So now your admitting Iâm right.
The inter county season will just get bigger and bigger and squeeze the clubs out.
Thats not a new thing though mate. Intercounty game has been squezzing clubs out for the last 25 years. Ger Loughnane actually started it. I presume you want club games in May/June? Be a great idea but until Croke Park tackle the power of intercounty managers it will never happen.
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Sure thatâs exactly what needs to happen. There was no need for a split season. The inter county managers needed to have manners put on them.
Finally somebody gets it.
Teachers canât take holidays during school year. A fair few of them are club players.
They have 2 weeks off at Christmas, Easter and 2 mid terms as well mate, none of which will be effected by club GAA
Thats a good point.
Whether people like it or not, the period from July 1st to August 20th is when most people take their holidays so it makes sense not to play important Club games in this period.
I know of a club in Tipp down 6 players last weekend due to holidays. Every club seems to have weddings too these weeks.
In vintage TFK fashion there are people on the extremes on both sides of the argument but there is definitely a middle ground there.
Like the 2021/2022 season ran very smoothly with an Inter County AI Final on August 22nd and a Club Final on February 12th. The later the club season runs, the better really as it shortens the winter in rural places where winter can be pretty bleak.
@the_man_himself will be advocating next that traditional builder holidays and factory holidays over the first two weeks in August be moved to May and June to accommodate the club hurling season in July and August.
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A pity to see the decline in the Kilmacud 7âs tournament.
What was once a very prestigious competition has turned into a complete non event looking at the clubs taking part today.
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All that really needs to be done is to push the inter county season back 4 or 5 weeks. Run the Championship off in 3 months from the end of May to mid/late August or mid/early June to mid/early September.
The problem that I see with the timing of it this year is the real heavy lifting and density of games was mid April/mid May when underage teams and the university cohort of inter-county players are under the most pressure in the academic year with end of year exams. Weather was wretched as well for a lot of that time. The Hurling and Football Championships are for summer, not borderline winter.
As youâve said 1 July to about the third week in August is prime holiday season. Club championships only really need to be getting serious from mid August. Pitches and weather now holds up well into early November. Whatâs unfolding is the scenario in the Carlow Hurling Championship, Iâve outlined where itâs been played out in July with severely depleted teams or the Waterford Hurling Championship where thereâll be no serious hurling done until the end of August, as itâs always been.
Your armchair supporter should be a secondary consideration but it has been a factor too. Your more casual sports fan wonât get too invested when the likes of Wimbledon, The British Open is on. They couldnât even sell out the Hurling Final tomorrow. Have they ever had to rent a crowd on Ticketmaster for an All Ireland Final before?
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Yes
For what its worth i wouldnât mind if it got pushed back a few weeks. Some of the reasoning lads are coming out with is hilarious though. 2 lads in Carlow go to America and its now a disgrace that the championship is on
This is it really. September and October, even late August, these can be depressing months. Kids back at school, the evenings closing in in a big way. I nearly find that time of the year more depressing than the winter itself. You need good sport at that time of the year to have something to look forward to. Uniquely this year we have a World Cup to look forward to as the evenings close in but thatâs a one off.
September (or at least most of it) was always brightened up by the All-Irelands, you wouldnât feel the evenings closing in with the excitement. But those post All-Ireland weeks in late September and early October were the worst of the year with the winter stretching out in front of you.
Club games actually work best with the evenings closed in. Parnell Park under the lights, very attractive TG4 double headers on November Sundays and now the new tradition of Saturday 5:30 games on RTE. Good, solid, wholesome fare.
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Itâs not just 2 lads in Carlow. I stated the two best hurlers in Carlow were in America for the summer amongst many others. I was at the Ballinkillen v Myshall, first round match at the end of June. Ballinkillen were down 5 or 6 starters for a variety of the usual high summer reasons - wedding/holidays/lads in US.
@kerry1891 has also alluded to the the Kerry Senior Hurling Championship been played out now as well with heavily depleted teams all round.
Of course the other factor you have here is Carlow and Kerry, two counties where football is priority, but both have strong hurling pockets who can compete to a decent enough standard in hurling. The county boards wouldnât allow their Football Championships to be played off with such depleted teams.
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It seems bizarre to me that some of the self styled true club men seem the people who are least put out about the top players in counties skipping their club championships.
How does that make sense?
That seems like a thumbs up for the entire separation of club and county in terms of players - as has happened in rugby - which is the one thing you donât want.
You do realise this information is readily available online? There are two lads in the whole of Carlow playing GAA in America this summer
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Sure havenât I told you who the two Carlow hurlers in question are. Thereâs plenty of other young club hurlers in Carlow (and other counties) off travelling over July as August in all corners of the world as many in their early 20âs do every summer.
With the way Lowry is ripping it up in St Andrewâs this afternoon and McIlroy bang there too, it couldnât possibly be going much worse for the GAA this weekend.
Yes and its very good to see. This always happened and players always missed club games
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Not everyone that goes on a J1 plays hurling for the summer
Fellas on here donât care about the Kerry or Carlow hurling championships.
Itâs all about croke park, the super eights and the big days out in their own little corner.
If the split season continues in this format itâll finish the gaa.
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