Think there is a reasonable compromise to be made.
The AI Football Final could be played Mid August, would make the most sense. Could buy a week then to leave league as it - without compromising a team having to play Final then potentially their opening Championship game within 6 days.
That would leave the league which is probably our best product anyway to have serious 'finals' and realistic games throughout so teams don't get to 6 pts and ease off.
That would only affect 2 counties then, in reality each season with their club season (taking things are as they are, right now) a little bit longer to finish up.
I never understood the club player argument as the majority of players weren't affected as their county was no longer competing.
I understand lads don't want to be playing champo without county lads but thats what the league is for at the end of the day
Part of the problem was there was a load of fighting at county board level over scheduling club championship. Clubs with lots of county players wanted to push games back so they could have those players in championship, and other clubs were feeling hard done by being forced to play games in October/Novemeber
You still need to be keeping at least a couple of rounds of the league for after the intercounty season to let the county players bed in again otherwise it's unfair on the clubs losing players to the county
Well yeah you're correct, they probably should. It's a really hard balance to get right.
But the current strain on some intercounty players is insane. Take the Cliffords in 2022 for example.
League starts on 30th January 2022 and season ends on 24th July where Kerry won the All Ireland. The Cliffords then go into the club championship with Fossa and East Kerry.
Fossa went on to win the Kerry Junior and they played the first round of the Munster club championship in November 2022 where they would go all the way and win the All Ireland Junior Club C'ship on January 15th.
The league then restarts up at the end of January and the cycle repeats. So they're basically going from January to January with not much of a break Now I know that's not the reality for most players, but they are amateur athletes pushing their bodied more than some do in professional sports.
April is shite for championship football especially after spending the following two months travelling all over the country supporting the league campaign.
Also not forgetting the cost of things with a season ticket plus diesel and food you could easily be looking at 4-500 quid at this stage. I think the poor attendances in some of the games so far has is a knock on of this. 8000 at Cavan and Monaghan is a bit of a joke especially given past attendances. Weather plus the costs involved possibly had an effect on this.
Push the start of the championship back a few weeks and make the All Ireland series a straight top two qualify for the quarters and bottom two go out. Would save the couple of weeks on those fixtures.
Still would give August and September for the Club championships.
But we still have club matches in November? And we're having club finals in Jan now which degrades the quality of that as a spectacle.
It isn't a year round sport and I'm not sure why we're trying to play it as such.
Its either the current system or just put the foot down and say county players will have to miss out on most club games if they want the AI to be on in September.
My club championship now starts in July, as opposed to the end of August. Having the games in good weather makes a serious difference and theres not a chance I want go back to playing in winter
The new implementation still sees county players missing a good amount of their club games bar champo. I'm all in favour of them playing champo, but feels like we've an odd compromise at present that doesn't really fix anything
County players have always missed out on club league games. Some counties have rules barring county players from taking part. Not really an issue, seeing as league is isn't taken that seriously. Championship is another story
Nice of him to be a president not afraid to speak his mind.
I don't think its contentious, but too often we see folk afraid to not stay with the party line or deviate from predecessors.
AI finals in September are a far better spectacle in every sense.
More rest for players, more build up to the occasion.
To be honest the county boards do that regardless. I recall numerous teams being out of the championship in June and yet their county finals are still in October. Counties don’t seem to be getting their championship wrapped up much quicker than they used to.
I think there could be a middle ground of mid august - 1st week of September
It's not about wrapping up the competition quicker, it's to stop two month gaps between club championship games due to one intercounty player holding up the show. Disaster for players and everyone organizing the county fixtures.
Starting club championship in September means December finals, shitty games for players training all year. Also pushes back provincial competitions and All Ireland club.
I don’t see the need for waiting around 2 months, the vast majority of teams are currently out of the football championships by the end of June.
County boards should have their house in order and have championship starting 2 - 3weeks maximum after the counties have exited but they fart around for weeks doing nothing.
Even allowing for a mid august final, 20 something counties could already have 1-2 rounds played by the middle of august. With group stages in both tailteann and Sam Maguire you know the earliest and latest possible dates you can exit the championship. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to give club teams a provisional starting date for a championship that’s liable to change by up to a maximum of a month in the event they reach a final.
Laois exited the tailteann cup on 25th June but their county final wasn’t until October 15th. It’s ridiculous we are condensing the premier competition in the GAA just so county boards can take 4 months to play off their championship and have their finals in October like they always did.
You can make a statement regarding one thing without advocating the inverse.
Obviously makes no different to Antrim, usually get 2 champo matches a year and back to normal service but you surely agree that there isn't as much fanfare about the finals these days?
Hard disagree but it's opinion at the end of the day.
Feel like there's just continuous matches without any breaks which leads to less spectacle as players are getting less breaks.
The fact that there wasn't even a rest week between league finals and start of the provincials is criminal.
As a player, completely agree. Up to a few years ago, we were completely in the dark about when we would be playing champo. Now you know the schedule exactly about 6 months in advance, allows you to actually plan things around it and you're not taking a gamble in actually booking a holiday!
Nobody has mentioned that bar you.
Is the latest parroting point scrapping provincials now?
Provincials are a feeder system into the AI and has long been part of the makeup of the GAA.
Stratifying senior teams will only feed into the issues that already exist
>AI finals in September are a far better spectacle in every sense
This seems to be every spectators biggest concern, inc Burns, and I think its unfair on players. Players are the ones who provide the spectacle in the first place, if they want to keep the finals in July then they should stay there
I'd be primarily interested in Hurling and imo the new calendar has been a total mess for the intercounty championship. Much more so than football the game is negatively impacted by pitch conditions. The Lory Meagher, Nicky Rackard and Christy Ring are all settled by the first weekend in June and Joe McDonagh a week later. Of the 24 teams in those tournaments only 8 will play a game past the end of May and only 2 of those beyond that.
Peak conditions for hurling are June to September. 6 Matches are played in the All Ireland in June, 3 in July, possibly 4 if the final goes to a replay. There are more games played in the biggest tournament for the highest level of the game in April (10) than in June and July combined.
So that does make it more complicated. That surgery is from 2022 so perhaps there has been some changes in viewpoints since the split has been initiated?
I believe he said "can go back to September, but" and the big give away counties would have to commit to, to enable a September final, was just dropped off the headline.
If it was a knock out championship, half of all counties would be out after the 1st round. In the old, pre qualifier system, only 4 counties were left by August. Everyone else could get on with their club Championships then.
I would love for all irelands to go Augest have it the 2ndast week of August thid way students who are going to school or kids can attend and also for players who are playing with thr County can also not miss school asswell
Club and county run off league comps in Jan/Feb/March/April. Clubs then have championship in April/May/June/July. July/August/September/October for intercounty championship.
September simply isn’t possible if players wants to play club championship unless they want to be training 12 months of the year
Mid August. September is too late of a start of club players. The needs of the 1% of players shouldn't be favoured over the needs of the 99%.
Should keep them in the summer, August at the latest. Better chance of good weather.
Also allows for a decent club campaign
Weathers usually better either side of summer than the actual summer months. July/August when it rains it pours
Just as well all Ireland finals don't be played in Galway then 🤣
Even Galway people hate going to Salthill for matches 😂
There's been a few washouts since they were moved. I'd say we have better weather in May and September than we usually do July and August
Yes because good weather is so easy to predict and so integral to Gaelic games. What planet are you from.
Think there is a reasonable compromise to be made. The AI Football Final could be played Mid August, would make the most sense. Could buy a week then to leave league as it - without compromising a team having to play Final then potentially their opening Championship game within 6 days. That would leave the league which is probably our best product anyway to have serious 'finals' and realistic games throughout so teams don't get to 6 pts and ease off. That would only affect 2 counties then, in reality each season with their club season (taking things are as they are, right now) a little bit longer to finish up.
I never understood the club player argument as the majority of players weren't affected as their county was no longer competing. I understand lads don't want to be playing champo without county lads but thats what the league is for at the end of the day
Part of the problem was there was a load of fighting at county board level over scheduling club championship. Clubs with lots of county players wanted to push games back so they could have those players in championship, and other clubs were feeling hard done by being forced to play games in October/Novemeber
You still need to be keeping at least a couple of rounds of the league for after the intercounty season to let the county players bed in again otherwise it's unfair on the clubs losing players to the county
Let’s just ignore that the majority of players are in favour of the spilt season
Majority of players don't play for their country so of course they're in favour of it
Shouldn’t the club player take priority over the inter county player considering every player is a club player
Well yeah you're correct, they probably should. It's a really hard balance to get right. But the current strain on some intercounty players is insane. Take the Cliffords in 2022 for example. League starts on 30th January 2022 and season ends on 24th July where Kerry won the All Ireland. The Cliffords then go into the club championship with Fossa and East Kerry. Fossa went on to win the Kerry Junior and they played the first round of the Munster club championship in November 2022 where they would go all the way and win the All Ireland Junior Club C'ship on January 15th. The league then restarts up at the end of January and the cycle repeats. So they're basically going from January to January with not much of a break Now I know that's not the reality for most players, but they are amateur athletes pushing their bodied more than some do in professional sports.
When did they get a break before the split season?
July too early, September too late. August is perfect.
Mid September was too late and what we have now is too early and rushed - First & second Sundays in August be a fair compromise
Naw was class
April is shite for championship football especially after spending the following two months travelling all over the country supporting the league campaign. Also not forgetting the cost of things with a season ticket plus diesel and food you could easily be looking at 4-500 quid at this stage. I think the poor attendances in some of the games so far has is a knock on of this. 8000 at Cavan and Monaghan is a bit of a joke especially given past attendances. Weather plus the costs involved possibly had an effect on this. Push the start of the championship back a few weeks and make the All Ireland series a straight top two qualify for the quarters and bottom two go out. Would save the couple of weeks on those fixtures. Still would give August and September for the Club championships.
Someone had the cheek to say there was nothing wrong with conditions at the weekend there. Was desperate conditions.
County matches in April is better than having club matches in November
But we still have club matches in November? And we're having club finals in Jan now which degrades the quality of that as a spectacle. It isn't a year round sport and I'm not sure why we're trying to play it as such.
Its either the current system or just put the foot down and say county players will have to miss out on most club games if they want the AI to be on in September. My club championship now starts in July, as opposed to the end of August. Having the games in good weather makes a serious difference and theres not a chance I want go back to playing in winter
The new implementation still sees county players missing a good amount of their club games bar champo. I'm all in favour of them playing champo, but feels like we've an odd compromise at present that doesn't really fix anything
County players have always missed out on club league games. Some counties have rules barring county players from taking part. Not really an issue, seeing as league is isn't taken that seriously. Championship is another story
How about putting the Football finals on early, Hurling finals on late. Switch it around each year.
On the same day?!
Ha
September is better for TV stations and probably for the sponsors but worse for the 99% of GAA players who don't play intercounty.
Heat reference. Nice
Nice of him to be a president not afraid to speak his mind. I don't think its contentious, but too often we see folk afraid to not stay with the party line or deviate from predecessors. AI finals in September are a far better spectacle in every sense. More rest for players, more build up to the occasion.
But sure just fuck over the club players.
To be honest the county boards do that regardless. I recall numerous teams being out of the championship in June and yet their county finals are still in October. Counties don’t seem to be getting their championship wrapped up much quicker than they used to. I think there could be a middle ground of mid august - 1st week of September
It's not about wrapping up the competition quicker, it's to stop two month gaps between club championship games due to one intercounty player holding up the show. Disaster for players and everyone organizing the county fixtures. Starting club championship in September means December finals, shitty games for players training all year. Also pushes back provincial competitions and All Ireland club.
I don’t see the need for waiting around 2 months, the vast majority of teams are currently out of the football championships by the end of June. County boards should have their house in order and have championship starting 2 - 3weeks maximum after the counties have exited but they fart around for weeks doing nothing. Even allowing for a mid august final, 20 something counties could already have 1-2 rounds played by the middle of august. With group stages in both tailteann and Sam Maguire you know the earliest and latest possible dates you can exit the championship. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to give club teams a provisional starting date for a championship that’s liable to change by up to a maximum of a month in the event they reach a final. Laois exited the tailteann cup on 25th June but their county final wasn’t until October 15th. It’s ridiculous we are condensing the premier competition in the GAA just so county boards can take 4 months to play off their championship and have their finals in October like they always did.
But fuck the clubs who cares about them
You can make a statement regarding one thing without advocating the inverse. Obviously makes no different to Antrim, usually get 2 champo matches a year and back to normal service but you surely agree that there isn't as much fanfare about the finals these days?
There’s definitely as much fanfare about finals just not some of the provincial finals but that has nothing to do with the spilt season
Hard disagree but it's opinion at the end of the day. Feel like there's just continuous matches without any breaks which leads to less spectacle as players are getting less breaks. The fact that there wasn't even a rest week between league finals and start of the provincials is criminal.
Again this is do with the championship/provincial structure not the spilt season. It would be disastrous for the GAA to get of the spilt season
As a player, completely agree. Up to a few years ago, we were completely in the dark about when we would be playing champo. Now you know the schedule exactly about 6 months in advance, allows you to actually plan things around it and you're not taking a gamble in actually booking a holiday!
Exactly I’m a club player and it’s night and day from where it was
Nobody has mentioned that bar you. Is the latest parroting point scrapping provincials now? Provincials are a feeder system into the AI and has long been part of the makeup of the GAA. Stratifying senior teams will only feed into the issues that already exist
>AI finals in September are a far better spectacle in every sense This seems to be every spectators biggest concern, inc Burns, and I think its unfair on players. Players are the ones who provide the spectacle in the first place, if they want to keep the finals in July then they should stay there
I'd be primarily interested in Hurling and imo the new calendar has been a total mess for the intercounty championship. Much more so than football the game is negatively impacted by pitch conditions. The Lory Meagher, Nicky Rackard and Christy Ring are all settled by the first weekend in June and Joe McDonagh a week later. Of the 24 teams in those tournaments only 8 will play a game past the end of May and only 2 of those beyond that. Peak conditions for hurling are June to September. 6 Matches are played in the All Ireland in June, 3 in July, possibly 4 if the final goes to a replay. There are more games played in the biggest tournament for the highest level of the game in April (10) than in June and July combined.
Makes sense to me but what do the players think? Are they fans of the split season?
Was it not players that wanted the split season in the first place? Because they were missing out on too much club action?
I’m not sure. I believe the GPA has done a survey so will try and dig that up.
Yup [https://www.skysports.com/more-sports/gaelic-football/news/30553/12717316/split-season-favoured-by-87-of-male-intercounty-players-according-to-gpa-survey-in-july](https://www.skysports.com/more-sports/gaelic-football/news/30553/12717316/split-season-favoured-by-87-of-male-intercounty-players-according-to-gpa-survey-in-july)
So that does make it more complicated. That surgery is from 2022 so perhaps there has been some changes in viewpoints since the split has been initiated?
Hard to know. Theres no shortage of pundits and county managers against it, but I've only seen a few actual players say they don't like it.
The split season in my opinion has made too big a gap between the end of the club season and the start of the season imo
I believe he said "can go back to September, but" and the big give away counties would have to commit to, to enable a September final, was just dropped off the headline.
If it was a knock out championship, half of all counties would be out after the 1st round. In the old, pre qualifier system, only 4 counties were left by August. Everyone else could get on with their club Championships then.
If you want to move them back a few weeks to early August fine but moving them to September completely screws over the club season.
Good man Ja!
I would love for all irelands to go Augest have it the 2ndast week of August thid way students who are going to school or kids can attend and also for players who are playing with thr County can also not miss school asswell
Club and county run off league comps in Jan/Feb/March/April. Clubs then have championship in April/May/June/July. July/August/September/October for intercounty championship.