Iv taken to asking boys I coach here if they saw the games at the weekend on TV - iv learned that there are more boys who have never heard of RTE than there are boys who might have watched the games which gives some indication of the relevance of intercounty to kids that age away from hurling heartlands.
Had I one immediate change I could make it would be a dedicated person to arrange blitzes every other weekend throughout the summer that take in 3 or 4 counties, with each club to attend 5 blitzes a season. All summer there are soccer blitzes with maybe 16 teams gathered at a club ground for a few hours, and itâs that type excitement and vibrancy that captures kids imaginations. In hurling here you are scratching around for a few challenge games, and usually playing against the same 3 or 4 sides.
Another point I made before on here - the hurling league semi finals and final should be played in non hurling counties for a 5 year trial period. Ask the counties to submit a plan and award the host county before the start of the year and let them have the three games - give out thousands of free tickets to school kids from that county and surrounding counties and let them see the TJ Reidâs, the snipers in cooper helmets, the Tony Kellyâs and Donal Burkes of this world.
Let the clubs host these teams the night before or day after. For very little effort or money you would create a lot of goodwill and energy in the battle for hearts and minds in mayo, Armagh, down etc rather than playing a semi in front of 10k in Thurles
I think thatâs probably a better way of deciding the 16 teams in the round robin, and places more of an emphasis on the provincial championship. 12 of the 16 teams would at least be going into the round robin off the back of a win, and the other four off reaching a provincial final. But it still leaves the round robin, which everybody hates!
Round robins put up a much higher barrier to entry to the latter stages of a competition for traditional weaker teams because they place such an emphasis on squad depth.
Where you need the traditional weaker teams getting the consistent exposure to a higher standard of football is in the secondary competition, the League. Then use that grounding of higher level football in the League to spring shocks in knockout football come the summer. Getting the exposure to higher level round robins in the championship will just lead to beatings and backsliding. Like I donât think itâs going to do Clare any good to have been involved in this round robin, and itâs probably similar for Sligo, maybe Westmeath. Louth havenât performed too badly so far but they have Mickey Harte in charge and heâs probably still one of the three or four best managers in the competition.
hundreds and hundreds of posts about the administration of a hobby from lads who donât even go to the club AGM is classic TFK
Any thoughts on the logistics of joining up a whole province from u12 to senior? Where do they train?
I wouldnât really go joining up a whole province but in rugby and soccer donât provinces have teams ?
Everyone has a chance to be in Sam with the current format though. Look at Sligo this year. A soft provincial draw any year or a win in the tailteann can put you in it.
You go to the AGM you only end up getting a job.
Nail on head. 
They want the whole thing to fail.
Its very, very obvious and yet the split season zealots continue to lap it up.
Publicity through incompetence.
The All-Ireland hurling quarter-finals look likely to be another clusterfuck.
If, as seems likeliest, the games are Galway v Tipperary and Clare v Dublin, there is likely to be another venue battle, as Galway are unlikely to concede to playing Tipperary in Thurles. If that game goes to Limerick, Dublin are unlikely to concede to playing Clare in Limerick as itâs a quasi-home venue for Clare.
This means the two games may have to be split rather than making up the exceedingly attractive double header we all want to go head to head with a Currie Cup clash.
Thankfully thereâs no clash with the Currie Cup final this year so that should free up a bit of space on the TV scheduling. In any case the Brave and Faithful from Munster gatecrash the Currie Cup Final this season. It would be a real pity if that relatively enticing quarter-final double wasnât played as a doubleheader. Although it wonât carry quite the same razzmatazz with Dublin taking Wexfordâs place this year.
The TV Scheduling will be most interesting with the 4x Preliminary Football Quarter Finals all on the same day too.
Whatâll be on RTE and what will GoGo TV pick up?
We could get Breakfast Time throw inâs.
Cillian Buckley getting married the Saturday of All Ireland weekend as he mixed up the date the All Ireland would be played. I think he might have been working off the 2022 calendarâŠ
Anyway would never have happened only for the split seasonâŠ
The split season zealots wonât be happy until they ruin his marriage. The cunt.
How do you cap a county like Limerick who have JP bankrolling them? Would academyâs be banned?A cap is a great idea but itâs unworkable,it should have been brought in 20 years ago.Too many people making money out of it these days.The horse has bolted.
Iâm not sure but itâs going to take a lot of money to be competitive now given there are so many games.