Is the earlier Championship a success or failure?

[seafoid]

I don't think this year's setup will be sustainable. They want more games and more exposure at the right level for counties but they aren't giving it enough time.
If you compare to 2018 there will be more games in considerably less time with no breaks. Players will be more likely to get injured and less likely to feature in the next game.

When the system was reformed last year the principles of the reforms were : raising the standard by providing more games at an appropriate level for all teams but especially developing counties; retaining positive aspects of the current system; avoiding dead rubbers, fitting the available footprint; retaining current opportunities to be a winner and give all teams a chance of winning Sam Maguire; be easy to understand and have public acceptance.

Everything has to be finished by 30 July.
The principles are most likely  incompatible with a 5 month club zone. There will have to be some sort of overlap and rationalisation and standardisation of county championships

[full moon]

Not only is there way more matches this year in the tight schedule. There is actually less than before on TV. TV matches should have been expanded, instead streaming has replaced Sky games and there is no increase in TV matches.

[seafoid]

https://www.rte.ie/sport/football/2023/0205/1353988-orourke-decries-abuse-of-players-over-scheduling/

Colm O'Rourke decries 'abuse of players' over Sigerson Cup scheduling
Updated / Monday, 6 Feb 2023 08:37

Colm O'Rourke says that something has to be done about what he deemed the "abuse of players" around the scheduling of the Sigerson Cup.

O'Rourke has had a positive start to his time in charge with back-to-back victories in Division 2 of the Allianz League, as they look to challenge favourites Dublin and Derry for promotion to the top flight.

But the Skryne man, who won a Sigerson as a player with UCD in the late 1970s, says the third level competition is having a negative impact on his squad's league campaign.

"The Sigerson Cup has dealt a heavy blow to our team," he said on RTÉ's Sunday Sport afterwards.

"Shane Walsh with a hamstring injury, Matt Costello having a hamstring injury, playing last Tuesday night after coming home from Cork - a long drive, a hard match, a very fast pitch - these are overuse injuries.

"This is disgraceful, the abuse of players with this Sigerson Cup. It needs to be put on at a different time of the year.

"We have six players tied up. They're not able to train with us at any of the time, and we had to take off Darragh Campion and Cathal Hickey today because we were concerned about the load on them.

"They played a match last Sunday, another game in Grangegorman on Wednesday night - which went to extra-time - and they were expecting to be playing today. Then they've a semi-final next week, so we took them off just purely for precautionary (reasons) because with two hamstring injuries it's a sign of overuse.

"I think it's absolutely disgraceful the way these players are being abused. Talk about player welfare; there's no player welfare in expecting lads to do that."



Pushed on when the Sigerson Cup could be played, he added: "It has to go into January, or else the league goes back two or three weeks in order to allow the Sigerson to be played.

"It is a great competition. I took part in it myself and won it with UCD but it was at a time when it never interfered with the county calendar.

"Now everybody is thrown into the month of February for everything. The second division is so important now because you can't be guaranteed a place in the All-Ireland unless you finish high up in the second division.

"So the stakes are very high for all the teams in the second division this year, much more than previously."

[Rossfan]

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-41074592.html

[onefineday]

. In total then, you have 15,000 people playing championship hurling and football in good weather and on good ground.

"If traditionalists had their way, there would be 52 people participating the All-Ireland Senior hurling final

Utterly disingenuous statement. He is saying that prior to the split season on the weekend of the all Ireland finals there were no other games taking place, that's nonsense. In my experience, there were no other matches, hurling or football scheduled for the same time as the marquee final, but those 2 or 3 hours apart the weekend was generally packed with championship action.

[seafoid]

It's going to be pure constipated football.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-FuUu4HIlo

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/2023/03/03/sam-skylight-or-tailteann-trapdoor-who-is-heading-where-as-the-league-heats-up/

Sam Maguire*
Eight provincial finalists (according to bookmakers' odds): Galway, Sligo, Dublin, Meath, Kerry, Cork, Derry and Armagh. These will be top seeds.

Next eight by league position (per February 27th standings): Mayo, Roscommon, Monaghan, Donegal, Tyrone, Louth, Kildare and Westmeath (Tailteann Cup holders).

Tailteann Cup

Remaining counties by league position: Clare, Limerick, Cavan Fermanagh, Down, Offaly, Antrim, Tipperary, Longford, Leitrim, Laois, Wexford, Wicklow, Carlow, London, Waterford and New York (to enter at preliminary quarter-final stage).


* Should a further county from Divisions Three or Four (at present Sligo — or Leitrim, London or New York are guaranteed by the Connacht draw) reach their provincial final, Kildare would on current standings be next in line for regrading to the Tailteann Cup as sixth in Division Two.

AFL Division Two

The cut for the Tailteann will be made at the bottom of this division. Already the places in Sam Maguire for lower-division teams have been taken by Westmeath from Division Three as winners of last year's Tailteann Cup and Sligo, Leitrim, London or New York from the same side of the Connacht draw.

At the moment Limerick on zero points and Clare on two are in the relegation places. Kildare are next, also with two but in sixth position thanks to the head-to-head with Clare.

[onefineday]

Consensus seems to be that it was a success for club players - you could say they're easy to satisfy as for the majority it probably meant they had 6 weeks odd of uninterrupted action, on the assumption that only a small portion of club action was still going on in October.
For a small group of elite players whose clubs progressed to the latter stages of provincial and all Ireland it probably intensified the workload and provided little opportunity for a break - this has always been the case, so no change there.
For media it's hard to spot any positives - concentration of action from may to end of June and little to talk about for the next 6 months - club games just don't cut it nationally, substitution controversies excepted. That concentration of fixtures problem is going to be much worse this year too with the new format.
The negative impact on coverage is very likely to have a long term impact on the mass appeal of the GAA, especially in the large urban areas where GAA slips out of consciousness for the younger generation for most of the year. I'm involved with a few underage teams, soccer and rugby are the topics of conversation all year long, very few would watch a league game that we don't bring them all to. I can definitely see this lack of visibility of the elite being a factor when lads will start dropping sports in the next few years to concentrate on one or two sports.
There's no easy answer, but the current set-up is a thumbs down from me - maybe a few tweaks could help. Definitely extending all Ireland semis and finals through August would be positive. Maybe starting hurling later and ending in September could reduce concentration a little bit and extend gaa interest beyond July.
One other thing that might help improve interest in both national League games and club games is for tg4 to have a dual commentary option - like it or not, there's few things that turns the average kid off more than hearing a few words as gaeilge on a Sunday afternoon!!

[Eire90]

If provincial championships were separate and the finals were played on st patricks day do you think they would get decent attendances.

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/2023/01/19/gaa-continues-to-stay-on-top-of-tv-ratings-despite-rise-of-sporting-rivals/

The football final last year between Kerry and Galway drew a smaller audience (872,000) than the 2021 equivalent played in August between Tyrone and Mayo (994,000).

[seafoid]

If provincial championships were separate and the finals were played on st patricks day do you think they would get decent attendances.

The all ireland is built on the provinces because the GAA is controlled at provincial level.
In order to distance  the provincial championships from the all Ireland the GAA would have to be restructured.

[Blowitupref]

If provincial championships were separate and the finals were played on st patricks day do you think they would get decent attendances.

April 8th start is already too early of a start for the provincial championships.

[onefineday]

If provincial championships were separate and the finals were played on st patricks day do you think they would get decent attendances.

The all ireland is build on the provinces because the GAA is controlled at provincial level.
In order to distance  the provincial championships from the all Ireland the GAA would have to be restructured.

This year will see the first major hit to the provincials - if you're already qualified for the all Ireland series, the provincials mean very little, not hard to see scenarios where teams are quite happy to play weakened teams in their province and get themselves right for the all Ireland group stages.

[Rossfan]

That might apply to the top 2 or 3 teams who have a realistic chance of Sam.
Mind you in Ros' case this year with a new late managerial appointment losing to Mayowestros would give the manager and squad up to 6 weeks to fine tune preparations.
But who wants to lose to the neighbours?

[Armagh18]

That might apply to the top 2 or 3 teams who have a realistic chance of Sam.
Mind you in Ros' case this year with a new late managerial appointment losing to Mayowestros would give the manager and squad up to 6 weeks to fine tune preparations.
But who wants to lose to the neighbours?

the top 2 don't need to break sweat in their provincials anyway. Doubt theres any Ulster team who wouldn't be delighted with winning it. Not sure about Connacht.