Structure of AI Club championship

[armaghniac]

I've started a new thread as there are several comments along the lines of the structure of the AI championship being unsatisfactory owing to the Xmas break and the unavailability of club players for the inter-county season.

There are many calls for everything to be wrapped up before Xmas.

Now with 6 rounds required after the country championships, do people propose playing every weekend. A reasonable every second weekend would require 12 weeks to run off things, assuming that the final was 16 December then the county finals would have to be in September.

Do those who posted actually want this/think it workable?

[yellowcard]

I've started a new thread as there are several comments along the lines of the structure of the AI championship being unsatisfactory owing to the Xmas break and the unavailability of club players for the inter-county season.

There are many calls for everything to be wrapped up before Xmas.

Now with 6 rounds required after the country championships, do people propose playing every weekend. A reasonable every second weekend would require 12 weeks to run off things, assuming that the final was 16 December then the county finals would have to be in September.

Do those who posted actually want this/think it workable?

Its definitely workable, simply move the AI intercounty series back 2 weeks. The Crossmaglen v Kilcoo Ulster final for instance was played this year on 2nd December, so moving this back 2 weeks would give ample time to play off the competition before Christmas. I presume all other provincial competitions could be completed in a similar timescale. This would leave a 2 week gap between provincial finals, AI semis & final. Ensure that all drawn matches are decided AET. Play the finals on a weekend in December where you could have say the junior & intermediate finals on a Saturday and possibly the Railway cup final and senior finals on the Sunday (or something similar).

The only reason why this hasn't been debated more is because not enough people have a vested interest to care about it. If for instance the AI intercounty quarter finals were played on the 1st week of August and a 12 week gap ensued until the semi final imagine the media, management and player outcry. It simply wouldn't happen in any other sport and club players are being flogged by the fixture scheduling and county managers being hindered by the unavailability of players.

[Rossfan]

Talk about the length of time before the Club Semi finals --
It takes 7 weeks from the AI Inter Co Qtr Finals till the AI Final - to play THREE GAMES !!!
It takes anything up to 10 weeks to play a Provincial championship ( 9 games Leinster,5 Munster, 6 Connacht,8 Ulster).
They could be all over by the end of June, Qtr Finals last weekend in July, both Semis the same weekend ( same in hurling) 1 Sat/1 Sun and the AI Football final 1st Sunday in Sept.
Prov Club begins 1st weekend October, any County not finished - tough! Prov finals Oct bank Holiday weeked, AISFs mid Nov, final last weekend Nov/1st weekend Dec.

[fearglasmor]

But you have different bodies running the AI championships from the provincial championshipships. We will never have a sensible integrated fixture list so long as you have seperate admin bodies running different parts of the calendar. Cant work wont work.
The GAA has too many competions that are allowed to influence the course of other ones.
Football, Huling, Club, County, Provincial, International, U-21, 3rd Level, Championship, League, Pre-league (O'Byrne Cup etc)  When people sy "no other sport would........."   I think you have to acknowledge that no other sporting organisation is structured like the GAA either. But then as we know it's not "just" a sporting organisation.

[emmetryan]

In order to move the club championships, any feasible plan has to involve playing the AI championship finals by the end of August...when the weather is good. Hey that's a great idea 

It really would solve a lot of issues on both sides and also allow county teams to have their full panels from January (hey if we're going to get things done to help the clubs it helps to sell it to those who put county teams first).

[armaghniac]

Part of the problem is that just as the AI final is the end of the inter-county season, club finals in counties tend to mark the end of the club season in counties and early September is sort of early for this. So you'd need a bit of new thinking on the structure of club seasons also and achieving all this change is damn near impossible.

[lenny]

Part of the problem is that just as the AI final is the end of the inter-county season, club finals in counties tend to mark the end of the club season in counties and early September is sort of early for this. So you'd need a bit of new thinking on the structure of club seasons also and achieving all this change is damn near impossible.

The inter county All Ireland drags on far too long. It could easily be finished by mid to late August. If it was it would mean the club championship could be run off finishing in late November or early December. Why does it take 5 weeks to run off the preliminary round and quarter finals of the Ulster championship for instance. 2 quarter finals could be played one weekend and 2 the next or even all 4 could be played on one weekend. Condensing the inter county championship would make a massive difference to club football.

[Milltown Row2]

Get rid of the back door system, open draw and be done with it, run it of every two weeks, and none of thisten day county rule were county players can't play for THEIR own clubs. Player gets injured you play the next player, that's why you have a squad. The Inter-county championship is a money maker for the GAA so it will never be scrapped!! So things will stay the same because of money

[theskull1]

We have an organisation now that is addicted to money now. The number of paid staff dictates how the AI county championship is structured

[theskull1]

BTW
I've never heard of any club player complaining about the current format of the All Ireland club.  This is about getting those players back out with their county in January, so let's not state player welfare as one of the reasons why some would like to see it changed.

[mackers]

In fairness Crossmaglen had to play a golf day a couple of Fridays ago to raise extra finance.  Clubs will never complain publicly but there's little doubt that it puts an extra strain on the finances running a senior team all the year round.

[theskull1]

Mackers I'm from a club who has good knowledge of playing at this time of year over the last 20 years.

I've never heard anyone complaining about the format of the competition....ever. In fact the exact opposite would be true.

[mackers]

Mackers I'm from a club who has good knowledge of playing at this time of year over the last 20 years.

I've never heard anyone complaining about the format of the competition....ever. In fact the exact opposite would be true.

Just to be clear I'm not suggesting that Crossmaglen are complaining. It's just an observation of mine.
Out of interest would your club complain if the format was changed? Surely it's the fact that they are competing at the latter stages of an AI club campaign that they enjoy rather than the current format?

[theskull1]

Of course there is the "just happy to be there" element if your still in the competition, but we're talking about one fixtures schedule over the other.

I strongly believe the players would prefer it the way it is.

As I said earlier...I contend that most who have an issue with the current format are not really interested in the clubs involved. They are interested in the impact that it has on their respective county teams. Shortsighted welfare concerns for the club players being cited as one of the reasons, but in the same breath they'd more than likely be looking for the county players from those clubs to commit themselves to their winter competitions.