So what were you all worried about?
We’ve looked at the fixtures, we’ve come up with the solution, no big deal.
Joe Brolly was right when he suggested that the GAA calendar was in urgent need of change but we think it’s more difficult than the six month intercounty, six month club format that he has proposed. Instead, we’ve devised a solution that starts in February and should end in October – all of your club and county Gaelic Football schedule condensed into a lovely nine-month package.
The key conditions?
– Take Brolly’s advice and abolish these pre-season district competitions running in January.
– January is now your pre-season month.
– The club league starts in February (we thought this business was all about championship).
– The National Football League is split into three tiers rather than four so counties will actually have MORE games.
– County players are available for five assigned club league games plus a relegation/promotion playoff if necessary (after all, Armagh players played just two league games last year).
– Club leagues finish in May before the championship. Anyone playing important league games in November or December are to be excommunicated.
– Club championships run off in June/July before the intercounty season kicks back in.
– All-Ireland final moved to the start of October.
– All-Ireland club series finished by November latest.
Club players face a hectic schedule between February and July but we have managed to slide a few breaks in there (and that’s catering for a 15-game regular season format and all).
Brolly’s point stands though. Even these guys are being asked to do too much. Their attitude, their lives revolve entirely around a game of football. Starting the season earlier, finishing the league before the championship, and having all senior club activity wrapped up in July lets everyone know exactly where they stand. Boys will suddenly be in the habit of playing games rather than just training incessantly and they also know that they can book a bloody holiday without the hassle of having to cancel. Imagine that.
Sunday League players play week in, week out. It’s no issue. It’s asking more of the GAA to do the same, we know that. But why? Because of the all-or-nothing, life-or-death mentality that has encapsulated even Junior B players right now.
The county season finishes at the start of October meaning there’s almost a full three months of recovery at the end of the year.
If people really want to start training in November when the league doesn’t start until March, the championship not until July, then there’s nothing anybody can do about that sort of ludicrous behaviour. Unless the GAA are willing to properly enforce a winter training ban, be it a liason officer from each county – whatever. At the minute, as Joe himself puts it, the policy is “laughable.”
FEBRUARY
Sunday 1: Club League – Round 1
Sunday 8: Club League – Round 2
Sunday 15: Club League – Round 3
Sunday 22: Club League – Round 4
Saturday 28: Club League – Round 5
MARCH
Sunday 1: NFL – Round 1
Saturday 7: Club League – Round 6
Sunday 8: NFL – Round 2
Saturday 14: Club League – Round 7
Sunday 15: NFL – Round 3
Saturday 21: Club League – Round 8
Sunday 22: NFL – Round 4
Sunday 29: Club League – Round 9
APRIL
Sunday 5: NFL – Round 5
Saturday 11: Club League – Round 10
Sunday 12: NFL – Round 6
Saturday 18: Club League – Round 11
Sunday 19: NFL – Round 7
Sunday 26: Club League – Round 12
MAY
Saturday 2: Club League – Round 13
Sunday 3: NFL – Round 8
Saturday 9: Club League – Round 14
Sunday 10: NFL – Round 9
Saturday 16: Club League – Round 15
Sunday 17: NFL – Round 10
Sunday 31: Club League – Promotion/Relegation Playoffs
JUNE
Sunday 7: Club Championship – Round 1
Sunday 7: NFL – Finals
Sunday 14: Club Championship – Round 2
Sunday 28: Club Championship – Quarter Finals
JULY
Sunday 5: Club Championship – Semi Finals
Sunday 19: Club Championship – Final
Sunday 19: Provincial SFC – Preliminary Rounds
Sunday 26: Provincial SFC – Quarter Finals
AUGUST
Saturday 8: All-Ireland Qualifiers – Round 1
Sunday 9: Provincial SFC – Semi Finals
Saturday 22: All-Ireland Qualifiers – Round 2
Sunday 23: Provincial SFC – Final
Saturday 29: All-Ireland Qualifiers – Round 3
SEPTEMBER
Sunday 6: All-Ireland Qualifiers – Round 4
Sunday 13: All-Ireland SFC – Quarter Finals
Saturday 26: Club Provincial Championship – Quarter Finals
Sunday 27: All-Ireland SFC – Semi Finals
OCTOBER
Sunday 4: Club Provincial Championship – Semi Finals
Sunday 11: All-Ireland SFC – Final
Sunday 18: Club Provincial Championship – Final
Only four teams in the whole of Ireland would remain playing come the second half of October. The All-Ireland club series would finish in November – which beats dragging into the middle of next season.
The schedule would alter accordingly where a National League (for instance) final clashes with a club game but, again, only a minority of teams and counties would be affected.
The club schedule is tight and leaves less room for manoeuvre so obviously just extra time the balls out of the championship until you get a winner…
Ideally, clubs with 16-team leagues would follow suit and cut down to maybe 10 or 12 but it’s entirely the county’s perogative. A lot of club championships are still operating with a backdoor system and, although a lot of managers would back that safety net to the hilt, the vast majority of Gaels don’t like second chances in the championship – particularly at club level. Backdoors would have to go to make room for the new fixture list.
With this schedule, county teams are guaranteed an extra two or three NFL fixtures if the leagues are divided into 10/11 teams across three tiers and their spread of games brings them nicely into championship time after the club championship has wrapped up and everyone in Ireland from that point is living on borrowed time. Where every game is effectively your last.
But, do you know what, don’t even bother asking us about the hurling. Or the handball. Or the Sigerson Cup, the U21s, the minors and whatever other district or sevens tournament you want included in the schedule. It’s too much! Fitting in four competitions was enough work. Suddenly, we have a lot of sympathy for the GAA…
