The calendar caters for all. Itâs certainty of fixtures for 99% of players.
Do you play GAA yourself ? You might know the frustration of heading to an inter county match not knowing what the next month will entail depending on the result of the game you are looking at.
That is because senior inter county managers are given free reign on pulling players. Thatâs nothing to do with the calendar.
You have designated weekends for club games and the same for the inter county championship games. Players arenât allowed be pulled from the clubs 7 days before an inter county game.
Itâs very simple instead theyâve just dreamt up a nonsense. A two week window to go on holidays sounds like something the nazis would come up with.
As I said yesterday, I would fully expect this split season and earlier in the year Championship will play out badly for counties like Mayo, Kerry and Donegal who have a lot of players living outside the county and having to commute long distances to training. Traditionally they were able to get a lot of players home during summer months and effectively into training camp from late July into early September. Wonât have any effect on Dublin. Dublin need every competitive advantage they can get.
As @Thomas_Brady said earlier, the real test as to how this split season played out in a post Covid world will be in championship gate receipts, which is a by-product of public interest.
Youâve 4 weekends in each of April, may, June and July. It should be easy to fix 5 club championship games in this sixteen week period and play out 5/6 inter county games. Club players are given a break in late July to early September when the inter county all Ireland series is run off.
You then have clubs playing from September onwards.
Itâs not rocket science you just need to put manners on the inter county managers for once.
Good luck trying to get an affordable flight or package holiday the last two weeks in July now with every GAA club player in the country and their families all heading away on summer holidays during those designated two weeks for summer holidays.
This will back fire spectacularly on the gaa Iâd imagine.
The EPL is Irelandâs most popular sports event by a mile
Thatâs because of the shambolic structures of the gaa.
Every two years the all Ireland seriesâs will be going head to head with world cups and European championships which isnât great for growth either.
And the British Lions as well. The biggest show in town in June and early July, every 4 years.
You could have a situation where Ireland are in the last sixteen of a World Cup the same time as an all Ireland semi final.
Imagine how embarrassing that would be for the gaa. Having to move a game to accommodate soccer.
All GAA club players can go on holidays from jan to July and mid Oct to December.
If they miss a few league games it wonât be life threatening.
Ye lads are definitely correct regarding club windows but it hasnât worked in any county since the mid 2000âs.
I feel like yer priorities are more with the glamour days in Croke park hence want a more spread out championship to filter this.
My priority as a club player would be having a set calendar that some inter county manager canât change. Itâs the same for 95% of club players.
I think this conversation has went on long enough so Iâll leave it there.
Imagine the GAA planning fixtures and not taking August holiday season in the U.S Canada, Austalia and the UK into consideration. What were they thinking?
Thereâs a huge GAA membership across the globe in the diaspora and the Irish emigrant communities. Croke Park probably too busy pumping funding into Dublin GAA and enhancing their already considerable competitive advantages to consider such inconveniences.
This has nothing to do with funding and you know it.
Making fixtures plans that affect thousands of club players based on the holiday patterns of our diaspora is a fucking ludicrous concept. The spilt seasons suits the clubs and the clubs are the GAA. Itâs one of the best decision the GAA have ever made. Lads moaning because July All Irelands interfere with their drinking or holiday plans obviously havenât darkened the door of their local club in quite a while.
There were only 800 people at Derry v Donegal championship game in 2002 that clashed with Ireland v Spain in the FIFA World Cup.
Well know the gaa will be going head to head with euros and the World Cup every two years.
Now youâve a lot of pig ignorant gaa fans who have a narrow view but this looks a serious own goal to me.
Wasnt it stupid to have it clash?
Youd imagine a lot of county teams will be out of the championship by mid May. Surely they will head to America en masse and wont be available for their clubs. Wont be too many teachers hanging around.
Roy gets it.