I have a few theories about why various things in the world are the way that they are.
Not all of them would make a seamless transition from the bar stool to the pages of Ireland’s best weekly lifestyle magazine, but some of them do have a kernel of logic to them.
One which should be aired and shared with a smidgeon of confidence is that, because the GAA does not have a transfer market, there is a media vacuum of sorts here that cannot be filled with gossip about potential moves.
Instead, what we end up with is an ongoing angst over the fixtures schedule and competition structures.
Do you prefer a hurling league with six, seven or eight teams? It doesn’t matter because you’ll experience all three over the course of a decade or so. Doesn’t something need to be done about time-keeping, to take it out of referees’ hands? Here’s the hooter, but that’ll annoy you even more.
And the main one, the perennial cause célèbre, we must do something to give players clarity about when they’re playing – except, now that we have that, there is of course pushback again.
This weekend’s annual GAA Congress will discuss a motion, brought forward by a working group headed by Páraic Duffy, the association’s former director general, that would seek to create a 30-week inter-county season. Beginning in late January, it would see provincial pre-season competitions disband and extend the championship into August.
Retrograde step
Initially brought about by chance due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the bifurcation of the calendar into county and club segments was refined thereafter and formalised for 2022, with All-Ireland finals taking place in late July and county championships commencing after that.
However, if the inter-county season were to creep back towards the autumn, clubs would be the ones squeezed.
From 2017-21, the Club Players’ Association (CPA) existed as a vehicle to achieve a fair window of activity for the vast majority of GAA players – the enshrining of the split-season meant that the organisation was able to disband, its aim achieved.
The CPA’s former chairperson Micheál Briody feels that any move away from a status quo that suits the vast majority of players would be a retrograde step.
“There’s been no logical argument, no real kind of cogent argument made by anyone on why the All-Irelands should be pushed back into August.
“County players and club players are all in favour of the split-season and the only thing that needs to be modified is the make-up of the competitions within those time windows, not trying to extend or creep the county season into the club season.
“People will say, ‘Oh, there’s not a lot of club football played in August and it’s only a week or two,’ but, what I haven’t seen – now, maybe I’m incorrect – is a calendar produced by this working group that have recommended this.
“When we go back to when this was all thrashed out at the fixtures review committee, there was calendars put together and certain ones wouldn’t work. It was even said and admitted at that, if we went to a split-season, the last week of July would be the latest we could have the All-Irelands. That’s the way it was imposed or created from the outset.
“If you take a week or two off the club season, and the biggest dual counties are having to start their championships in the middle of August, what are you doing? You’re asking those counties to reduce the amount of club championship available to all their club players, which is the 98% or 99% of players within the association.”
Former CPA chairman Michéal Briody. \Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Tradition has a strong pull, of course, nowhere more so than in the GAA. When so many people involved in the games and their coverage grew up with September All-Irelands, there is a sense of nostalgia associated with that.
Many of those supporting the move back to later in the year have a platform from which to canvass.
“The only supporters of this argument have been the media,” Micheál claims.
“The vast majority of media have said that it’s all about promotion of our games, getting extra weeks to promote our games. Moving that a week into August won’t change it in any way at all.
“It’s not an argument that’s backed up with any facts or science or certainty that I have ever seen. The one thing that you have from the split-season is certainty for every player and every code.
“At the very least, I did hear [GAA director general] Tom Ryan say in the last couple of weeks that that was the main benefit and the biggest win for the split-season and he is 100% correct.
“It’s important that that is never lost sight of, because some people will say, ‘Sure, you can start your club championship if you’re out of the All-Ireland and the All-Ireland will only affect two counties.’
“Well, if you start that, then immediately you’re taking away certainty. People cannot book when they’re going on holidays, they cannot book when they’re going to start club training or club championships.
“One of the other arguments that we’ve seen for the change is that it would make space for provincial final replays and for All-Ireland replays, so that they wouldn’t be finished on the day.
“But why would that be an argument? If you look at the soccer World Cup, the Rugby World Cup, the Champions League final, none of them have replays.
“The only real argument is that you want the gate again.”
Disappointing
The CPA is no longer active and so Micheál doesn’t have enough of a sense of what is happening on the ground to call the outcome of the vote.
His feelings on it remain the same.“I would have had the exact same argument five years ago, three years ago, whenever I’ve spoken to journalists since,” he says.“The situation hasn’t changed in that time, but yet working groups have been set up run by the people [officials] who are sort of responsible for creating all of this [new timetable] in the beginning.
“It’s unfortunate and disappointing to see,” Micheál concludes.
I have a few theories about why various things in the world are the way that they are.
Not all of them would make a seamless transition from the bar stool to the pages of Ireland’s best weekly lifestyle magazine, but some of them do have a kernel of logic to them.
One which should be aired and shared with a smidgeon of confidence is that, because the GAA does not have a transfer market, there is a media vacuum of sorts here that cannot be filled with gossip about potential moves.
Instead, what we end up with is an ongoing angst over the fixtures schedule and competition structures.
Do you prefer a hurling league with six, seven or eight teams? It doesn’t matter because you’ll experience all three over the course of a decade or so. Doesn’t something need to be done about time-keeping, to take it out of referees’ hands? Here’s the hooter, but that’ll annoy you even more.
And the main one, the perennial cause célèbre, we must do something to give players clarity about when they’re playing – except, now that we have that, there is of course pushback again.
This weekend’s annual GAA Congress will discuss a motion, brought forward by a working group headed by Páraic Duffy, the association’s former director general, that would seek to create a 30-week inter-county season. Beginning in late January, it would see provincial pre-season competitions disband and extend the championship into August.
Retrograde step
Initially brought about by chance due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the bifurcation of the calendar into county and club segments was refined thereafter and formalised for 2022, with All-Ireland finals taking place in late July and county championships commencing after that.
However, if the inter-county season were to creep back towards the autumn, clubs would be the ones squeezed.
From 2017-21, the Club Players’ Association (CPA) existed as a vehicle to achieve a fair window of activity for the vast majority of GAA players – the enshrining of the split-season meant that the organisation was able to disband, its aim achieved.
The CPA’s former chairperson Micheál Briody feels that any move away from a status quo that suits the vast majority of players would be a retrograde step.
“There’s been no logical argument, no real kind of cogent argument made by anyone on why the All-Irelands should be pushed back into August.
“County players and club players are all in favour of the split-season and the only thing that needs to be modified is the make-up of the competitions within those time windows, not trying to extend or creep the county season into the club season.
“People will say, ‘Oh, there’s not a lot of club football played in August and it’s only a week or two,’ but, what I haven’t seen – now, maybe I’m incorrect – is a calendar produced by this working group that have recommended this.
“When we go back to when this was all thrashed out at the fixtures review committee, there was calendars put together and certain ones wouldn’t work. It was even said and admitted at that, if we went to a split-season, the last week of July would be the latest we could have the All-Irelands. That’s the way it was imposed or created from the outset.
“If you take a week or two off the club season, and the biggest dual counties are having to start their championships in the middle of August, what are you doing? You’re asking those counties to reduce the amount of club championship available to all their club players, which is the 98% or 99% of players within the association.”
Former CPA chairman Michéal Briody. \Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Tradition has a strong pull, of course, nowhere more so than in the GAA. When so many people involved in the games and their coverage grew up with September All-Irelands, there is a sense of nostalgia associated with that.
Many of those supporting the move back to later in the year have a platform from which to canvass.
“The only supporters of this argument have been the media,” Micheál claims.
“The vast majority of media have said that it’s all about promotion of our games, getting extra weeks to promote our games. Moving that a week into August won’t change it in any way at all.
“It’s not an argument that’s backed up with any facts or science or certainty that I have ever seen. The one thing that you have from the split-season is certainty for every player and every code.
“At the very least, I did hear [GAA director general] Tom Ryan say in the last couple of weeks that that was the main benefit and the biggest win for the split-season and he is 100% correct.
“It’s important that that is never lost sight of, because some people will say, ‘Sure, you can start your club championship if you’re out of the All-Ireland and the All-Ireland will only affect two counties.’
“Well, if you start that, then immediately you’re taking away certainty. People cannot book when they’re going on holidays, they cannot book when they’re going to start club training or club championships.
“One of the other arguments that we’ve seen for the change is that it would make space for provincial final replays and for All-Ireland replays, so that they wouldn’t be finished on the day.
“But why would that be an argument? If you look at the soccer World Cup, the Rugby World Cup, the Champions League final, none of them have replays.
“The only real argument is that you want the gate again.”
Disappointing
The CPA is no longer active and so Micheál doesn’t have enough of a sense of what is happening on the ground to call the outcome of the vote.
His feelings on it remain the same.“I would have had the exact same argument five years ago, three years ago, whenever I’ve spoken to journalists since,” he says.“The situation hasn’t changed in that time, but yet working groups have been set up run by the people [officials] who are sort of responsible for creating all of this [new timetable] in the beginning.
“It’s unfortunate and disappointing to see,” Micheál concludes.
SHARING OPTIONS