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Fixtures Opportunity - Coronavirus

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Replying To Soma:  "You doing away with the junior and intermediate club All-Irelands? They are probably the best change made to the GAA this century."
No not doing away with junior intermediate All Ireland. They get their day out in Croke Park in july /August bank holiday weekend .

Ben (None) - Posts: 101 - 30/04/2020 21:52:10    2277154

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Replying To wishfulthinkin:  "you must live in a magical county where the weather is fantastic. You reckon club hurling games can be played on club pitches in February...Football games are regularly called off in April cause of bad weather. when are you going to replay all the football and hurling games that you had scheduled for February and most of Marches games also when they are cancelled?"
One more thing , if the current way continues and the gaa move to play club all Ireland in December, counties will have to find time to play games and a provincial club championship regardless of weather !

Ben (None) - Posts: 101 - 30/04/2020 21:57:37    2277155

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Replying To Ben:  "No not doing away with junior intermediate All Ireland. They get their day out in Croke Park in july /August bank holiday weekend ."
Great, but that means you will have 6 clubs from some counties playing provincial games, not 1 as you suggested earlier. Presumably no club league games could be fixed during June & July as you wouldn't know what clubs are available to play? Tricky enough this fixture arranging!

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 30/04/2020 22:02:21    2277156

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Replying To Ben:  "No , this years April was decent and last years was very good too .last years all Ireland hurling final was played in a downpour in August.

What's the difference playing club league in February and championship in November? Counties can play their club league in summer if they want but it will be without county players.

What my posts have proved that if you try something new in the gaa there's always people to shoot it down .

Maybe go with the status quo where counties are gone in championship by June and we have club games in October and November and very little games played all summer. There will be as much club games played this year in June and July than last year ."
What your posts actually prove is there is no easy solution. People are raising genuine questions, as would be the case with any proposed plan.
While we all accept that sorting the fixture calendar is one of the most fundamental issues within the GAA, it's not a straightforward fix.

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2034 - 30/04/2020 22:33:32    2277158

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Replying To WanPintWin:  "What your posts actually prove is there is no easy solution. People are raising genuine questions, as would be the case with any proposed plan.
While we all accept that sorting the fixture calendar is one of the most fundamental issues within the GAA, it's not a straightforward fix."
Agree 100%

Ben (None) - Posts: 101 - 30/04/2020 23:42:34    2277164

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Replying To Soma:  "Great, but that means you will have 6 clubs from some counties playing provincial games, not 1 as you suggested earlier. Presumably no club league games could be fixed during June & July as you wouldn't know what clubs are available to play? Tricky enough this fixture arranging!"
It's actually borderline impossible.

Take a club season.

You pretty much need a minimum of 12 weekends for club competitions within a duel county. 6 for each code.

You then also need a minimum of 11 weekends for provincial and All Ireland club competitions. That's 23 weeks for club activity. That's without allowing for county players to play club league.

If you've a 9 week closed season you're done to 20 weeks to play intercounty.

An intercounty football season with current structures is a minimum of 8 weekends for league. At least 6 weekends for provincial championships and qualifiers. 5 weekends for Super 8s and All Ireland semifinals.

You've 1 free weekend and we haven't yet tried to consider mid season rest weekends.

The reason there's no right answer is that the suns don't add up and the GAA have failed to accept that fact.

I'd say it's an unpopular opinion but I think there should be no Provincial or All Ireland club championship.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4207 - 01/05/2020 00:50:43    2277166

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I don't get the point about player burn-out.

How does it help making players available to play more games for their club?

They just end up playing more games.

If burn-out's a problem you need a rule saying players can't play more than, say, 25 games a year.

Before anybody jumps down my throat, I'm not advocating that, just making the point.

lionofludesch (Down) - Posts: 475 - 01/05/2020 10:06:08    2277175

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Replying To Whammo86:  "It's actually borderline impossible.

Take a club season.

You pretty much need a minimum of 12 weekends for club competitions within a duel county. 6 for each code.

You then also need a minimum of 11 weekends for provincial and All Ireland club competitions. That's 23 weeks for club activity. That's without allowing for county players to play club league.

If you've a 9 week closed season you're done to 20 weeks to play intercounty.

An intercounty football season with current structures is a minimum of 8 weekends for league. At least 6 weekends for provincial championships and qualifiers. 5 weekends for Super 8s and All Ireland semifinals.

You've 1 free weekend and we haven't yet tried to consider mid season rest weekends.

The reason there's no right answer is that the suns don't add up and the GAA have failed to accept that fact.

I'd say it's an unpopular opinion but I think there should be no Provincial or All Ireland club championship."
The problem is fairly easily identified - in the GAA you can have some players playing for 6 different teams and some playing for just 1 team. All of them have to get the right amount of games and the lad that plays on 6 different teams shouldn't have to miss a game with any of his teams. If you can solve that you are a miracle worker.

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 01/05/2020 10:42:49    2277179

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Replying To lionofludesch:  "I don't get the point about player burn-out.

How does it help making players available to play more games for their club?

They just end up playing more games.

If burn-out's a problem you need a rule saying players can't play more than, say, 25 games a year.

Before anybody jumps down my throat, I'm not advocating that, just making the point."
Number of games being played isnt near reason players are burned out it's how much training they are doing on top of the games. Some players are expected to be training for each individual team as if they are not also on multiple other teams like some of their team mates.
Change how people are training or expected to train.
Like how do you limit number of games per year. What games get precedence?

KillingFields (Limerick) - Posts: 3495 - 01/05/2020 10:49:40    2277180

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Replying To Whammo86:  "It's actually borderline impossible.

Take a club season.

You pretty much need a minimum of 12 weekends for club competitions within a duel county. 6 for each code.

You then also need a minimum of 11 weekends for provincial and All Ireland club competitions. That's 23 weeks for club activity. That's without allowing for county players to play club league.

If you've a 9 week closed season you're done to 20 weeks to play intercounty.

An intercounty football season with current structures is a minimum of 8 weekends for league. At least 6 weekends for provincial championships and qualifiers. 5 weekends for Super 8s and All Ireland semifinals.

You've 1 free weekend and we haven't yet tried to consider mid season rest weekends.

The reason there's no right answer is that the suns don't add up and the GAA have failed to accept that fact.

I'd say it's an unpopular opinion but I think there should be no Provincial or All Ireland club championship."
I agree that something has to give. Can't agree about getting rid of the Club provincial and All-Ireland series' however. A huge number of clubs in the country can have aspirations of representing their county and potentially playing in Croke Park as a result. They have also provided some of the greatest GAA stories in the last few decades.
Your own county has All Irelands in both codes as a result of these competitions, something unthinkable at intercounty level for the last couple of decades.
An amalgamation of the intercounty league and championship would be my preference. This would also serve to remove the imbalance of the provincial structures.

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2034 - 01/05/2020 10:55:16    2277185

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Replying To lionofludesch:  "I don't get the point about player burn-out.

How does it help making players available to play more games for their club?

They just end up playing more games.

If burn-out's a problem you need a rule saying players can't play more than, say, 25 games a year.

Before anybody jumps down my throat, I'm not advocating that, just making the point."
Burnout is the ratio of training to games, not the amount of games a person plays. You want to play as many games as you can. No -one gets involved to train its all about the game!

Ben (None) - Posts: 101 - 01/05/2020 12:34:39    2277193

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Replying To WanPintWin:  "I agree that something has to give. Can't agree about getting rid of the Club provincial and All-Ireland series' however. A huge number of clubs in the country can have aspirations of representing their county and potentially playing in Croke Park as a result. They have also provided some of the greatest GAA stories in the last few decades.
Your own county has All Irelands in both codes as a result of these competitions, something unthinkable at intercounty level for the last couple of decades.
An amalgamation of the intercounty league and championship would be my preference. This would also serve to remove the imbalance of the provincial structures."
Yeah that's absolutely all fair.

It's a hell of a tough problem to get a solution too and affects different counties and provinces differently making it tricky to find a 1 size fits all solution.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4207 - 01/05/2020 12:39:04    2277196

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Replying To KillingFields:  "
Replying To lionofludesch:  "I don't get the point about player burn-out.

How does it help making players available to play more games for their club?

They just end up playing more games.

If burn-out's a problem you need a rule saying players can't play more than, say, 25 games a year.

Before anybody jumps down my throat, I'm not advocating that, just making the point."
Number of games being played isnt near reason players are burned out it's how much training they are doing on top of the games. Some players are expected to be training for each individual team as if they are not also on multiple other teams like some of their team mates.
Change how people are training or expected to train.
Like how do you limit number of games per year. What games get precedence?"
How about limit the number of teams/age grades a player can play on

Breezy (Limerick) - Posts: 1236 - 01/05/2020 12:39:11    2277197

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Replying To Breezy:  "
Replying To KillingFields:  "[quote=lionofludesch:  "I don't get the point about player burn-out.

How does it help making players available to play more games for their club?

They just end up playing more games.

If burn-out's a problem you need a rule saying players can't play more than, say, 25 games a year.

Before anybody jumps down my throat, I'm not advocating that, just making the point."
Number of games being played isnt near reason players are burned out it's how much training they are doing on top of the games. Some players are expected to be training for each individual team as if they are not also on multiple other teams like some of their team mates.
Change how people are training or expected to train.
Like how do you limit number of games per year. What games get precedence?"
How about limit the number of teams/age grades a player can play on"]The truth is that you shouldn't need a rule.

The management should see to it voluntarily.

Or else the player needs to say "no" occasionally.

lionofludesch (Down) - Posts: 475 - 01/05/2020 14:28:32    2277206

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The trying to get break weekends in is a real problem with the fixtures planning.

It's the big problem with splitting the season off into intercounty blocks and club blocks.

It's just not really practical to run off say a 15 round intercounty season week in week out.

I think whatever solution does come about will need to see county action with the club break weekends intermingled into the season.

The county player gets some breaks to play at a lower intensity level and gets a break out of the pressure of county training.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4207 - 02/05/2020 10:16:47    2277268

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Could something along the following lines work

February/March All Ireland club competitions from previous season

Calendar week 14: Intercounty 1
Week 15: Intercounty 2
Week 16: Club football 1
Week 17: Club hurling 1
Week 18: Intercounty 3
Week 19: Intercounty 4
Week 20: Club football 2
Week 21: Club hurling 2
Week 22: intercounty 5
Week 23: intercounty 6
Week 24: intercounty 7
Week 25: club football 3
Week 26: club hurling 3
Week 27: (start of July) intercounty 8
Week 28: intercounty 9
Week 29: intercounty 10
Week 30: club football 4
Week 31: club hurling 4
Week 32: intercounty 11
Week 33: intercounty 12
Week 34: fully break week
Week 35: intercounty 13
Week 36: intercounty 14
Week 37: intercounty 15
Week 38: All Ireland hurling final
Week 39: All Ireland football final
Week 40: (start of October) latest that counties get back to finish off club competitions

County championships start back once the county teams are eliminated.

Club league competitions get played during intercounty weeks.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4207 - 02/05/2020 10:41:18    2277273

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