Is the earlier Championship a success or failure?

[Truthsayer]

In Gaelic football in general there is always a need to ne seen to want to change it. Change the rules and a good county manager will find a new way to play and negate it.

Change the season, change the format. Even at club level sometimes there is a system that works and then it gets thrown out for no reason, other than to be seen to do something.

I think that the split season has to stay but tweaks and more time needed. At county level the provincials are the biggest issue.

The league tends to be good, and look at all the finals produced somme kind of excitement. In the Provinces Leinster and Munster Finals are going to be terrible. Connacht is tighter but no side is flying.

Ulster is competetive, but then when the teams don't go all the way the provincials are blamed for being so hard to get through...

Also, when it comes to the clubs, the vast majority can start their championship in July when their county side are out anyway. That was a big issue pre split.
A team gets kncoked out in July and yet no serious club games till end of August for no reason...

That's the failure in this. It seemed to have been changed so clubs wudnt be playing championship in the muck of winter but club championship time remained the same. Now for August-September is club league games a very diluted competition compared to county or club championship. Loads county players just head to US for those months... indeed July as most county teams eliminated by start of July

[APM]

In Gaelic football in general there is always a need to ne seen to want to change it. Change the rules and a good county manager will find a new way to play and negate it.

Change the season, change the format. Even at club level sometimes there is a system that works and then it gets thrown out for no reason, other than to be seen to do something.

I think that the split season has to stay but tweaks and more time needed. At county level the provincials are the biggest issue.

The league tends to be good, and look at all the finals produced somme kind of excitement. In the Provinces Leinster and Munster Finals are going to be terrible. Connacht is tighter but no side is flying.

Ulster is competetive, but then when the teams don't go all the way the provincials are blamed for being so hard to get through...

Also, when it comes to the clubs, the vast majority can start their championship in July when their county side are out anyway. That was a big issue pre split.
A team gets kncoked out in July and yet no serious club games till end of August for no reason...

That's the failure in this. It seemed to have been changed so clubs wudnt be playing championship in the muck of winter but club championship time remained the same. Now for August-September is club league games a very diluted competition compared to county or club championship. Loads county players just head to US for those months... indeed July as most county teams eliminated by start of July

That's it in a nutshell! But you'll never hear that from the player's representatives because it's easier to lay the blame at the structures and the GAA.

It's is a complete joke that despite the split season, CBs are still running off leagues in December. It is also very questionable where the demand is for round robin championship structures at club level. It just creates loads of meaningless games, further dilutes the relevance of leagues and reinforces the notion that the real action doesn't start until about mid-September in many counties.

Given what has been sacrificed at county level (giving up the entire summer), with a more intense season for county players, and limited benefits at club level, you'd have ask what was the point?

[Rossfan]

All Roscommon Club Leagues finish mid July now, not in November, or 18th December or next March or sometime unless we forget about it altogether.
Club Championships start 2nd weekend August.
Players know the fixtures in advance and can plan their lives accordingly, not waiting for a message on a Monday night as to who or where they might be playing at the weekend.

[Captain Scarlet]

Just on that too, teams are playing the league early in the year too. We are on Round 6 in Kildare so no county men, senior or underage and the pre-season stuff also hit during colleges football.

Like give club lads the start of the year off too. Start the club leagues in April/ May, club championship in July (even if All Ireland's get pushed back a bit) and there's still lots of time.

If we go messing with the split season in general it will be for the few, and not the many. If we went All Ireland semis in footballl on the August bank holidays and then 2 weeks to the Final...

There will only be 4 counties involved by mid-July. So, the vast majority should be starting then. Then when the lull comes in September there's county finals galore all round the country.

[seafoid]

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-41396365.html

GAA president Jarlath Burns will face stiff opposition to the idea of returning All-Ireland finals to September from Croke Park officials.

Saturday's Central Council meeting will hear a number of proposals about reshaping the GAA calendar to accommodate a later finish to the inter-county season.

[bennydorano]

A my 2 cents sort of post as i dunno if I've ever posted on this thread - but I think the new system is horseshit. I was always a big fan of the qualifiers and thought the balance was nearly right - if the Tommy Murphy Cup had've been embraced it would have been spot on. As for the split season, I really don't know if I'm a fan either (or if it's made any difference). For the County players that play for strong clubs the split season is probably a nightmare. The Armagh Club leagues batter away from April overlapping the County Season, the only thing that's split is the championship. So I think the split season varies in impact from county to county and players' experiences must also vary widely. It's a can of worms, doubt it's finally settled either, GAA too fond of tinkering.

[square_ball]

Not sure the 'split season' has left things any different or better in Tyrone. Senior league starts next weekend. Play 5 starred games without county players. The remaining 10 league games are played with county players when Tyrone are out. Then the championship and if players are involved in clubs with league or relegation play offs then you'll not be done until the end of November.

Take Michael McKernan for example. He played in the first round of the McKenna Cup on 6th January 2023 and his season with Coalisland ended on 19th November 2023. He was back out again on 7th January 2024 for the McKenna Cup.

[Wildweasel74]

Derry club league at Rd 6,by the time the championship over, Derry clubs will have played 10 league games.so it hardly be the club season is just starting, once the All-Ireland over.

[Armagh18]

Armagh club leagues round 13 is 26th July and round 14 (final round) is 2nd August. Championship will be towards end of August. What are club players doing from March until Tyrone are out apart from playing 5 league games?

[statto]

Armagh club leagues round 13 is 26th July and round 14 (final round) is 2nd August. Championship will be towards end of August. What are club players doing from March until Tyrone are out apart from playing 5 league games?

I see they had some Jim Devlin cup competition running for seniors some slog for non county players to keep them interested without any meaningful games to do late in year.