One thing people forget about the old set up was that a draw in an All-Ireland final could wreak havoc on the club scheduling. The All-Ireland football final replays were played in October in 2000 and 2016. Imagine being a club player in Galway, Kerry, Mayo or Dublin during those years waiting until October to get a concerted run of games. Iām surprised they managed to complete the county championships in time to compete in the provincials.
Dublin club players have games every second week from February to November. There are no matches called off or postponed due to I/C players not being available. A lack of a run of games is not an issue for club players in Dublin
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Presume those would be league matches though rather than championship? Not that it would matter to me, I just love playing matches. Training for weeks on end with no match in sight can be a challenge.
Yes, league is treated fairly seriously rather than just a means to an end
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There used to be 3 week gaps between first game and replays for All Ireland finals i think? Madness
For hurling there was a 3 week gap anyway because of the camogie final weekend, the football and then the ladies football. Might have only been two weeks between drawn and replayed football finals.
On a separate note, I hope Up For The Match is back this year.
There was a 4 week gap between 1959 Hurling Final draw and replay.
Being in Division 1 in hurling and football was always a very big deal and clubs put a lot into maintaining that status. In my day Division 1 was 16 team in the football and 12 in the hurling so you got a massive amount of games if you were playing both and you nearly never got to go home at the weekends. Championship was knock out and brutal as a consequence. On top of all that there were secondary competitions like the Loving Cup and the Miller Shield to be played so you were never stuck for a game.
Dublin sounds like a very enjoyable place to play your GAA. The sheer volume of clubs would add great variety too without the long away trips like youād have in Cork.
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Would you prefer to play a game the night before a college exam or a leaving cert exam?
The U20 championship should not be played off right in the middle of end of year college exams, as has happened this year.
U21 used to be played during leaving cert exams which are much more difficult than first or second year college exams. With the change to u20 thereās a lot more leaving cert students effected
There was hardly too many leaving cert students playing at U21.
Of course minor at U18 and U21 was perfectly fine and worked well for years. All the more reason so to go and change it for the sake of change.
Yes thats my point, with the change to u20 it would be worse to play them during the leaving than college exams
It is alright until you get to the mid week games come the summer and you have to get across the M50 for a 7pm throwing
There shouldnāt be any underage hurling championships played off during Leaving Cert or University exams. Under the old U18, U21 system invariably there wasnāt. The change to U17 and U20 and playing off the split season U20 championship in late April/early May has ensured that the U20 championship is played off right in the middle of end of year university exams.
The largely younger cohort of senior players who are in university are also now doing the heavy lifting in the Championship from mid April to mid May right in the middle of end of year university exam season.
So move it 3 weeks on as has been suggested in this thread probably a hundred times. Not the fault of the split season
Itās GAA headquarters whoāve come up with this concept of a split season played off right across end of year university exams. That is the fault of the split season in its current guise and scheduling.
So you have no issues with the split season as a concept? Just the timing? I donāt think many would disagree
I think everyone is beginning to realise the split season in its current timing was set up to fail.
Youād wonder what the real end goal is from HQ.