The split season

Krazy gang

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123495914#Comment_123495914

OK there's a lot in that. It's clear you're a very articulate contributor but you're not very good at hiding your dislike for the inter County scene.

The one cliche split season supporters keep repeating is that anyone against the split season has no interest in the club season. Which is just bizarre and contradictory as most of the pundits and ex players on podcasts, Sunday game etc are deeply involved with clubs, coaching, volunteering etc.

I was just listening Eddie brennan this morning and he was talking about giving the championship time to breathe. It's too non stop, no build up between games at all. Very few have said anything about going back to September all Irelands as you stated..

How is having a an all Ireland final on a Wednesday evening in an obscure provincial ground good for the promotion of the games? Yes when the club season starts it's brilliant, but club players are training for 6/7 months b4 a meaningful match. Then bang bang. And noall county league matches are not proper competitive games. Not when you see an intermidiate team here in kilkenny beat a senior team by 25 points!

Uncle Pierre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123495914#Comment_123495914

Becoming a bit of an echo chamber here, but I'm with you 100%.

Anybody who ever says to me that the inter-county structure should be changed back to the way it used to be, I ask them "how and when would you run the club championships then?", and I never get a proper answer.

All you ever get is "play club matches in between county matches", but there's no answer then on how to resolve the issues we had every single year when that was the way things used to be.

Seems they have short memories about those issues ever existing at all, or how they were never resolved until the split season came into being.

randd1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123496388#Comment_123496388

Maybe I was a bit over the top. Fair enough.

But where does that "room to breathe" come from? Because nobody is asking for it to come from the inter-county scene. It seems to all about pushing out the end of the season by another few weeks, eating into the clubs time. Shortening the time on clubs is just not feasible in the long run, especially in dual counties.

Various counties has made changes to their competition structures over the past few season to facilitate less time available. Surely the inter-county scene can do the same?

Take football for example, there's 33 county teams involved in football. A structure of 3 groups of 11 (senior, intermediate and junior AI's), say top 2 to SF's, next four to QF's, 2 up/2down. Minimum of 10 games a season for every team. 14 rounds in total, say an extra 5 weeks for rest weeks or before the knockout games (4 rounds, rest week, 4 rounds, rest week, 3 rounds, rest week, QF's, rest week, AISF's rest week, AI final). If you were to play the AI football final on the first Sunday in August (or second Sunday next year as there's 5 Sundays in August) you wouldn't be starting the inter-county season until April.

With that you could run the full Club championship from the provincial first rounds until the AI finals in January February and March, and have the county championships from August, with the final game of the season in every county the county final. And everyone get a proper winter's rest as well.

I think most people would go with that.

But that would involved the inter-county scene slaying the sacred cow of the provincial championships, which they won't. So on we trudge, a bloated series of games, lopsided provincial systems, and formats that don't last more than a few years before it's changed because someone feels aggrieved at the structure.

And that's the crux problem with the criticism of the split season. It's asking the clubs, once again, to give up more of their time (and with that added time, more money pumped into the county panels) for a bloated and demanding inter-county scene to expand even further.

And the problem with constantly pushing the clubs further and further into the background to expand the inter-county season, is eventually people will walk away from an organisation which wants you to join, but doesn't want you to play, or offers very little chance to.

The split-season isn't a perfect solution by any means, but it's by far the least worst option when everything that matters is considered. And the least worst is the best until something more sensible can be thought of, and if lads can't come up with alternatives when complaining about the split-season (and the don't), then it's hard to take it any more serious than some lad moaning or not really caring about the clubs.

Krazy gang

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123496503#Comment_123496503

I don't have a perfect solution either but I'd be totally in favour of reducing the amount of intercounty games. Especially in football, the league is too long with too many games where teams are going through the motions waiting for the championship. Donegal for example could be looking at playing 11 games if they were to reach the all ireland final. Then you have kerry waltzing through most of the season.

theoneeyedman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123495914#Comment_123495914

Mostly armchair fans and journalist types that are the loudest complainers. Players generally happy enough, but they don't generally have access and time to give interviews and complain online about it.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123497366#Comment_123497366

There Is nothing wrong with the league it's the structure of championship that is the issue. The insistence of retaining the provincial structures in football us the issue. Because of this insistence the intercounty championship cannot be structured to facilitate a proper tiered structure in which you have promotion and relegation.

Because of the provincial structure you have 6 weeks taken up playing meaningless games

wirelessdude01

Splitting it up into senior/intermediate/junior like the ladies is on obvious one but getting some counties to come to terms with what their level is will be the ultimate stopper on this. You see divisions 3 and 4 as generally being competitive as that is their proper level. Division 1 as it stands is pretty much about just getting safe and then shutting up shop. Promotion from Division 2 is the previous years related teams from Division 1.

One obvious move that needs to happen is that the 3rd level competitions need to switch. Their championships need to happen before Christmas. The better players with them are generally involved with county teams either at u20 or senior. Run the 3rd level leagues after Christmas with a strict rule of county players are not allowed to play. Reduces the pull on those players.

Uncle Pierre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123499348#Comment_123499348

Agree that the Third Level competitions are part of the issue, but remember that many of the inter-county players involved are in those colleges on sports scholarships, with the expectation that they line out for the college teams.

Glenelly

It is important to note, that it suits journalists, podcasters and others like them who financially gain from the intercounty game to have a longer intercounty season. They are not unbiased and only talking about the good of the GAA. Likewise there are club coaches getting paid by the session who will want to fit in as many as possible. Everyone has a bias, the armchair fans who want a game on tv everytime they are in front of the tv. The club players who want regular games with all their players available. The county players who want the best chance at county and club and so on and on. I think the balance we have at moment is best we ever had. Any tweak, even only a week has an impact on everyone else, someone likes it and someone else dislikes it.

Krazy gang

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123497881#Comment_123497881

That's a very lazy and overused dig that's it's only journalists and 'armchair fans' against split season. Isn't anyone who watches matches on TV armchair fans?

Most people you chat to at club matches are not happy with loads of parts of the split season. Is their positives to it? Yes of course there is, but there is fairly major tweaks needed to make it fairer to both club and county players. Not easy to do for sure.

Uncle Pierre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123500844#Comment_123500844

I disagree. The term "armchair fan" generally applies to people who mainly or only watch from home. Yes, somebody who's centrally involved at any level of the game is also watching from an armchair when they're viewing a match on TV or online, but that doesn't make them an "armchair fan" in the usual sense of the term.

And it's true that journalists, pundits, etc., have a vested financial interest in extending the inter-county season. More appearance money for being on "The Sunday Game" etc. if there are more episodes of it over more weeks, and more newspaper pages to fill if the inter-county season went on longer.

But really, how many players - either club or county - have you heard making a serious call for things to go back to the way they used to be? The GPA will tell you the vast majority of inter-county players are against it. And the CPA's whole reason for being in the first place was to get things changed to the way they are now.

wirelessdude01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123499596#Comment_123499596

How many of them actually play the league games anyway? Not many that I'm aware of.

windy shepard henderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123500844#Comment_123500844

i would say he is bang on , it really is only bar stool pundits couch potatos and the likes of roy curtis and martin breheny who seem to think that all sports broadcasted on tv are the only sports people watch or are invested in

the split season is not popular in come counties especially where one code is dominant but thats up the the county board to sort out

Uncle Pierre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123503871#Comment_123503871

And why don't they play more League games? Because the college teams have first call on them. They're regularly training for or playing for their college team during the week instead of their county team. So when the county manager sits down to pick his team for a League match on the Saturday or Sunday, he'll pick the lads who've been training with him all week, and who haven't already played a tough game just two or three days earlier.

wirelessdude01

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123509453#Comment_123509453

No my point was that they don't play league for their colleges.

Krazy gang

The tall tin cup gets the prime time Sunday afternoon slots of 2 and 4pm, while the all ireland preliminary quarters are hidden away on gaa+.

The mind boggles.