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You could, and a Committee did a template for that back around 2018. Then Covid and enforced split season came along and the vast majority liked what they saw and said that's the way to go. I don't see any appetite within the GAA for a return to that "mixed season" model. Plenty of County games fans, armchair general sports followers and Spillanes, Brehenys maybe.... Seanfanbocht (Roscommon) - Posts: 1944 - 28/09/2023 10:03:00 2506074 Link 1 |
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Years of work went into that attempt at a master club/county fixtures list, and it still didn't provide a solution across the board. The big problem then, which remains the big problem now, is that such a master list would only work if every county had exactly the same format for its club championships. Some counties need only a handful of weeks to play straight knock-out championships. Some need many more if there are group stages of up to six teams per group, followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals. What works for one county wouldn't work for another, and therefore a national master fixtures list to combine club and county is nigh on impossible to achieve. Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2615 - 28/09/2023 11:53:52 2506098 Link 0 |
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There are many reasons to mitigate against expecting players to line out for club on one weekend and county the next. Here's one of them: - A player who's crucial to both club and county (think David Clifford for Fossa/Kerry or Lee Chin for Faythe Harriers/Wexford) is carrying a knock. His club has a championship match on the coming Sunday, while the county has one the following Sunday. - He knows he'd be better off sitting out the first match, but it's a "must win" for the club, so he plays it despite being only maybe 80% fit. - He aggravates the condition during that match and now has to miss his county's match the following week. Imagine the fallout and conflict between club and county that would follow. It wouldn't be fair on anybody. Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2615 - 28/09/2023 12:07:47 2506099 Link 0 |
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So you make compromises. reduce the amount that some players are expected to play. Every player shouldnt be expected or need to play every game for every team they are eligible for in a given year KillingFields (Limerick) - Posts: 3669 - 28/09/2023 12:46:21 2506103 Link 0 |
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So what can you do then? There needs to be something better in place for the 99% of players who dont and will never play senior inter county. KillingFields (Limerick) - Posts: 3669 - 28/09/2023 12:57:51 2506104 Link 0 |
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This wouldn't be for everyone either but we could split the county season into league played in spring (February-April) and championship played in autumn (August-October). Club provincial and all-Ireland games played in Feb/March and club leagues starting in March/April. Club championship would be played May-July/August. Club would have sole access to players from end of April to beginning of July.
New&Improved (Leitrim) - Posts: 34 - 28/09/2023 14:50:01 2506123 Link 0 |
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Yes there is. The "something better" than the sort of club/county conflict that would arise from the above is the defined split season between the two. By the way, I find your statement "every player shouldn't be expected or need to play every game" to be laughable. As I'm in Wexford, am going to take Lee Chin as an example again. Here's something that could happen in late July or early August some year, if we went back to All-Ireland Finals being in September, and had club games being played in between county ones: - Faythe Harriers are due to play a crucial match in the round-robin stage of our club championship match one Sunday, which they have to win to still have a chance of making the knock-out stages. - The following Sunday, Wexford are due to play an All-Ireland quarter-final, or maybe even a semi-final. Do you really think either manager would say "that's okay Lee, we shouldn't expect you to play every game, so we don't need you for this one, and you can sit it out" ? Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2615 - 28/09/2023 15:12:46 2506126 Link 1 |
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I think both club and county need to exist together. Something allow the lines below would offer certainty around fixtures for club payers and ensure longer media exposure. journeyman (Limerick) - Posts: 140 - 28/09/2023 15:38:38 2506133 Link 0 |
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Amen. Who let the county managers call all the tunes in the GAA?
ExiledInWex (Dublin) - Posts: 1257 - 28/09/2023 16:24:38 2506141 Link 0 |
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No going back to 2016-19. No appetite for that. Seanfanbocht (Roscommon) - Posts: 1944 - 28/09/2023 16:59:57 2506149 Link 0 |
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That would cost County Board a fortune as Co Teams would continue training for 10 months.
joeman123 (Leitrim) - Posts: 504 - 28/09/2023 19:21:33 2506158 Link 0 |
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link thread here.
StoreysTash (Wexford) - Posts: 1784 - 28/09/2023 21:10:50 2506162 Link 0 |
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I think everyone agrees that bringing the club front and centre to the GAA is important - the split season certainly does this - but it does this at the expense of the inter-county game. The mindset needed is that the Club Player represents the County rather than the other way around. The inter county game is the shop window - we shouldn't be treating it as a given that people keep coming through the turn styles. My concern is that after 5 years of falling attendances we start to notice the impact the split season is having. At that stage it could be a longer way back. I wouldn't discount the opinions of the likes of Pat Spillane and Martin Breheny so quickly. They do care about GAA and are raising valid points. As for injuries; a player may get injured in training for the county that would also see them out of games. Unfortunately we're not machines and injuries happen. Nobody wants to see the best players missing games - but the best players would generally be the most resilient and don't need to be wrapped up in cotton wool. As for county boards having different schedules - a master fixtures list would give designated times for games - it would be up to the individual county boards to use these as they see fit. brianb (Kildare) - Posts: 350 - 29/09/2023 11:32:43 2506219 Link 0 |
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Pat Spillane has more than once trumpeted the crazy idea of having a sort of alternate split season - i.e. inter-county football and club hurling in the first part of the year, followed by inter-county hurling and club football in the second part, and then swapping the running order the following year. This makes no allowance at all for dual players - e.g. an inter-county footballer who also plays hurling with his club would have to choose between them for the first part of the year. He couldn't be expected to do both. As for injuries - yes, a county player could get injured in a county training session the weekend before a big county match, same as it might happen if there was a club game on that weekend instead. But big difference is that if he was carrying a knock into that weekend, he'd be allowed to sit out the county training session, or just do a pared-down session. If he had to line out in an important club match instead, he'd be giving it full belt, with a far greater risk of making the injury worse and forcing him to miss the county match the following week. As for a national master fixtures list - the issue is not what County Boards would do with designated club weekends. It's how many of them would be allowed in the first place. Some counties might need as few as eight championship weekends across hurling and football. Some need a minimum of 16 if they're to be allowed continue to operate the way they do now. Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2615 - 29/09/2023 13:26:21 2506257 Link 0 |
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This thread has become a microcosm of the GAA's identity problem. ExiledInWex (Dublin) - Posts: 1257 - 29/09/2023 13:50:14 2506262 Link 0 |
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I don't believe that the risk of injury in GAA is so significant that we should arrange the season on the off chance that a player gets injured. It certainly has happened before and will happen again - but I think we have to accept the risk rather than dictating that players can or can't play certain games. As for running the club championships - there can be a lot of freedom but there certainly needs to be a degree of structure as well. We can't delay the whole show because one county does things completely differently. I think you've hit on the probably the main issue with any calendar discussion in terms of the Dual Player. If you have a very talented dual player who needs to be available for every Club and County championship game and the games are once a week there simply isn't enough time in the year to get the games in with the current setups. brianb (Kildare) - Posts: 350 - 29/09/2023 16:25:54 2506289 Link 0 |
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ExiledinWex has summed things up fairly well above. Maybe only thing I'd change in his list is Point 1. Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2615 - 30/09/2023 11:18:39 2506357 Link 0 |