County finals, it's the 23 of October FFS

[Hoof Hearted]

we won the 1994 final on the 20 something of August. Changed times

[Milltown Row2]

There seems to be a bit of momentum behind this at the top level so it will be addressed at some stage.

Even if the intercounty championship structure is not changed there is no reason why the AI finals could not be finished by the 1st week of September.

There are 6 games in Connaught and it takes 10 weeks to complete. Similiarly in Ulster the QFs should be played over 2 weekends and not 4, saving 2 weeks of club football.

Some counties have round robins and back doors which also holds things up but I don't think counties should be dicatated to in terms of how their own club championship is run.

No one should dictate to counties on how they run their Championships, but they should be finished long before today FFS. As for Down losing the final because Ambrose Rodgers  was injured is laughable. Clubs and counties lose players all the time due to injuries all the time. That's what happens.

That was farcical today watching and listening to those games

[barelegs]

The Tyrone final in 1995 wasn't played until December 17th. Which is bad at the worst of times. Moortown had actually won their semi final that year on October 8th. Two replays in the other semi final didn't help.

[ardtole]

There seems to be a bit of momentum behind this at the top level so it will be addressed at some stage.

Even if the intercounty championship structure is not changed there is no reason why the AI finals could not be finished by the 1st week of September.

There are 6 games in Connaught and it takes 10 weeks to complete. Similiarly in Ulster the QFs should be played over 2 weekends and not 4, saving 2 weeks of club football.

Some counties have round robins and back doors which also holds things up but I don't think counties should be dicatated to in terms of how their own club championship is run.

No one should dictate to counties on how they run their Championships, but they should be finished long before today FFS. As for Down losing the final because Ambrose Rodgers  was injured is laughable. Clubs and counties lose players all the time due to injuries all the time. That's what happens.

That was farcical today watching and listening to those games

We only lost the final by a point, he was our captain and was in the form of his life, we got cleaned out in midfield, I dont think it is over the top to suggest he could have made a couple of points difference

[sammymaguire]

What if he had have been injured playing for his county a week before a club county final?? It's the problem for all senior inter county players, same as club and country in the soccer.

I still think the VAST majority of gaelic players throughout the country would much prefer to compress things a bit With regards to playing dates and not have to tog out for competitive games ( at any level ) in wind and rain in freezing temperatures in front of small crowds.

Something for Congress to talk about in Croke Park or wherever the big wigs sit and talk about this kind of thing which is fairly momentous in harsher economic times for everyone.

[Gabriel_Hurl]

I seem to remember the Derry Final in 1993 being played on Boxing/St. Stephens Day

[Hoof Hearted]

I seem to remember the Derry Final in 1993 being played on Boxing/St. Stephens Day

aye, but there was an excuse then, no excuse in 94 !!

[mannix]

I dunno, it's hard for amateurs to make two of themselves. The club finals should be played in the summer and the provincial played by mid October at the latest, then play the semi and final out in a two week period in march or April.
30 players each  from Dublin and Kerry were involved in the senior final last month, tough luck if your star player is on county duty, take the hit for the sake of all club football.
St pats day should not be written in stone as final day, just look at weather patterns and work around it.

[haranguerer]

I could see all/most big winter games being played on 4g or whatever the equivalent is in a few years, and it'd be great to see. Gaelic is a completely different game in the winter compared to the summer, and not in a good way.

[sammymaguire]

Maybe we need to get a campaign going on here; we can draw up our own schedule of GAA fixtures, competitions and events online; ALL SUGGESTIONS WELCOME. I am basing this mainly on football, so hurling folk any comments welcome.

I'll get a new thread done up now... starting with this:

DEC/JAN - NO GAA playing competitions FEB - Training commences for club players.

Inter-County
mid FEB-APRIL - NATIONAL LEAGUES (Dr McKenna, O'Byrne Cup, etc being run in Jan is ridiculous, these comps should be used to blood new players in the county jersey, only lads who have not played a full senior championship match should be eligible so it could also begin in March). This gives most players a break until April when Leagues and National Leagues begin.
MAY-SEPT - CHAMPIONSHIP (I see no major reason why this needs to be tweaked as gaelic games is a summer sport, this should remain the same and the breaks between games should give players a chance to focus on their club games as long as the county boards are told to run their own comps rigidly and not be dicated by the activities of the 30 or so lads playing county games)

Club
MAR - All-Ireland finals should be seen as the beginning of the new club season on St Paddy's Day.
APRIL- JUNE (All leagues should be half completed at this stage)
JULY-AUG (Championships should begin 1st week of July in EVERY county, running in conjunction with leagues, which should mean that league should be fully complete by end AUG including league final)
SEPT - latter stages of Championships can be dedicated to Sept, with all club finals over the weekend or two after the All-Ireland
OCT-NOV - running of the provincial club games at all levels, completed mid Nov at latest.

This means we are getting most of the football played by 80% of gaelic players during April-Aug/Sept, so 4-5 months of football, with only the smaller echelons of the successful elite playing during the Autumn and then back in the spring time, kicking off the new season.

Are these drastic? I dont think so and the demands of the modern gaelic players are ten fold, with clubs, counties, schools, colleges etc, I think there needs to be some action taken to reduce the number of games.

Dont get me wrong, there are gonna be some flaws in this, its just something that I thought about since this thread popped up and seeing the pictures on TV of committed GAA players battling through the mud, wind and rain in pursuit of titles, glory and history... something is badly wrong imo

[Croí na hÉireann]

The Westmeath SFC replay was played in monsoon like conditions in Mullingar yesterday. For the weather it was actually a very good quality match. Dessie Dolan was on Midlands 103 after the match saying that he had being playing football in Cusack Park since 98 and that's easily the worst he has ever seen it. I wouldn't mind but Westmeath were bundled out of the qualifiers in the first round in July, finishing the championship on the 23rd of October is a bit of a joke. It probably suits Garrycastle though as they're not out in Leinster for another 3 weeks.

[Canalman]

Very simple to regulate imo. Edict from Congress to say ALL  county championships to be completed by 1st October of the year. Insurance cover for county championship games to cease on that date. Unfinished championships to be declared void. Would concentrate minds.

Don't think the will is there to do it though.

[Bingo]

Its madness alright, every year more and more games been played at this time of year.

The problems as i see it:
The length of the intercounty championship - far too long for the number of games to be played, particularly at provincial level.
County managers dictating to county boards of when they need matches called off, players been pulled between club and county, training camps/weekends ruling out any club fixtures.
County boards using club championship formats to generate income - round robin fixtures, back doors etc.

All of the above play their part and all will argue their own corner and rightly so at times. Its before time some sort of task force or whatever it maybe respesenting all the parties were put in a room and told to take a look at it, not an overnight job by any means.

[seafoid]

The solution has to involve the inter-county championships as well.

Suggestion (which is along the lines of one made a decade ago by a Gaa committee):
Two 10 team conferences (Ulster/Connacht & Leinster/Munster) all play all over say 10 weeks (say 5 weeks one week break 4 weeks). The tables are used to qualify for the four provincial finals and then AI-semis and a final. The other teams play in a division two with promotion/demotion.

The 10 weeks would have no club fixtures and could be run over by may, june and be over by mid-july. Then the clubs could start (they could also play before May) and all but 8 counties would have the rest of july, aug and sept for the clubs. After the provincial finals at say the end of july, the semis could be mid aug and final early or mid sept. Even the teams involved in the latter stages could get club games played in august and sept.

The benefit would be a county teams guaranteed a minimum of 9 games a season. Provincial rivalries and titles retained. Proper demarkation of club and county seasons.

Galway get knocked out of the senior intercounty early every year but the county final is played mid November regardless.
It wouldn't be the same to play the CF in September. If there was a decent pitch there wouldn't be scope for as much timber.
Maybe if the all- Ireland was played in later November we could win it
  .

[seafoid]

I don't know. Maybe a situation where the GAA relaxes their fortnight-before-county-games situation to fre up the time. Or else, all counties go straight knock-out, or else bring back the straight knock-out to the county championships. To be fair, that's the only way I can see the games being played in better weather.

Or else play matches midweek or have a no draws policy so play extra time if there's a draw in a sudden death match.