National Forum

Spare a thought for the Mayo Club Championship

(Oldest Posts First) - Go To The Latest Post


Is it ever going to get played?

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4219 - 19/09/2016 11:47:54    1916141

Link

Replying To Whammo86:  "Is it ever going to get played?"
If they win the all Ireland there wont be a game played in Mayo until at least 2018 with all the celebrations.

waynoI (Dublin) - Posts: 13650 - 19/09/2016 12:09:01    1916160

Link

The Mayo champions are due to play their first game in the Connacht senior championship on October 30th. It looks almost certain they will not have the championship completed in Mayo by then and so will not have a representative take part. If club players end up being denied the chance of an All-Ireland because the intercounty players wanted 4 weeks rest then talk of strike action is likely to grow.

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 19/09/2016 12:20:42    1916175

Link

Replying To waynoI:  "If they win the all Ireland there wont be a game played in Mayo until at least 2018 with all the celebrations."
2030 if you go by their website - has round of league fixtures down for 1st Jan 2030

Offside_Rule (Antrim) - Posts: 4058 - 19/09/2016 12:31:57    1916193

Link

Replying To Soma:  "The Mayo champions are due to play their first game in the Connacht senior championship on October 30th. It looks almost certain they will not have the championship completed in Mayo by then and so will not have a representative take part. If club players end up being denied the chance of an All-Ireland because the intercounty players wanted 4 weeks rest then talk of strike action is likely to grow."
It happened in Donegal in 2012 aswell. If memory serves me correctly, the senior championship was played off in 5 weeks with teams playing 3 games in a week to complete the group stages. Madness.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9133 - 19/09/2016 13:14:34    1916238

Link

So looking at the Senior Championship in Mayo - they have 4 groups with 4 teams and two games in each group played. Presume that there is only 1 more game left in the Group Stage and then does it go to 1/4 Final (top 2 from each group getting through?). If so you are looking at 4 rounds of games still to be played and assuming there will be none played before the 1st October then you are leaving from the 2nd October to the 29th October to get the 4 rounds played to allow a representative to go forward for the match on the 30th October in Connacht. And that's not allowing for any replays or postponements due to deaths, weather etc. Few big decisions for the CCCCCCCC in Mayo.

A wee trip over to the Dublin website and they are at the last 16 stage of the Senior Championship so also 4 rounds of games to get through before you have a winner to go on to Leinster but there is a bit more leeway here as the first round for the Dublin championship is on the 13th November. Still only leaves 5 weeks to get 4 rounds in to then allow a week until Leinster though a lot more manageable (while not exactly ideal) - provided you don't have replays etc.

Offside_Rule (Antrim) - Posts: 4058 - 19/09/2016 13:35:28    1916260

Link

Logic would suggest to delay the connacht club championship by 2 weeks...

gotmilk (Fermanagh) - Posts: 4971 - 19/09/2016 14:24:03    1916314

Link

Once the All Ireland finishes, the county board dont give a sh!t about the county players, they'll be playing 3 times a week to make sure the championship is run off. Its happening in Tipp as we speak.
Some Tipp players had to play the Wednesday after the All Ireland final.

Joe_Bloggs (Tipperary) - Posts: 186 - 19/09/2016 14:43:08    1916331

Link

Replying To gotmilk:  "Logic would suggest to delay the connacht club championship by 2 weeks..."
Logic would also dictate that the AI final should be played earlier but we saw what happened at congress last year when that was up for vote.

Part of me also think that they Connacht club championship shouldn't be pushed back. It's Mayo's fault they didn't fit in a round of games between the semi-final and final, they'd 4 weeks to do so, there should be a downside for not doing so.

I think all this does just highlight how the GAA has to get their calendar in order, the current system is failing.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4219 - 19/09/2016 14:47:12    1916333

Link

Replying To Whammo86:  "Logic would also dictate that the AI final should be played earlier but we saw what happened at congress last year when that was up for vote.

Part of me also think that they Connacht club championship shouldn't be pushed back. It's Mayo's fault they didn't fit in a round of games between the semi-final and final, they'd 4 weeks to do so, there should be a downside for not doing so.

I think all this does just highlight how the GAA has to get their calendar in order, the current system is failing."
I agree with what you have said but it is what it is at the minute. Connacht championship will probably be finished in november and there wont be a game until February then for the club sides. Push it back by two weeks and everything is ok.

gotmilk (Fermanagh) - Posts: 4971 - 19/09/2016 15:34:41    1916373

Link

Think we have to follow lead of other sports and finals need to be settled on the day . Really feel sorry for the club players and their managements. In Mayo they have to reset expectations and plans for a third time, very hard to do.

facethepuckout (Roscommon) - Posts: 214 - 19/09/2016 20:35:15    1916592

Link

Replying To gotmilk:  "I agree with what you have said but it is what it is at the minute. Connacht championship will probably be finished in november and there wont be a game until February then for the club sides. Push it back by two weeks and everything is ok."
Ya thats the right thing to do, disrupt clubs in other counties now too.

Joe_Bloggs (Tipperary) - Posts: 186 - 20/09/2016 09:49:29    1916768

Link

Replying To Joe_Bloggs:  "Ya thats the right thing to do, disrupt clubs in other counties now too."
Spot on - don't see why other Counties should also be affected. It's bad enough for the club player in Mayo that their Championship is put on hold then probably rushed through in a few weeks without causing disruption to other Counties too.

Counties like our own haven't had this problem around Championships as we aren't at the business end of the All County season but I often wonder how do counties (like Mayo, Dublin etc) who do tend to still be involved at the end Aug/in to September on a regular basis not plan their Club Championships a bit better and start them earlier in the year - having first set of rounds earlier in the season or in situations where you are playing Groups have the early stages out of the way so that come All Ireland series time you only have a round or couple of rounds left. It's just when you have the Club Provincials with set dates (normally Oct/Nov) it's not fair (in my opinion) to be in a situation where you are playing maybe a couple of games in a week over a few weeks to get the County champions sorted but then find yourself (as County champions) with only a week at most to get yourself prepared for the first round of the Provincial.

To me it seems more and more the GAA at County level is focused on one thing and one thing only, with the clubs being pretty much an after thought. You see clubs being left without their players for a good part of the season or being told not to play in club games by County Management - it's as if they are club players in name only and they are really property of the County. This is unfair on both the player who is on the County panel and also on the club - and even more unfair if you happen to have a club with a number of representatives on the panel as it could have a big bearing on the clubs season.

Offside_Rule (Antrim) - Posts: 4058 - 20/09/2016 10:25:52    1916784

Link

Next year if the proposals are accepted, counties will have two more games to deal with. How will that affect clubs?

Cork will fall back into an AI quarter final one of these years and will end up playing three matches (in empty stadia I should add) at this stage before bowing out. Nobody will benefit from that, least of all the clubs.

The GAA is a long way from sorting its calendar. If anything it is getting worse.

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 20/09/2016 15:15:09    1916976

Link

Its time that clubs through their county boards made the decisive step of curbing the power of the manager and adopt a totally perspective - get games played earlier and that may include early championship club games before the first and after the second rounds of the Connacht championship or Leinster etc...
We need to grow up! The club player needs to have his matches - the county player also wants to play with his club and this can be facilitated if clubs stand together and follow what they know to be right - play matches much earlier and championships can then be finished much earlier.

Club
players have been sacrificed at the expense of county teams and that is wrong. The two can be played together - if there is a will there is a way!

carlowman (Carlow) - Posts: 1821 - 20/09/2016 17:51:03    1917060

Link

Replying To Joe_Bloggs:  "Ya thats the right thing to do, disrupt clubs in other counties now too."
But you aren't.

gotmilk (Fermanagh) - Posts: 4971 - 20/09/2016 18:14:54    1917075

Link

Replying To Offside_Rule:  "Spot on - don't see why other Counties should also be affected. It's bad enough for the club player in Mayo that their Championship is put on hold then probably rushed through in a few weeks without causing disruption to other Counties too.

Counties like our own haven't had this problem around Championships as we aren't at the business end of the All County season but I often wonder how do counties (like Mayo, Dublin etc) who do tend to still be involved at the end Aug/in to September on a regular basis not plan their Club Championships a bit better and start them earlier in the year - having first set of rounds earlier in the season or in situations where you are playing Groups have the early stages out of the way so that come All Ireland series time you only have a round or couple of rounds left. It's just when you have the Club Provincials with set dates (normally Oct/Nov) it's not fair (in my opinion) to be in a situation where you are playing maybe a couple of games in a week over a few weeks to get the County champions sorted but then find yourself (as County champions) with only a week at most to get yourself prepared for the first round of the Provincial.

To me it seems more and more the GAA at County level is focused on one thing and one thing only, with the clubs being pretty much an after thought. You see clubs being left without their players for a good part of the season or being told not to play in club games by County Management - it's as if they are club players in name only and they are really property of the County. This is unfair on both the player who is on the County panel and also on the club - and even more unfair if you happen to have a club with a number of representatives on the panel as it could have a big bearing on the clubs season."
The last few years mayo have played the last round of group fixtures in the club championship the week after the the connacht final. That meant there were just 3 knockout rounds left after the county team were knocked out.

It's just unfortunate this year between going through the qualifiers, getting all the way to the final and now a replay. There haven't been enough spare weeks.

MayoDan (Mayo) - Posts: 420 - 20/09/2016 19:34:57    1917101

Link

Replying To gotmilk:  "But you aren't."
No, you are: players who are reasonably expecting that their next club championship game will be on, say, October 15 would now have to have it on October 29 when maybe they had other plans. Subsequent rounds would also be put back, and all because a county couldn't get their championship sorted out on time.

Tacaí Liatroma (Leitrim) - Posts: 1029 - 20/09/2016 20:01:13    1917108

Link

The simple solution (probably) is that each county identify when they can expect to have a 4-week break or longer between championship games, and then stick a round of championship games the weekend after the county's championship game. Mightn't have worked this year though for Dublin or Mayo, unless they were to start their championships before the county teams kick into action.

The other solution is that each county have a backup plan in the form of a knockout championship that they can swap in in place of the original format. And for sporting integrity, say if A vs B is the first game of the group stage, then A vs B would play in the knockout round instead. Otherwise you'd have clubs wanting to swap formats in order to get a more favourable draw.

(Option 3: b**tz)

Tacaí Liatroma (Leitrim) - Posts: 1029 - 20/09/2016 20:42:43    1917138

Link

Mayo should nominate a club team from each grade to represent the county in the proverbial championship. I would allow the final group of club games to go ahead and draw the county representatives from the 3rd place finishers in each group as their year is generally over at that stage. This will not affect the integrity of the senior and intermediate county title and give our club footballers a chance to not be rushing the county championship and give it the respect it deserves . It's a once off but it's an option that may work. Not fair to hold up the other county's champion's champions games due to our inter county teams success.

lobbitin (Mayo) - Posts: 20 - 20/09/2016 20:52:04    1917148

Link