You have a point regarding J1s to be fair. September is miles too late for All Ireland finals anymore in my opinion. Mid August at latest.
Never said they were all going on J1. Mixture of J1, Europe, Canada and UK.
And donât forget itâs most likely in hurling 6 of the 10 counties are finished in the middle of may so all those lads on under 20 panels and senior panels who are in college will be getting offers to hurl abroad till the end of august so in reality itâll still be September before clubs are anywhere near full strength.
You must be from the most well off club in the country
Surely if the money in America to play hurling is that good players would rather be knocked out of inter county championship?
Thatâs common in every club nobody is around July and august.
September may well be too late now. Early June to mid August should be doable.
I see two big pressure points in the calendar as currently structured.
The heavy lifting in the Championship now is mid April to mid May, which cuts right across college and university exam time. Thatâs serious pressure on the inter-county players in third level.
Heavy lifting in club season cuts right across holiday season when clubs are likely to be most depleted in playing personnel.
Inter-county Championship from early to mid June onwards and club championship kicking into action from Late August eliminates both of those issues.
No club championship starting before September 15th seems a good compromise.
Ensures the plum Saturday 5:30 winter slot for live television for club GAA during the autumn and winter as well.
Thatâs not really true. If you are finished up in the middle of may and you get offered a chance to play hurling in the states you are going to take it and rightly so. You wonât get many chances.
What would money be like? 10k?
No, Iâm not involved with Ballygunner.
Club always started in August. Having been going on since April.
This is better. At least club players know exactly when matches will be
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Iâd say it would vary on the player profile but the last of lads I know were given jobs and paid accommodation and he wasnât a senior inter county player. Thatâs 4 or 5 years ago now.
Hard to understand how more dont go with those sorts of perks.
In essence you need to reverse engineer and work backwards to make this work.
You need 14 weeks to run off club championships. 7 weeks for each code. The Gaa have a guideline that club championships should be no more that 16 teams so it is 4 groups of 4 and then three further rounds so 6 games to win it. You need 4 for weeks for provincials as well.
3 weeks in December, 4 in November, 9 in September/October so you would also need the last two weeks in August. You could give the county champions of A/I finalists a provincial bye to ease the pressure on them and they can start a couple of weeks later.
So intercounty Football Ireland the third week of August with the hurling final on the bank holiday weekend. So hurling quarter finals the first week of July and semis the third week of July. Munster and Leinster finals then end of June. So you would need 6 weeks from the end of June to play round robin. So I/C championship starts third week of May.
Again I go back to my earlier suggestion. You give the Intercounty preference from December to early March for preseason and league. A player cannot commence county training until 6 weeks after their club is out of championship. With majority of club teams finished up in October this shouldnât be an issue. Play your OâByrne cups and what not in December and start the league in early January. League finals to be played in and around Paddyâs day or the weekend preceeding it. With the division one finals in both codes to be played Paddyâs day.
Clubs start back training in March and league starts week after Paddyâs day. I/C players are made available for club league matches from March to mid May. 1 I/C training session allowed per week til end of March and from start of May. Players back with county full three week before championship. So clubs get I/C players for 4 or 5 league games and again once county team is out of championship.
Under 17 and 20s played in July and August in a similar format to this year.
All Ireland club semi finals and finals played in January like this year.
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We lose a lot of players due to holidays every summer.
Go Games takes a break for the summer for that reason.
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The split season is one of the best things to ever happen the GAA. Anyone rabbiting on about clashes with soccer, rugby, tennis, Olympics, golf or tiddlywinks should be immediately dismissed. The GAA has stood on its own two feet long enough and prospered.
The last couple of years at club level, in terms of championship matches, have been some of the most enjoyable ever. Regular games, one after another, defined weekends and not dependent on how the intercounty side got on. An absolute no brainer.
This year weâve five club championship matches in the space of seven or eight weeks. Depending on where we finish in the group weâll either have a quarter final or semi final or relegation semi final a week or two after completion of the group stage. Weâll be missing a couple of lads away travelling for the first couple of rounds but so be it - the other 25 lads on the panel have to be catered for. Itâll be the same for every other club.
The old system of training for months for two club championship matches in March/April and then waiting until October for more was absolutely soul destroying. Everyone involved was demoralised by it. This new system is miles better.
Despite what a few casual âfansâ on here think the intercounty season is not the GAA. Great buzz around the big games and all that but the club is the bedrock of it. We won an u21B county title last year, got as much of a kick out of that than any intercounty stuff.
Lads whinging about intercounty matches clashing with the last round of the British Open or a World Cup quarter final between Switzerland and Cameroon should get involved with their local club and try fundraising to keep the lights on and pay the bills. Thatâs a real headache for GAA people, not an AI final taking place four or six weeks earlier than normal.
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This. Itâs the cherry on top of the cake. The cake is the most important part.
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That attitude will get you absolutely nowhere dodgey in the modern world.
Itâll lead to a massive loss in sponsorship and a massive loss in participation. Itâll finish in the gaa if they go like that. In ten years time thereâll be much less gaa clubs.
Everyone should try and work together.
Then why are they splitting to suit the inter county teams?
Soccer and rugby all run club and international seasons together. Thatâs what works best.
They had to reign in the inter county set ups instead the clubs are left playing when nobody is left in Ireland. Nobody will be around to go to club games and it will lead to the end of many clubs.