Ah come here, cricket world cup over shadowing GAA, no chance. We grew up around the same time, i remember well everyone playing tennis but that was in 2 channel tv land. Nowadays their are hundreds of channels. I do not think Wimbledon is as big with kids as it was in our time.
Wasnât. Hurling was the 27th of June, the Euros final was the 4th of July.
Plum provincial finals, ie. the 1994 Ulster final between Down and Tyrone or the 2014 Munster hurling final between Cork and Limerick can occasionally compete attendance wise if theyâre on the same day as a big match that evening, but they suffer in a general media sense for attention.
The 2010 Munster final between Cork and Waterford was on the same day as the World Cup final and suffered attendance wise for it.
Limerick v Kilkenny 2018 in Thurles looked like a League quarter-final.
I remember feeling the same when my own club was gone early doors. But they canât just keep playing away indefinitely either. That attitude is what has got the GAA in to this mess. Something has to give.
No matter what happens going forward, County managers need to be reigned in. This will have involve Croke Park sanctioning county boards somehow. If there was a will there, it can be done.
I would have club leagues after the conclusion of the county finals. Just so there isnât a 7 month gap between clubs playing senior games. Do players even give a shite about club league games though? The vast majority of the public/GAA members donât. I remember playing them being a pain in the hole. If they are played later in the summer, the only caveat is that they may be without their county lads for a lot of league games. But thatâs generally already the case. I wouldnât move the flagship event in the sport for the sake of club league games. Itâs plain stupid.
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Itâs probably not as big with kids as it was but thatâs down to societal changes and more distractions for children in a general sense, ie. the internet, phones, video games etc., and this also affects the GAA. The tennis and the cricket destroyed the GAA that day in 2019.
Club league games after been knocked out of championship are at total waste of time.
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I donât think thereâs a perfect solution. Iâm in favour of the club season, as most club players Iâve talked to are. Reducing the power of the intercounty managers might have been an option but there is no real will to enforce that, at any level tbh.
So I think this is the best compromise. The timing isnât going to suit everybody, but I think the only way to really alter it would be to cross calendar years. Neither club nor county want to be playing in November/December really.
I donât buy the marketing argument though. I donât think the purpose of the GAA is to market itself. I think playing numbers will actually go up by having a set, defined season.
Thereâs a lot of arguments with some similarities currently over the structure and make up of the English cricket season and the disastrous consequences that messing with the calendar (which more than a few of us predicted years ago) has had on what should be the pinnacle of the sport, the England test team.
Longer form of cricket has been shunted out of what should be the prime months of June, July and a lot of August and the County Championship and test matches in England now largely played in April/May and mid August/September.
Whatever way you devise a GAA season, the blue riband events, the pinnacle of the sports should be played largely across the best months of June, July, August and into September.
Its media driven, likes of Malachy Clerkin, Spillane, Off the Ball potentially losing income by shortened season. Ironically Spillane always portrayed himself as a hero of rural Ireland. I live in rural Ireland, first round of championship fixed for August bank holiday and place will be buzzing if we win. You would think champion of rural Ireland Spillane would be in touch with this.
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That does not sound possible
Totally agree and the decline of interest in major events in other sports when they were shunted out of their usual time window due to Covid, ie. the Champions League mini-tournament in Lisbon, the NBA finals and the US Masters, should be a warning. A lot of people complained that the Covid GAA championships of 2020 didnât feel like proper championships not only because of the lack of attendances but because of the winter scheduling. Lack of attendances affected the GAA deep into 2021 but the 2021 championship still felt more like real championships because they were played in the traditional time window of summer/early autumn.
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That doesnât happen now. Kids donât give a fiddlerâs fuck about anything except premier League soccer. Even then they donât actually watch games they just follow fellas like Ronaldo, watch goals and skills on YouTube and do siuu celebrations. They certainly donât sit in watching 35 frame snooker matches or Wimbledon 3rd round games involving Dave wheaten on sunny days like we used to. They hardly watch Ireland soccer matches ffs.
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Seven months to complete a competition? How come it wouldnât be possible?
Club county championships being completed by mid June and then the All Ireland by the 24th of July is not possible. There arenât enough weeks between
The angle of the sun also needs to be factored in.
That late August/early September haze is absolutely iconic.
What we got on September 17th 2017 (the greatest GAA occasion of them all) being the prototype of this genre.
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I would agree with that. Formerly niche sports which grabbed the publicâs attention are now just even more niche and only people in their 30s and up have any interest in them in the main. Would kids these days even watch the Olympics much?
Know nothing about tennis anymore.
I suppose one of the problems with starting club championships early is the sheer amount of pitches you need across the country. You can still get postponements into April and if youâre on a tight time frame that could be a problem.
I donât think itâs realistic to expect club championship to be played in February/March.
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Very true
I donât buy the marketing argument though. I donât think the purpose of the GAA is to market itself. I think playing numbers will actually go up by having a set, defined season.
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Both mad and nieve. Every organisation needs to market itself. If any organisation, anywhere, needs money to function, then it needs to market itself. The GAA is world class at self flagellation when it comes to promoting itself.
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All Ireland club football and hurling should be played on open draw basis. Would take 5 weekends for football and 4 for hurling. It would create some intriguing match ups and take up less time in the calendar. Surely a win win situation.
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