Mod Note Post #1 - The 2022 All Ireland Senior Football Championship.

I don't see why September really makes a difference except for "that's how it always was so that's best" old man shouting at cloud stuff.

Going back to September means running the club game without the intercounty players because what was happening the club players (who are the vast majority of players) was a load of sht.

We haven't even got to the club championship yet and all change is written off.

Replays provide great drama on the day for fans but it's a disaster from a scheduling perspective and not fair on the players. It's at semi final now, so if there were a couple of replays then one team would be a lot more worn out than the other which is not what you want for. We already had the scenario in the super 8s, where teams coming through the qualifiers had 4 or 5 games played in quick succession whereas the stronger provincial winners had a few weeks off and were fresh as daisies.

I'm looking back at the scheduling here and picked 1997, which was disrupted by kildare and Meath playing 3 games (2 replays) in leinster. Offaly won leinster by 8pts that year, playing meath who had played Kildarex3 and Dublin already. Kerry won the all ireland that year after playing just 4 games: 29th June, 20th July, 24th August and 28th September. It's mental to have the season that spread out

And don't get me started on the round robin.

The soccer, rugby, tennis, Tour de France are always waiting in the long grass if you ask some GAA fans.

I saw a documentary about North Mon in Cork from back in the 90s and a coach is worried that tennis and basketball are gonna to lure away all the kids.

I don't think there is any actual stats that back up a drop in GAA during a World Cup.

You don't think, that's for sure.

If Ireland are playing at the Euros or WC you don't think it would affect attendance or viewers?

I mean we literally have evidence to show that when the GAA decided to go up against Ireland v Scotland and Leinster in the European Cup Final only this year!

Not to mention, when in 2016, the Leinster SF was up against Ireland v France at Euro 2016. Honestly, it's mental that the GAA see a crowded environment and think "ME TOO"!

Funny, ye weren't very good 15 years ago before the GAA pumped €19m into Dublin GAA over 5 years. Next nearest county Cork got €2.5m over that same 5 year period.

But yeah.. it's all Kildare and Meath's fault.

Delusional.

What big game was affected by the Ireland and Leinster match ?

If it's Dublin vs Kildare you are talking about I think the rest of the season shows it was no rugby match that has caused the drop in Dublin fans.

I wouldn't be a fan of having a big championship game the same time as any big Ireland game as I like all those sports but overall GAA attendance holds steady on World Cup and Euros years.

It's almost like the games are an inconvenience!

It's not the games every two weeks that are the problem, for instance I'd love to have that problem. (my team is long out)

If people genuinely can't afford it then change the prices, not the schedule. Having games every 3 or 4 weeks apart is nonsense, play the fvckin games and just enjoy it. Don't leave 99% of players at home waiting for the last 4 teams to finish off the championship through August and September.

Regardless of the calendar, generally I think the GAA do need to tackle poor attendances. They really don't help themselves.

The price of hotels and Dublin plus the high inflation incl. petrol prices of course doesn't help, and the GAA have limited control over this

I went to a hurling semi last weekend (actually only 39,000 at it apparently, so around half capacity). Upper tiers of Davin and Hogan not even opened. An empty Davin End behind the goals doesn't look great optically for what's supposed to be one of the biggest events of the year.

Tickets were EUR 50, no match before it, just one game. Surely they could be cheaper ? People with only a passing interest in the sport will not pay that.

Also the matches are scheduled in the evening, so can finish after the last train home departs leaving supporters high and dry with nowhere to stay. Especially considering games can have extra time and penalties now. Hotels expensive and anyways not available.

You rule out the possibility of families with kids going. I have friends who actually live in Dublin, and couldn't go to Croker as it was too late. Never mind living in the likes of Clare or Kerry.

My plan is

1. Cheaper adult ticket prices
2. Play all games in the afternoon, to open it up more to day trippers
3. Consider free tickets for children, especially for games that won't sell out anyways (which is most games)
4. Consider putting everything on Ticketmaster for everything except the All-Ireland final (appreciate finals will sell out and want to reward club members). Avoids the nonsense of the best seats being returned by clubs and left empty. Fine for maybe a county supporter's club to be involved, to sort out season ticket holders, but not every single club.

Also, would it be too drastic to take the semi finals out of Croke Park ? Play it somewhere between the two competing counties, reducing cost and travel time.

I genuinely think that when their is a great atmosphere at games, that feeds across to the players and leads to a better game. So also more enjoyable for the armchair TV viewer. A lot of the games played in an almost empty Croke Park this year have been poor spectacles.