Could we learn from American Football schedule?

The Trap · February 06, 2017, 02:58:35 PM

The Superbowl had just been played and there has been a lot of coverage over the past few days and it made me think if the GAA could learn a bit from the fixtures schedule. Some points:

New England Patriots played 4 "friendlies" in August
New England played 16 games (with one weekend break) between Sept 11th and Jan 1st
Equivalent of quarter final on Jan 14th
Equivalent of semi final on Jan 22nd
Equivalent of Final on Feb 5th
There are now no games between Feb and August
Competitive season is 5 months long and this is Americas No 1 game
They don't need long breaks between games in regular season or in play offs
The competition is a mixture of league and championship and all teams get lots of games, not just the elite
Surely there are enough smart people in Ireland to sort out the fixtures chaos and come up with a solution that would suit all parties.
And surely there is a solution that would not greatly affect the finances of the GAA (as this is the stumbling block). If American Football can have a 5 month season then the GAA can.

Padraig Duffy is an American football fan as I heard him talking on the radio about it. Maybe he could have a look at their schedule.

If you gave this more thought there are bound to be ideas we could come up with and maybe even keep the provincial councils happy, maybe not totally in the configuration they are currently in!!!!!

Jinxy · February 06, 2017, 03:10:17 PM

Imagine an american football season where loads of the players played for their colleges and home towns as well.
Kind of complicates things.

AZOffaly · February 06, 2017, 03:10:34 PM

Aye but Tom Brady doesn't have to go back and play for the Boston Shamrocks in the Junior Club Championship now.

J70 · February 06, 2017, 03:10:54 PM

Lots of solutions have been suggested, but the clear fact is that there is no appetite among those who wield the power to address the issues.

Maybe club players need to get together, bite the bullet and go on strike for a year if the GAA hierarchy feels they're that unimportant.

The Trap · February 06, 2017, 03:39:06 PM

AZ but if he did at least he would have 7 months to get it done, not 7 weeks or less!

mackers · February 06, 2017, 03:45:29 PM

Did I hear that muppet Spillane right last night? Did he say that rather than shortening the inter county season it should be lengthened?

westbound · February 06, 2017, 04:00:04 PM

Quote from: mackers on February 06, 2017, 03:45:29 PM
Did I hear that muppet Spillane right last night? Did he say that rather than shortening the inter county season it should be lengthened?

That's what he said!!

I presume he was getting a dig in at the CPA?

Rossfan · February 06, 2017, 04:08:46 PM

If Club and County competitions ran in tandem with suitable fixture schedules you could have a 9 month season for both.
Of course the AI finalists have that already.

Zulu · February 06, 2017, 04:17:21 PM

Quote from: The Trap on February 06, 2017, 02:58:35 PM
The Superbowl had just been played and there has been a lot of coverage over the past few days and it made me think if the GAA could learn a bit from the fixtures schedule. Some points:

New England Patriots played 4 "friendlies" in August
New England played 16 games (with one weekend break) between Sept 11th and Jan 1st
Equivalent of quarter final on Jan 14th
Equivalent of semi final on Jan 22nd
Equivalent of Final on Feb 5th
There are now no games between Feb and August
Competitive season is 5 months long and this is Americas No 1 game
They don't need long breaks between games in regular season or in play offs
The competition is a mixture of league and championship and all teams get lots of games, not just the elite
Surely there are enough smart people in Ireland to sort out the fixtures chaos and come up with a solution that would suit all parties.
And surely there is a solution that would not greatly affect the finances of the GAA (as this is the stumbling block). If American Football can have a 5 month season then the GAA can.

Padraig Duffy is an American football fan as I heard him talking on the radio about it. Maybe he could have a look at their schedule.

If you gave this more thought there are bound to be ideas we could come up with and maybe even keep the provincial councils happy, maybe not totally in the configuration they are currently in!!!!!

I've been saying this more or less for years now. Ditch the provincials, ditch U21's playing senior as well (they have to choose one), ditch IC dual players and link league to championship and hey presto many of our problems would be solved. This is an easy problem to solve if we simply face up to certain realities.