The reasons why county seasons historically took so long:
1. It allowed club fixtures to be played between county games.
2. With a straight knockout system, 2/3rds of all players were back with their clubs by mid June full time.
3. Staggering them at one per weekend allowed spectators to watch all games in a province.
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Problem being that because no.2 changed with the back door, the arse fell out of no.1 (managers wanted to keep players intact before qualifiers, during qualifiers etc), and also fell out of no.3 (provincials don’t have the same resonance without an all-at-stake undercurrent).
It’s taken top brass some 20 years to realise they don’t need all this time any more; heads filled with romantic nonsense like “3rd Sunday in September” and absolute horseshit from paid-by-the-week county managers demanding lengthy breaks between games, and crying furiously at the the thoughts of an end-on-the-same-day policy.
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The solution isn’t overly complicated from here.
County championships begin immediately after the league final, with provincials run off in 4 weeks, qualifiers in 3 weeks, super 8 and semis in 4 weeks. AI final played in second week of July.
Meanwhile, club leagues start in April and only really pick up intensity (games per week) in the longer nights of June, which in 24+ counties should see a full squad of players available from the start of June, and in 30 counties, from the end of June.
Club Championships are August and September. Provincial clubs October. All Ireland clubs November.
Sigerson is also played in November. You can’t Sigerson if you’re in an AI club semi, but apart from that you can concentrate on it.
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All of this is dependent on clubs playing league fixtures in April and May and some of June without county players.
Once that’s agreed, it makes sense for top brass to compress the inter county season. The same money is made, only quicker. County team costs are more easily managed. The club game wins.
This is surely not a difficult proposition to implement.
But when nonsensical daydreamers like The CPA are around, who claim to represent players but whose stance effectively denies so many of them summer football, it’s going to be tough.
Again, wise the f**k up you ones in the CPA.