The split season

Rosita

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122593973#Comment_122593973

I'm very familiar with Limerick GAA as it happens. But it's hard to imagine any other sport where so much time is spent preparing/training for so few matches in the premier competition.

rrs

Gealic Players Association (GPA) chief executive Tom Parsons sees November becoming a “zero contact” month at inter-county level following the decision to suspend pre-season competitions next year.

Despite 60% of counties supporting their retention in recent feedback, Central Council on Saturday voted to disband the 2025 January competitions on the grounds of player welfare and cost savings.

The GPA have long advocated for the pre-season matches to be axed. They had previously argued successfully for a six-week pre-season block for players to be ready for those competitions but Parsons now envisages collective training commencing in December.

https://t.co/5jy7BPrHi4

blowitupref

Player welfare and burn out among the reasons for getting rid of pre season competitions. Only the McKenna cup was taken somewhat serious over the last few years and elsewhere counties fielded 3rd strength teams or development teams while 1st choice panels was playing challenges elsewhere.

I think NFL will likely start mid Jan and finished in March giving every team a few weeks prep time before the provincial championship start

HurlingBoy

With most county championships down the semi final stages how do people about the split season at the this time of the year. For me it seems that the club championship is over in the blink of an eye - 6/7 weeks for alot of clubs if they don't make the knockout stages. I know the weather has been quite dry with pitches in good condition so it still feels like clubs should be playing but evenings are gone for training. It's great in one way to have the certainty around fixtures and no replays dragging things out but it seems a very short window of matches for all the training.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122704675#Comment_122704675

It depends on the county. Limerick clubs will have played 5 rounds of county championship in both hurling and football. Teams that qualified for playoffs had QF in hurling last weekend football the week before. Dual players will have played a minimum of 10 championship matches. Non county club players will also have played league while rhe inter county championship was being played. They woukd be 5ish rounds in both codes. So a dual club player will have played 20 matches without getting to a playoff. I cannot see much room for more matches

The county finals and semi finals will take up another four weekend then it the provincial and AI club championships.

windy shepard henderson

in clare we need the split season because we play two codes , but i would be interested in how 1 code counties are affected

HurlingBoy

There is no room for more matches and with replays everything is getting played with no delays which is a good thing. However how does the club player feel about such a short window of championship matches. Is there a risk that players will start playing other sports e.g I am only going to have important games in August\Sept and possibly October, I will play soccer and Rugby also as this will run to Sept to May.

Bot1

I love it!

Gives a set period for the club championships where you can really get invested with intercounty stars can line out for their clubs.

The kids love it too!

Those complaining about the intercounty championship being over should head along to a club championship match.

Billy Ocean

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122717951#Comment_122717951

I'm 35 and lads playing Hurling, Football and Soccer has always been very common in my neck of the woods for as long as I remember.

HurlingBoy

At what level and in what county? Very difficult to combine these sports particularly at senior level in the top counties. I would say that that split season will also lead to a decline in dual players. In Limerick for example players would have had championship games every weekend for the last 10/11 weeks. A sure way to burn out players and lead to more injuries.

joebloggs32

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122718740#Comment_122718740

You hit the nail on the head. Its the certainty it brings to club players that's most important.

In my playing days we had to get ready to play a round or possibly two at the end of April or start of May. We then had an indefinite period to wait for our next fixture. It was madness.

The point made elsewhere about the costs of training teams should not be underestimated either. There is a circuit of gravy train merchants going from club to club. Even now, they often get squads back before the end of January. No expenses if the car is parked up at home.

I believe, like the intercounty scene, there should be a defined closed season to stop collective club training until mid February or 1st of March. At the moment few club chairman have the balls to stop the gravy train starting up in January as they would fear being called miserly. However, if insurance was withdrawn from the teams it would be much easier to put the foot down.

Billy Ocean

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122745550#Comment_122745550

I know players in Wexford who have finals in both codes over the next 2 weekends and will go back to soccer once the GAA commitments for the year is over.

crusd

Before the split season you saw Club championship finals being played mid to late October in storms and now you see club championship finals being played in mid to late October in storms. You see swathes of young lads heading over to america and no meaningful club action for months.

My proposed Calender:

Jan: Intercounty Pre-season

Feb: I/C League

March: I/C League,

Club Pre-season

April: Club Championship group stages - min 2 rounds. If not completed county champions do not get to compete in All Ireland Club championships. If county management pull club players for club the games still go ahead but the county manager must stand up in front of club delegates and manager from each impacted club to justify

May: I/C Provincial Championships, Club League

June: I/C Weeks 1&2 - Provincial Finals, Week 3&4 - Hurling Preliminaries and Football group stage Rd 1 depending on weekend of provicial final - eg. Finalist who played week 1 play wee k3 and week 2 play week 4

July: I/C Week 1: Football groups rd 2, Week 2 Football group rd 3, Week 3 - Hurling QF, Week 4 Football QF

Club - league to completion

August: I/C Week 1 - Hurling Semis, Week 2 - Football Semis Week 2, Week 4 - Hurling Final

Club: All counties without a semi-finalist complete club Quarter-finals by end of month. All counties with a semi finalist complete group stages by end of month. If not completed county champions do not get to compete in All Ireland Club championships. Only counties with exemption not to play any Club championship in August are those with an All-Ireland Finalist.

September: I/C Week 1 - All Ireland Football Final.

Club: Semi finals and Finals in counties eliminated in QF or earlier, Quarter Finals and Semi-Finals in counties eliminated in SF or earlier, Last group stage game and QF in counties in AIF. If not completed county champions do not get to compete in All Ireland Club championships

October: All remaining Club Championship games completed weeks 1-3.

October Bank holiday - All star weekend and Interpro-series.

Where possible Senior club championship is 4 x 4 team groups with QF, SF and final - none of this sh*te with the 3rd placed team making a preliminary quarter final. Same with the I/C championship. If there are less than 16 senior teams in a county they can have 3x4 team or 2x4 team groups. If there are more than 16 either drop to 16 teams and let the excess drop to intermediate with the knock on effect down to Junior, Junior B etc or if you really want you can have your fake Senior B championship so clubs not good enough for senior can play in the "Utterly Butterly I cant believe its not Intermediate" championship

November: Provincial Club championships, Sigerson/ Fitzgibbon

December: All Ireland club championships, Sigerson/ Fitzgibbon

Sunny Disposition

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122746050#Comment_122746050

It was ridiculous that no one knew when championship would be played. And it went on for years and years with very little media focus on the issue, which makes it very hard to listen to the critics of the split season now.

randd1

There's nothing wrong with the split season.

The problem isn't the clubs. It never has been.

The problem is the run-away train that is the inter-county season, that for a long time now has been adding more and more games, has been ramping up the cost of preparing teams so the GAA needs more match-day revenue to cover that massive increase in expense, and managers were asking for club games to be postponed in order to prepare properly, which county boards usually acquiesced to.

The club was being squeezed out completely because of it.

People saying "we used to have club games during the summer", we did. But we also has less games, county players weren't doing 30+ hours of training/prep work a week with various members of backroom team bigger than the playing panel and the cost of it, and the time required for it.

The split season is a solution to a problem created by the unreasonable demands of the inter-county scene on the club players. The clubs had to be protected, because with them there is no GAA. They were being cast aside, training for the hope of a match, not being able to do simple thing in life like a holiday or major things like weddings, not knowing when or if they were going to be playing.

They have what they have now, which is 3-4 months of time where they can run off games, and the clubs manage to do that, even in dual counties where they can't run the two codes on the same weekend to help dual players. Counties have had to change formats for the compressed schedule, and the Club AI's, the biggest day for any club whatever their level, is played in the muck and sh!t of winter to facilitate the inter-county scene. They've given up plenty. And they've left the inter-county season with 6 months between January and July where the codes are not stopped being run alongside each other until the AIQF's in June.

I mean if Cork can organize competitions for what, 230 club teams (or however many clubs are in Cork), for a 3-4 month period with time set aside for both codes to be played on separate weekends, then surely the intercounty scene can arrange competition structures for 66 county teams (or whatever the number is) across both codes that can be played on the same weekends as each other over a 6 month period.

The split-season provides certainty to club player that the inter-county behemoth isn't going to keep swallowing up it's time.

The alternative is to keep letting the inter-county season expand and chip away at the club scene, which will eventually mean either a split between inter-county and the club, or the decline of the club, and with it the GAA, as who'll want to play a sport where the attitude is that you're to fcuk off until the big lads tell you you're allowed to play, if the want that.

randd1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122747305#Comment_122747305

Begs the question, why haven't the GAA developed a social/5-a-side version of the codes? Football is the obvious one. No hand passing (slap or fist the ball first time is allowed), a small but wide goal similar to Aussie Rules, play on astroturf.

One thing I used to love about playing soccer years ago, was when I couldn't play it anymore (bad knees, broken ankle), once I got somewhat right in my early 30's, I used to just meet up with the local lads for a 7-a side game on a Thursday. No mad training, no fitness work, just go out and play the sport for the fun of it.

The GAA really need to be planning to make the sports more accessible to people who are big fans of the codes but that maybe don't want to have to put in a massive effort in training a few times a week just to maybe play a match a couple of times a year, who mightn't be part of a club, but still want to play the sport in some way. For some lads an hour a week for a kick about/tip around might be all they can afford in terms of time. In particular, it should be considered given the growing lack of space in growing urban area for new club pitches to start having a format that can be played on a very small pitch.

The other thing is, if we had something like that, we'd have something for the club players as well. For the most part, the club player finished in October theses days and probably doesn't start getting going again until March. That's a hell of a gap, so if it could be filled with a take-it-easy format, or the GAA version of a pub league, would that be the worst thing?

crusd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122747789#Comment_122747789

The reason for that was not the calendar, it was county boards beholden to county managers. Define the club calendar alongside inter county, and ensure it happens by having consequences for counties who dont follow it.

Bot1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122747853#Comment_122747853

Love this idea!

randd1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122747894#Comment_122747894

How do enforce those consequences though? Pull funding? That will affect the clubs, not the county team who'll get money anyway due to the demands of the inter-county scene.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122747853#Comment_122747853

You should check out "half paced hurling"

Sunny Disposition

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122748047#Comment_122748047

Play soccer every week with a crowd of guys I used to hurl with, it'd be great to have a hurling equivalent.

crusd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122747985#Comment_122747985

Clubs not permitted to compete in All-ireland club if they don't meet certain milestones. In some counties that may be acceptable but let Padraig Joyce and Corofin thrash it out if they were kicked out for example

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122745550#Comment_122745550

I would not accept that injury could be an issue. Coaches dislike dual players and clubs as they cannot have total control. Soccer players at different level play game week in week out. What different about a hurling game one week and a football game the next weekend. You just tailor your training sessions to the players involved. Over training is usually more of an issue than the games.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122747663#Comment_122747663

IIt's was tried it did not f@@king work. Main reason is inter-county coaches were and still are controlled freaks as well historically inter-county squads were sub 30 players now they are 40 and beyond at under age you can have A&B squads of 50-60 players.

Coaches will pressurise players not to play and prevent them from playing the weaker coun̈ty code. With squad sizes accross a county you could see 50+ players not available for a certain code or not playing because of a minor knock if there is a window used in the middle of the county season

There may be a case to stretch the intercounty out two weeks however it will cause issue in counties that play games during these weeks.

In most counties when the evenings get long enough to have games mid week mid April on divisional and county club leagues are played in which inter-county players do not play. Well they do in Limerick anyway.

Finally the split season is starting to save clubs a lot of money. A significant number do not start training until the start of or the middle of March. It's not just a saving in coach fees but less need for hiring out all weather pitches or indoor arena to train in.

Any club that allow a coach to insist on training before March are idiots and have too much money. You doo the fitness training now in March and April, you play your league a d friendlies from that to July and you should e ready for championship for August.

crusd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122748908#Comment_122748908

Your point assumes we have to accept the power of intercounty managers.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122749528#Comment_122749528

Well for 20-30 years when we had different versions of the split season counties failed to control them and there influences are more pronounced now so I doubt if counties will manage to change the spots on the leopards

crusd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122749619#Comment_122749619

As I said - dont progress your club championships to certain milestones hand have your clubs banned from AI club. If a county decides they can live with that let them explain it to their clubs

Sunny Disposition

It is theoretically possible to have club and county running concurrent, but in reality it didn't happen for over 20 years.

County boards all over the country prioritised the county teams. County players prioritised the county team. This change has worked brilliantly. The GAA gets a lot of stick for decisions made by administrators, but this was a genuinely brilliant change.

The arguments against it are very weak and don't really survive contact with reality. But that doesn't stop some media people, almost all of whom played intercounty or who made their living covering it, from complaining.

harryharry25

I know lads who won an intermediate championship in my county 2 years ago

3 or 4 starters and few subs played soccer all during the GAA season, games usually on Thursday night, the odd Friday.

They all told the manager they would be playing soccer and the GAA club trained Tues and Fri. The lads that played soccer would go training on the Friday and do very little/have recovery session as they would have played 90 minutes the night before. When they had soccer games on a Friday they would miss training

This nonsense you can't play 2 sports and be still be successful in Gaelic is nonsense. Any good man manager would work with the players

New manager at the club last year told them soccer or Gaelic, and he lost 4 of the lads who told him to F off basically. Half way though the year and the Gaelic team struggle the manager was gone and the lads were back in playing both codes again

windy shepard henderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122751466#Comment_122751466

100% right , in fairness there is a huge traditional support that like watching games every sunday in tv and maybe go to the odd club game if their own crowd were playing , that is where the ratings might drop in the next few years but only temporary

the younger people are happy with it and as someone that is a regular at gaa matches , i have not seen the game as popular as it is now amongst young people especially teenagers and early 20s group , according to the journalists and ex players you mentioned , they are all running off playing soccer and rugby now because thats all they see on television

its a nonsense argument , its a pity today we had so many top county finals on that there isnt a program on rte to go through them , the clare football final was today , the hurling final is tomorrow , the cork and kerry football finals were today as was the derry and armagh finals along with the kilkenny hurling replayed final in which last years all ireland intermediate club champions hammered last years all ireland senior club champions

what is needed from next year on is for rte to continue a sunday game like program to show highlights of these games from across the country , i know tg4 do it but in an in-depth way and it will keep the likes of fogerty, sweeney and breheny in a job for the winter without having to make up any fiction

legendary.xix

County finals at the end of October are starting become established. Oasis in Croke Park are helping with that. There can be no change next year.

County championships take a while to get going, as does any championship I suppose. From the quarter-finals stages is where the edge kicks in.