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Replying To StoreysTash: " Replying To KillingFields: "Have you learned nothing over the last few weeks? The appetite for club GAA is much bigger than anybody knew, in Wexford anyway.
Nobody is proposing less games, people are just proposing a defined and condensed season. A few less games, e.g. scrapping the Jan competitions, and letting the league replace it as the warm-up tournament every team knows it is, is the way forward.
StoreysTash (Wexford) - Posts: 739 - 13/08/2020 16:00:45 You can have a defined season for clubs with clubs and club players just not accepting having to wait for ages to play club championship games or even clubs playing championship games same weekends as inter county games where possible.
you dont need to condense the inter county championship that much to help clubs.
i do agree the january competitions should be scrapped. teams are playing friendlies anyway.
But disagree with treating the league as a warm up competition.
how many other sports treat the competition you play most of your games of the year as a warm up for a straight knock out?" Well in the current arrangement (with exception of this year) club season is from August, or whenever the county team is knocked out, until December, with the exception of April. So when is your proposal for a defined season? This summer has been a wake-up call for the GAA I hope. The clubs are buzzing, players are committed. The league is a warm-up competition at the moment, if it wasn't why do so many teams give fringe players game time throughout it?"
zinny (Wexford) - Posts: 982 - 14/08/2020 04:59:02
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Replying To zinny: " Replying To StoreysTash: "[quote=KillingFields: "Have you learned nothing over the last few weeks? The appetite for club GAA is much bigger than anybody knew, in Wexford anyway.
Nobody is proposing less games, people are just proposing a defined and condensed season. A few less games, e.g. scrapping the Jan competitions, and letting the league replace it as the warm-up tournament every team knows it is, is the way forward.
StoreysTash (Wexford) - Posts: 739 - 13/08/2020 16:00:45 You can have a defined season for clubs with clubs and club players just not accepting having to wait for ages to play club championship games or even clubs playing championship games same weekends as inter county games where possible.
you dont need to condense the inter county championship that much to help clubs.
i do agree the january competitions should be scrapped. teams are playing friendlies anyway.
But disagree with treating the league as a warm up competition.
how many other sports treat the competition you play most of your games of the year as a warm up for a straight knock out?" Well in the current arrangement (with exception of this year) club season is from August, or whenever the county team is knocked out, until December, with the exception of April. So when is your proposal for a defined season? This summer has been a wake-up call for the GAA I hope. The clubs are buzzing, players are committed. The league is a warm-up competition at the moment, if it wasn't why do so many teams give fringe players game time throughout it?"
I think the GAA season is arseways.
Open the season with Provincial championships.
Move straight into a proper league based championship then after and just play the season off in a sharper time period.
The 23 week season for intercounty probably is also a touch long.
Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 3111 - 14/08/2020 11:10:46
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Replying To Whammo86: " Replying To zinny: "[quote=StoreysTash: "[quote=KillingFields: "Have you learned nothing over the last few weeks? The appetite for club GAA is much bigger than anybody knew, in Wexford anyway.
Nobody is proposing less games, people are just proposing a defined and condensed season. A few less games, e.g. scrapping the Jan competitions, and letting the league replace it as the warm-up tournament every team knows it is, is the way forward.
StoreysTash (Wexford) - Posts: 739 - 13/08/2020 16:00:45 You can have a defined season for clubs with clubs and club players just not accepting having to wait for ages to play club championship games or even clubs playing championship games same weekends as inter county games where possible.
you dont need to condense the inter county championship that much to help clubs.
i do agree the january competitions should be scrapped. teams are playing friendlies anyway.
But disagree with treating the league as a warm up competition.
how many other sports treat the competition you play most of your games of the year as a warm up for a straight knock out?" Well in the current arrangement (with exception of this year) club season is from August, or whenever the county team is knocked out, until December, with the exception of April. So when is your proposal for a defined season? This summer has been a wake-up call for the GAA I hope. The clubs are buzzing, players are committed. The league is a warm-up competition at the moment, if it wasn't why do so many teams give fringe players game time throughout it?"
I think the GAA season is arseways.
Open the season with Provincial championships.
Move straight into a proper league based championship then after and just play the season off in a sharper time period.
The 23 week season for intercounty probably is also a touch long."]Yea but Football would have to go the same way as Hurling in terms of Provincial and Championship structure. Playing the provincials first with the winner doing nothing more than winning it, would be a radical change, something the GAA doesn't do well.
zinny (Wexford) - Posts: 982 - 14/08/2020 11:51:23
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This could turn out to be a long one, so please bear with me.
I always think that the problem with calls for defined club/county seasons, or a national fixtures plan, is that every county is different in terms of its needs, because of how they have different structures and different priorities as regards hurling and football.
For example, some counties (like ourselves in Wexford) give equal time to their hurling and football club championships. But others don't - e.g. how Kilkenny plays off its football in just a few weekends early in the year, or how several other counties who have only a handful of hurling clubs only need a few weekends for that, and give much more time to football.
Then there's the championship structures themselves, within counties. As StoreysTash mentioned above, in an ordinary year (not this year!) we've a system in Wexford that takes a minimum 16 weeks to play. There are 12 teams per grade in both hurling and football, and two groups of six in each grade. So that makes five group matches, followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final, for a total of eight rounds of matches in both codes. Having a defined club season starting even on the first weekend of July would still mean it would be at least middle of October before county finals would be played, and that's not even allowing for a spare weekend anywhere along the line for a replay or if games are weather-affected.
You might say "change your structure to something shorter", but this system was introduced in 2012, and clubs have voted to retain it every single year since then, despite there being a number of other options proposed along the way too. So it's obviously popular. So do you have to consider then whether clubs and players would be willing to accept the trade-off of a shorter structure and therefore less games, in return for getting a defined season?
Now let's consider a defined club season of say July to October from another point of view. Would this mean club players get no games at all during February/March/April/May/June? Or do they run secondary competitions where clubs have to accept that they won't have their county players?
Doing so is no issue for us here in Wexford, where we run a thing called the All County Leagues alongside the National Leagues each year, and where clubs long ago accepted they won't have their county men. It's not taken too seriously, despite the odd attempt by the Co. Board to "jazz it up" a bit, and being honest, I don't think it will ever be taken seriously. My own club won Div. 1 hurling a few years ago, and it was just a case of handing out medals a few weeks later at training for a "real" match (i.e. a group match in the championship). And I daresay every one of the lads who got a medal would have handed it back if they could have been a guaranteed a win even in that group game instead.
But I know that in other counties, secondary competitions are taken far more seriously. So there might have to be a big change in mindset there too - either clubs accept they play them in the early part of the year without their county men, or else they squeeze them into the latter part of the year, and go the first half of the year without a club competition at all.
Another thing is to point out that club competitions being delayed by the progress of inter-county sides isn't usually an issue in many counties at all. I'll take the examples of our neighbours Wicklow and Carlow. Last year, both were out of both the hurling and football championships by the second weekend of June. So they'd have had the second half of June and all of July, August, September and October to play their club championships.
No disrespect to them or anybody else, but it's reality that for many of the so-called "weaker" counties, it would be unusual for them to still be playing inter-county hurling or football going into July. So they've already got a de facto "defined" club season from July onwards anyway. If the Super 8s are retained the way they were last year, there'd be 24 counties out of the football championship by then, and most of those 24 would be out of hurling too.
I said at the top that this could be a long post, and it's turned out that way. Basically, what suits some counties won't suit others, and some counties in reality don't have a problem with July/August club fixtures in the first place.
Really, this post is just a hell of a long way of saying there are no easy answers!
Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 410 - 14/08/2020 12:18:05
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Replying To Pikeman96: "This could turn out to be a long one, so please bear with me.
I always think that the problem with calls for defined club/county seasons, or a national fixtures plan, is that every county is different in terms of its needs, because of how they have different structures and different priorities as regards hurling and football.
For example, some counties (like ourselves in Wexford) give equal time to their hurling and football club championships. But others don't - e.g. how Kilkenny plays off its football in just a few weekends early in the year, or how several other counties who have only a handful of hurling clubs only need a few weekends for that, and give much more time to football.
Then there's the championship structures themselves, within counties. As StoreysTash mentioned above, in an ordinary year (not this year!) we've a system in Wexford that takes a minimum 16 weeks to play. There are 12 teams per grade in both hurling and football, and two groups of six in each grade. So that makes five group matches, followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final, for a total of eight rounds of matches in both codes. Having a defined club season starting even on the first weekend of July would still mean it would be at least middle of October before county finals would be played, and that's not even allowing for a spare weekend anywhere along the line for a replay or if games are weather-affected.
You might say "change your structure to something shorter", but this system was introduced in 2012, and clubs have voted to retain it every single year since then, despite there being a number of other options proposed along the way too. So it's obviously popular. So do you have to consider then whether clubs and players would be willing to accept the trade-off of a shorter structure and therefore less games, in return for getting a defined season?
Now let's consider a defined club season of say July to October from another point of view. Would this mean club players get no games at all during February/March/April/May/June? Or do they run secondary competitions where clubs have to accept that they won't have their county players?
Doing so is no issue for us here in Wexford, where we run a thing called the All County Leagues alongside the National Leagues each year, and where clubs long ago accepted they won't have their county men. It's not taken too seriously, despite the odd attempt by the Co. Board to "jazz it up" a bit, and being honest, I don't think it will ever be taken seriously. My own club won Div. 1 hurling a few years ago, and it was just a case of handing out medals a few weeks later at training for a "real" match (i.e. a group match in the championship). And I daresay every one of the lads who got a medal would have handed it back if they could have been a guaranteed a win even in that group game instead.
But I know that in other counties, secondary competitions are taken far more seriously. So there might have to be a big change in mindset there too - either clubs accept they play them in the early part of the year without their county men, or else they squeeze them into the latter part of the year, and go the first half of the year without a club competition at all.
Another thing is to point out that club competitions being delayed by the progress of inter-county sides isn't usually an issue in many counties at all. I'll take the examples of our neighbours Wicklow and Carlow. Last year, both were out of both the hurling and football championships by the second weekend of June. So they'd have had the second half of June and all of July, August, September and October to play their club championships.
No disrespect to them or anybody else, but it's reality that for many of the so-called "weaker" counties, it would be unusual for them to still be playing inter-county hurling or football going into July. So they've already got a de facto "defined" club season from July onwards anyway. If the Super 8s are retained the way they were last year, there'd be 24 counties out of the football championship by then, and most of those 24 would be out of hurling too.
I said at the top that this could be a long post, and it's turned out that way. Basically, what suits some counties won't suit others, and some counties in reality don't have a problem with July/August club fixtures in the first place.
Really, this post is just a hell of a long way of saying there are no easy answers!" You have all of that correct and then there is another factor not mentioned. Some counties have no problem playing games midweek, but if you are a small club in Mayo or Kerry you will almost definitely be relying on lads working or studying in Dublin who come home every weekend. No problem for counties neighbouring Dublin to have midweek games but almost impossible in other places, you can't expect someone to travel from Dublin to Castlebar to play a big game on Wednesday evening and still get to his job in Dublin the following morning.
Soma (UK) - Posts: 2484 - 14/08/2020 16:26:34
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Replying To Pikeman96: "This could turn out to be a long one, so please bear with me.
I always think that the problem with calls for defined club/county seasons, or a national fixtures plan, is that every county is different in terms of its needs, because of how they have different structures and different priorities as regards hurling and football.
For example, some counties (like ourselves in Wexford) give equal time to their hurling and football club championships. But others don't - e.g. how Kilkenny plays off its football in just a few weekends early in the year, or how several other counties who have only a handful of hurling clubs only need a few weekends for that, and give much more time to football.
Then there's the championship structures themselves, within counties. As StoreysTash mentioned above, in an ordinary year (not this year!) we've a system in Wexford that takes a minimum 16 weeks to play. There are 12 teams per grade in both hurling and football, and two groups of six in each grade. So that makes five group matches, followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals, and final, for a total of eight rounds of matches in both codes. Having a defined club season starting even on the first weekend of July would still mean it would be at least middle of October before county finals would be played, and that's not even allowing for a spare weekend anywhere along the line for a replay or if games are weather-affected.
You might say "change your structure to something shorter", but this system was introduced in 2012, and clubs have voted to retain it every single year since then, despite there being a number of other options proposed along the way too. So it's obviously popular. So do you have to consider then whether clubs and players would be willing to accept the trade-off of a shorter structure and therefore less games, in return for getting a defined season?
Now let's consider a defined club season of say July to October from another point of view. Would this mean club players get no games at all during February/March/April/May/June? Or do they run secondary competitions where clubs have to accept that they won't have their county players?
Doing so is no issue for us here in Wexford, where we run a thing called the All County Leagues alongside the National Leagues each year, and where clubs long ago accepted they won't have their county men. It's not taken too seriously, despite the odd attempt by the Co. Board to "jazz it up" a bit, and being honest, I don't think it will ever be taken seriously. My own club won Div. 1 hurling a few years ago, and it was just a case of handing out medals a few weeks later at training for a "real" match (i.e. a group match in the championship). And I daresay every one of the lads who got a medal would have handed it back if they could have been a guaranteed a win even in that group game instead.
But I know that in other counties, secondary competitions are taken far more seriously. So there might have to be a big change in mindset there too - either clubs accept they play them in the early part of the year without their county men, or else they squeeze them into the latter part of the year, and go the first half of the year without a club competition at all.
Another thing is to point out that club competitions being delayed by the progress of inter-county sides isn't usually an issue in many counties at all. I'll take the examples of our neighbours Wicklow and Carlow. Last year, both were out of both the hurling and football championships by the second weekend of June. So they'd have had the second half of June and all of July, August, September and October to play their club championships.
No disrespect to them or anybody else, but it's reality that for many of the so-called "weaker" counties, it would be unusual for them to still be playing inter-county hurling or football going into July. So they've already got a de facto "defined" club season from July onwards anyway. If the Super 8s are retained the way they were last year, there'd be 24 counties out of the football championship by then, and most of those 24 would be out of hurling too.
I said at the top that this could be a long post, and it's turned out that way. Basically, what suits some counties won't suit others, and some counties in reality don't have a problem with July/August club fixtures in the first place.
Really, this post is just a hell of a long way of saying there are no easy answers!" I agree there are no easy answers and accept everything you say about there's no one size fits all.
There are things that can help though and that make sense to improve things.
1: The Provincial and All Ireland club competitions should be played in February and March. The reason for this is that having counties of varying competitions structures and vary inter county commitments try to all finish their own competitions at the same time is crazy. For many of the reasons you state above.
You give some breathing space at the end of year and Wexford can run their championships however they want and not have to worry about impacting their neighbours.
February and March could be for these club games and then also inter county pre season can also be played in March.
The Provincial club competitions can be played at neutral venues and be flexible to allow for games to get completed on time.
A short April-July intercounty season to follow would leave a lot of time at the end of the year for club championships in whatever format teams want.
It's a very simple thing that can allow for a lot more flexibility for county boards to run their structures as they see fit.
Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 3111 - 14/08/2020 16:44:29
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Replying To Bon: "Agreed. I think its time to scrap the national league's and just have championship. Then let the rest of time be for club only." Agree totally at a stroke the problems will go away.
arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4434 - 14/08/2020 17:45:44
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Replying To Soma: "You have all of that correct and then there is another factor not mentioned. Some counties have no problem playing games midweek, but if you are a small club in Mayo or Kerry you will almost definitely be relying on lads working or studying in Dublin who come home every weekend. No problem for counties neighbouring Dublin to have midweek games but almost impossible in other places, you can't expect someone to travel from Dublin to Castlebar to play a big game on Wednesday evening and still get to his job in Dublin the following morning." I don't see the problem with not catering for people who can't travel home midweek.
Let them join someone else.
The GAA tries to suit too many bloody people and ends up failing everyone.
Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 3111 - 14/08/2020 19:21:04
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Time to scrap County Managers, they are destroying the game and costing County boards a fortune, time to run Club Games from 1st February to end of June , with all players playing and training with their Clubs only. Then let County panels get together on 1st July and train for that month and start County Games on 1st august and have them finished by end of November, with December and January a closed season.
watching some Club games both live and on TV in the last few weeks, there is far better football played by all players but especially by County players who are let express themselves and play the game with some flair. instead of been controlled by County Managers to play to a system and produce football that's a bore to watch especially for neutral supporters.
jacktheboy (Donegal) - Posts: 39 - 14/08/2020 20:08:20
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Replying To jacktheboy: "Time to scrap County Managers, they are destroying the game and costing County boards a fortune, time to run Club Games from 1st February to end of June , with all players playing and training with their Clubs only. Then let County panels get together on 1st July and train for that month and start County Games on 1st august and have them finished by end of November, with December and January a closed season.
watching some Club games both live and on TV in the last few weeks, there is far better football played by all players but especially by County players who are let express themselves and play the game with some flair. instead of been controlled by County Managers to play to a system and produce football that's a bore to watch especially for neutral supporters." Who picks the county team if there's no manager?
WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 875 - 14/08/2020 21:23:47
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Why has it become so fashionable to be negative about inter-county football and hurling? The issue is not with inter-county games, its the fixtures calendar that is the issue. I love my club football as much as the next man but there is nothing like seeing a brilliant county game.
Club and county can both be accommodated, we just need a proper fixtures calendar.
Green_Gold (Donegal) - Posts: 1730 - 14/08/2020 23:02:22
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It's always been a peeve of mine that the summer and early autumn months which are most suited for hurling and football with the good weather and long days have for decades being a wasted time and a lost opportunity. Counties like Galway regularly compete in the latter stages of inter county senior and underage competitions thus leaving a sometimes 3 month gap in the club senior c'ships leaving players and clubs disillusioned.
The inter country competitions which have in recent years been expanded have more or less made it impossible to play club championships during the summer months, I think that this needs a serious revisiting and a few modifications to the formats could achieve good results.
The objective is a balance between club and county. Also some type of consideration should be give to students doing exams etc. there is a definite need for a closed season.
Less collective training for inter county teams should lead to less costs as the expense of running these teams is spiraling out of control and is going to put many county boards in bad financial positions.
* Discontinue the FBD, McKenna cup etc, go straight into National league in the middle of February.
* Split Divisions 1, 2 & 3 of league into 2 groups of 4 or 5, bottom teams relegated to lower division, either have semi finals or top teams go to final, this would take at most 6 rounds completed by early April.
* Mid April through late July solely for club c'ships, no collective county training, county teams may convene for a few weeks around exam time in early June when club c'ships are suspended until students have finished exams. All county c'ships completed by end of July.
* Inter county c'ships start in mid August and finish in mid October, play the 7 or so rounds necessary to complete competition over 9 weekends.
Galway4ever (Galway) - Posts: 134 - 15/08/2020 05:00:12
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Replying To Whammo86: "I don't see the problem with not catering for people who can't travel home midweek.
Let them join someone else.
The GAA tries to suit too many bloody people and ends up failing everyone." That's just a crazy suggestion and would see a huge number of clubs fold as they would be unable to field teams. Any lad who goes to college in Dublin for 4 years from Mayo or Kerry won't join a club in Dublin as he is unlikely to be there in June, July or August, and won't play with his home club as he won't be there April, May or September if a team even exists. They will be lost to the game entirely if they take 4 years out. For lads working away, they understandably like to go home to their family at weekends so not much point them joining a club in Dublin either. And a club like Aran Islands wouldn't be able to exist as nobody would be able to get to a game there midweek. Would you say every intercounty player living in Dublin and training there midweek because the drive back to Mayo or Galway is too far should have to throw their lot in with Dublin at intercounty as well?
Soma (UK) - Posts: 2484 - 15/08/2020 08:40:08
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Good post Pikeman, agree with you. What is probably needed is for the league to be reduced to maybe 4 teams in 3 groups - Wexford don't need to play Kilkenny, Galway, Dublin, Laois in the league and play them again 2 months later! The structure is ridiculous! Top 2 ranked teams into final. Job done!
These games could start in 1st week of March, with final 5 weeks later to allow for a weekend lost to weather.
Then, straight away in mid-April, in to provincial championships. 2 games, week break, 2 more games, final.
So you are at the knock-out stages by the 1st of June. I would have no putting giving the provinical finalists a "1st round bye" and ALL the other teams (plus Joe McDonagh winners) are into a hat, 4 matches, knock-out.
4 winners play 4 provincial finalists in quarter final. Semi final, final. Job done by early-mid July.
StoreysTash (Wexford) - Posts: 864 - 15/08/2020 09:41:17
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Replying To Soma: "That's just a crazy suggestion and would see a huge number of clubs fold as they would be unable to field teams. Any lad who goes to college in Dublin for 4 years from Mayo or Kerry won't join a club in Dublin as he is unlikely to be there in June, July or August, and won't play with his home club as he won't be there April, May or September if a team even exists. They will be lost to the game entirely if they take 4 years out. For lads working away, they understandably like to go home to their family at weekends so not much point them joining a club in Dublin either. And a club like Aran Islands wouldn't be able to exist as nobody would be able to get to a game there midweek. Would you say every intercounty player living in Dublin and training there midweek because the drive back to Mayo or Galway is too far should have to throw their lot in with Dublin at intercounty as well?" No people should do whatever they want.
I just don't think the GAA should bend over backwards to accommodate every possible life circumstance.
If you're worried about people being lost to the game, well the current situation needs to be sorted.
My thoughts are that the association should have August to the end of the year free for club championships activities, with no Provincial or All Ireland club at the end of it constraining how counties run their competitions.
Let county boards then run their competitions and make decisions as they see fit.
I don't see the problem though, if a county board wants to have their season completed by the end of October and know that means they need to run midweek matches.
There's payoffs and sacrifice that needs to be made.
There's only so much time in the year. Everyone wants to have their cake and eat it but at the end of the day that's not possible. The current soft approach to fixture scheduling is a load of rubbish and a lot of it is to do with trying to make sure all players are available for all teams at all times. It's just not possible and I think people need to start to accept that.
Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 3111 - 15/08/2020 12:46:01
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Replying To jacktheboy: "Time to scrap County Managers, they are destroying the game and costing County boards a fortune, time to run Club Games from 1st February to end of June , with all players playing and training with their Clubs only. Then let County panels get together on 1st July and train for that month and start County Games on 1st august and have them finished by end of November, with December and January a closed season.
watching some Club games both live and on TV in the last few weeks, there is far better football played by all players but especially by County players who are let express themselves and play the game with some flair. instead of been controlled by County Managers to play to a system and produce football that's a bore to watch especially for neutral supporters." More money being spent on club managers across the country......paid club managers are as big if not a bigger problem than county managers....over 25 million a year been taken out of the GAA by club managers....
ArmaghCat (Armagh) - Posts: 61 - 15/08/2020 13:49:56
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Replying To Whammo86: "No people should do whatever they want.
I just don't think the GAA should bend over backwards to accommodate every possible life circumstance.
If you're worried about people being lost to the game, well the current situation needs to be sorted.
My thoughts are that the association should have August to the end of the year free for club championships activities, with no Provincial or All Ireland club at the end of it constraining how counties run their competitions.
Let county boards then run their competitions and make decisions as they see fit.
I don't see the problem though, if a county board wants to have their season completed by the end of October and know that means they need to run midweek matches.
There's payoffs and sacrifice that needs to be made.
There's only so much time in the year. Everyone wants to have their cake and eat it but at the end of the day that's not possible. The current soft approach to fixture scheduling is a load of rubbish and a lot of it is to do with trying to make sure all players are available for all teams at all times. It's just not possible and I think people need to start to accept that." Of the squad of 30 Mayo footballers had 2 years ago, 10 of them were based in Dublin. Leitrim hurlers hold their training sessions in Mullingar because so many of them are based in Dublin. It would be the same for lots of clubs in the west. Tell a club that 1/3rd of their players won't be available for midweek games and you may as well close the club down. What works for a GAA club in a commuter location is vastly different to what might work for a club in more rural areas, simply telling rural clubs 'tough luck' isn't good enough.
County boards should set their own fixtures and be answerable to their own clubs, not have some fixture plan set by someone in Dublin or their county manager.
Soma (UK) - Posts: 2484 - 15/08/2020 15:17:47
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It's always been a peeve of mine that the summer and early autumn months which are most suited for hurling and football with the good weather and long days have for decades being a wasted time and a lost opportunity. Counties like Galway regularly compete in the latter stages of inter county senior and underage competitions thus leaving a sometimes 3 month gap in the club senior c'ships leaving players and clubs disillusioned.
The inter country competitions which have in recent years been expanded have more or less made it impossible to play club championships during the summer months, I think that this needs a serious revisiting and a few modifications to the formats could achieve good results.
The objective is a balance between club and county. Also some type of consideration should be give to students doing exams etc. there is a definite need for a closed season.
Less collective training for inter county teams should lead to less costs as the expense of running these teams is spiraling out of control and is going to put many county boards in bad financial positions.
* Discontinue the FBD, McKenna cup etc, go straight into National league in the middle of February.
* Split Divisions 1, 2 & 3 of league into 2 groups of 4 or 5, bottom teams relegated to lower division, either have semi finals or top teams go to final, this would take at most 6 rounds completed by early April.
* Mid April through late July solely for club c'ships, no collective county training, county teams may convene for a few weeks around exam time in early June when club c'ships are suspended until students have finished exams. All county c'ships completed by end of July.
* Inter county c'ships start in mid August and finish in mid October, play the 7 or so rounds necessary to complete competition over 9 weekends.
Galway4ever (Galway) - Posts: 101 - 15/08/2020 05:00:12Dont play the january competitions allright but teams will be playing pre season games anyway
The inter county championships had to expand. Straight knockout wasnt right and isnt going to happen again.
Clubs need to play in summer but that also means that inter county players have to play everything especially all club games.
You cant just totally reduce the number of inter county games. what replaces all the income from the lost inter county games or the media coverage or attention the association would get?
KillingFields (Limerick) - Posts: 1636 - 15/08/2020 16:02:11
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Replying To Whammo86: "I don't see the problem with not catering for people who can't travel home midweek.
Let them join someone else.
The GAA tries to suit too many bloody people and ends up failing everyone." I know there's been other posts on this in the meantime, but I'm going back to the original one here to reply.
I think this is a crazy suggestion and shows a complete lack of empathy and understanding for what the GAA is all about as a community-based organisation.
To suggest that somebody who goes to college or gets a job a couple of hours away from home should immediately be expected to turn his back on his own club and sign up to play with a crowd of strangers instead goes completely against the grain of what the club is supposed to be all about.
And to wade into a discussion that's trying to come up with suggestions about what can be done to improve the lot of the club player, with a proposal that would do nothing but severely hamper rural clubs everywhere, is nothing short of bizarre.
I'm saying no more on this one. I've made my point.
Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 410 - 15/08/2020 16:27:52
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Replying To Soma: "Of the squad of 30 Mayo footballers had 2 years ago, 10 of them were based in Dublin. Leitrim hurlers hold their training sessions in Mullingar because so many of them are based in Dublin. It would be the same for lots of clubs in the west. Tell a club that 1/3rd of their players won't be available for midweek games and you may as well close the club down. What works for a GAA club in a commuter location is vastly different to what might work for a club in more rural areas, simply telling rural clubs 'tough luck' isn't good enough.
County boards should set their own fixtures and be answerable to their own clubs, not have some fixture plan set by someone in Dublin or their county manager." I think I haven't been clear.
I think the county boards should have flexibility to do what they want, I just don't see a problem with county boards scheduling championship games mid week if they'd rather give their club players a better season. I never said Croke Park should dictate how they run their competitions.
It's why I think that the Provincial club championships need to be moved out of their current spot.
Say we had February and March for Provincial and All Ireland club and inter county preseason without their club players.
April, May, June and July should be for inter county and club secondary competitions.
Then you have Wexford can have full agency over what the do.
They'd have choices to make.
They can keep their formats as is.
If they keep them as is, do they have a definitive start date or do they base it off how the county team goes.
When do they want to end it.
If they've 16 rounds of matches, they can either run it into November or they could run 2 rounds in each code mid week.
I just think this idea that championship has to be at the weekend just means that a county board is tying down their potential options.
If it's not for a county board I understand that but also the GAA can't accommodate every whim of every county board.
It's not feasible for Wexford to say we want to play 16 rounds of championship, we want to only play at weekends, we want to be finishing in October and we want a clearly defined season for our club players and we want county players to be available for all club games.
That can't happen, Croke Park shouldn't dictate how Wexford run their competitions but nor should Wexford dictate how Croke Park run their season.
You have 16 rounds of club championships. You also need 11 rounds to run Leinster and All Ireland club competitions in both codes.
That's 27 weekends for club.
25 weekends for a close season and then run an inter county season incorporating rest weekends just pretty much isn't feasible.
Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 3111 - 15/08/2020 16:31:06
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