of the Kerry team captaincy in detail. In what is merely an objective look at the system by which the captain of the senior, minor and U-21 teams is picked, nothing personal is attributed to any of Kerry's previous captains, nor the newest captain Bryan Sheehan.

Indeed, in a lot of ways that is what's wrong with the debate on the captaincy issue: questioning or criticism of the system is taken way too personally and one is accused of having an agenda against the incumbent, his club, district, etc when one ponders should the system be changed.

The matter needs to be looked at rationally, in this observer's view, with everyone's allegiances and loyalties checked at the door and left out of the debate.

Firstly maybe it's best to ask what exactly is the role of a captain in a GAA team? If his purpose is purely just to collect silverware and make a speech afterwards then there is no need to question how the captaincy is decided because in that case it's merely a more ceremonial role.

On the other hand if the captaincy is being picked because the nominee has leadership qualities then the issue becomes more complicated. Consider the situation where a County Championship winning team's only representative on the inter-county team is a young 19 or 20 yearold just breaking into the team and isn't exactly sure of his place.

Can you imagine how he would feel trying to speak to a dressing room full of more experienced players some with a few All-Ireland medals in their back pocket? It's then you begin to realise that there is a problem with the way the captain is picked. While this situation might be rare enough it is possible especially in a year when an unfancied team wins the County Championship.

While motions to change the current system have pretty much always fallen flat on their face, the two Laune Rangers motions at the recent County Board Fixtures meeting are perhaps the most thoughtful and interesting in terms of their rationale. For those who didn't see or hear of them, the Killorglin club called for the captaincy of the Kerry Minor and U-21 teams to be picked by 'by a sub-committee of the County Executive, comprised of the Chairman and Vice Chairman plus one other, after consultation with the team management.'

Their argument was the County Championship winners at one grade in any given year might have no representative on the Kerry team the following year because they might all be overage and a vacuum is then created for the picking of the captain. They also argued that because of increased media interest in both grades, the captain has to be a good leader because of the interviews and other media work that has to be done with the role.

Both points are pretty valid in their own right especially with the age factor alone but it's also more poignant when you consider how underage captains are picked down the line at club level. You can be sure that the U-12, U14 and U-16 captains are being picked because he or she is the best person for the role and it never goes beyond a certain three or four players.

Imagine the shock to the system they encounter when they go to a divisional or inter-county set-up and find out their captain is being picked because that players' club won some competition and even though he might be the quietest young fella in the world, he is expected to be a leader of men on the pitch!

The media aspect to the argument is interesting also; the image of the 'captain' is always as being the leader and most prominent player on the team. Again as in nearly all sports the captain is the one the media will inevitably want to talk to the most and he or she has to be well able to deal with the fourth estate.

In other codes the role of the captain is different particularly in soccer where a lot of onfield leadership is needed. Sami Hyypia realised this when he agreed to hand over the Liverpool captaincy to Steven Gerrard in 2003 sensing how much he could influence teammates around him playing in a more advanced position.

Even though it took him a while to realise it David Beckham eventually gave up the captaincy of the English team of the World Cup in 2006 because he realised he was not cut out for it and John Terry took on the mantle, proven because of his record with Chelsea and he probably should have been given the role much sooner than he was.

In rugby the captain is of vital importance. Not only is he the only person who is allowed formally communicate with a referee during the match he is also the person responsible for galvanising his team-mates around when the heat comes on. A manager can't bellow instructions onto the pitch like in GAA or soccer because he is up in the stands so the captain is the one responsible for communicating with his team-mates and needs to know what way his manager wants the team to play in any given half. Can you imagine how interesting GAA matches would be if all managers, selectors and officials had to watch the game from the stands? You would really see the importance of the team captain in that situation.

Maybe some of the scenarios that are being presented are a bit extreme and the old chestnut that 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' will be used, but sport and indeed society in general is crying out for leadership in some many ways at the moment. Kerry has been lucky to have such a fine calibre of captains throughout its history, but the same is not true of other counties, particular weaker ones where the persisting with the system of letting the County Championship winners pick the captain has done more harm than good.

Clare is one of the best examples of how breaking the mould led to success. Ger Loughnane made a lot of enemies for himself when he managed to get the Clare County Board to agree to select Anthony Daly as the team's permanent captain, but considering the success the Banner county enjoyed in the 90s with Daly as their leader, it proved to be a wise decision and Daly himself has shown leadership, not only as player, but also in management (Kilmoyley and the Dublin hurlers will attest to that).

It may be sometime yet before we see any change to the selection of the captaincy here in the county, - maybe another generation in fact, but like Rule 42, it's an issue that probably won't go away until some change is made to the process and if and when that ever happens people will probably look back on it the same way they are doing with the opening up of Croke Park at the moment and wonder what was all the fuss about.