National Forum

Attendances 2025

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Replying To WanPintWin:  "The RDS pitch is way too short to host GAA matches, so that's a non-runner. It wouldn't even long enough to have the 65 at half-way."
Rugby pitches are only 100m long and are of no use for GAA matches…

ForeverBlue2 (Cavan) - Posts: 4243 - 28/04/2025 10:17:56    2604893

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Replying To WanPintWin:  "The RDS pitch is way too short to host GAA matches, so that's a non-runner. It wouldn't even long enough to have the 65 at half-way."
Rugby pitches are only 100m long and are of no use for GAA matches…

ForeverBlue2 (Cavan) - Posts: 4243 - 28/04/2025 10:21:55    2604896

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Hurling
12,078 Waterford Clare
42,231 Cork Tipp

10,077 Offaly Galway
7,700 Dublin Wexford

Football
6,670 Louth Kildare

21,288 Armagh Tyrone

Interestingly Kildare v Laois in the league brought 6,950 to Newbridge for a division 3 league match a couple of months back. More than attend a Leinster Semi final. How times have changed!

Really surprised at Armagh v Tyrone, Only 6k more than Cork and Kerry a fixture that has completely fallen away. Armagh AI champions and Tyrone, their arch rivals going in with a real chance of taking them out. Expected that to sell out.

Any one got a figure for Dublin Meath, looked a poor enough crowd, maybe 13 to 15k?

Donegal Down looked small enough too.

dahayeser (Cork) - Posts: 386 - 28/04/2025 10:40:40    2604903

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Replying To ForeverBlue2:  "Rugby pitches are only 100m long and are of no use for GAA matches…"
Correct. If they're purpose built for rugby or soccer, they're going to be way too short for any Gaelic Games apart from from some underage matches.
It's something that's constantly glossed over in the discussion about shares facilities between the major sporting codes in this country. It only works one way, a GAA pitch being used for rugby or soccer, and even then you'll have massive spaces behind each goal.

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2661 - 28/04/2025 11:07:59    2604917

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Replying To dahayeser:  "Hurling
12,078 Waterford Clare
42,231 Cork Tipp

10,077 Offaly Galway
7,700 Dublin Wexford

Football
6,670 Louth Kildare

21,288 Armagh Tyrone

Interestingly Kildare v Laois in the league brought 6,950 to Newbridge for a division 3 league match a couple of months back. More than attend a Leinster Semi final. How times have changed!

Really surprised at Armagh v Tyrone, Only 6k more than Cork and Kerry a fixture that has completely fallen away. Armagh AI champions and Tyrone, their arch rivals going in with a real chance of taking them out. Expected that to sell out.

Any one got a figure for Dublin Meath, looked a poor enough crowd, maybe 13 to 15k?

Donegal Down looked small enough too."
10,261

Seanfanbocht (Roscommon) - Posts: 2558 - 28/04/2025 11:17:38    2604925

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Replying To brianb:  "
Replying To Pikeman96:  "<b>@brianb</b> - But that would lead to discrepancies and unfairness in how the "club weeks" are used in different counties. Say Tyrone are to play Dublin in an All-Ireland Football semi-final in August. Tyrone wouldn't need to use the "club weeks" in July for their club championship. They could continue to run their Club League, without the inter-county players involved, such that the county squad could continue to train 100% together in preparation for their semi-final. Dublin, on the other hand, would need those "club weeks" for their club championship. Their county squad wouldn't be able to train together at all."</div>That's the exact trade off to decide on. What's stopping a Dublin player playing a club game the weekend before a county game? The usual argument is a player might get injured - the same player could get injured in training. It might even help a county management team seeing players in competitive action. Instead we've traded summer football for the split season. I don't think that's a better trade off. I see Inter county games as representative games rather than a separate team game. Build the rules around that as a sentiment rather that almost treating them as separate sports."
When the All Ireland series started, counties were represented by their county champions. It then became a representative game (as you see it). Most counties had the county champions appoint the captain and one selector.
The other selectors were appointed by the county board.
Clubs played all summer and the selectors watched the matches -
When the provincial championship started, the selectors picked the team based on club form.

All was ok until the 60's when teams started to train together more regularly and then the advent of the intercounty manager in the 1970's really split the county team from the club teams.
Once the qualifier system arrived, managers started demanding more and more club players time and club matches were getting constantly cancelled to keep the county manager happy.

This ultimately led to the split season.

The split season still doesn't work as the competitions aren't set up to finish the season in one season - with the All Ireland Club running into the following year.

There is no appetite to go back to representative football, but there is an appetite to have a fixed, workable structure for the intecounty teams.

tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1647 - 28/04/2025 11:36:34    2604939

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Replying To dahayeser:  "Hurling
12,078 Waterford Clare
42,231 Cork Tipp

10,077 Offaly Galway
7,700 Dublin Wexford

Football
6,670 Louth Kildare

21,288 Armagh Tyrone

Interestingly Kildare v Laois in the league brought 6,950 to Newbridge for a division 3 league match a couple of months back. More than attend a Leinster Semi final. How times have changed!

Really surprised at Armagh v Tyrone, Only 6k more than Cork and Kerry a fixture that has completely fallen away. Armagh AI champions and Tyrone, their arch rivals going in with a real chance of taking them out. Expected that to sell out.

Any one got a figure for Dublin Meath, looked a poor enough crowd, maybe 13 to 15k?

Donegal Down looked small enough too."
The condensed season and ticket prices are going to have a detrimental affect on the GAA coffers.

Attendances are overall way down on previous years.

More and more GAA stadia will be hosting concerts etc, I reckon.

Fionn (Dublin) - Posts: 4751 - 28/04/2025 11:39:19    2604941

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Given the best window away, both promotionally and financially (when people have finished with rugby and soccer and have a few dollars for the GAA) to shoehorn in a championship.
Never made sense. Create club weekends throughout the year and let the county managers swing for it.

StoreysTash (Wexford) - Posts: 1941 - 28/04/2025 12:39:10    2604974

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Replying To tirawleybaron:  "
Replying To brianb:  "[quote=Pikeman96:  "<b>@brianb</b> - But that would lead to discrepancies and unfairness in how the "club weeks" are used in different counties. Say Tyrone are to play Dublin in an All-Ireland Football semi-final in August. Tyrone wouldn't need to use the "club weeks" in July for their club championship. They could continue to run their Club League, without the inter-county players involved, such that the county squad could continue to train 100% together in preparation for their semi-final. Dublin, on the other hand, would need those "club weeks" for their club championship. Their county squad wouldn't be able to train together at all."</div>That's the exact trade off to decide on. What's stopping a Dublin player playing a club game the weekend before a county game? The usual argument is a player might get injured - the same player could get injured in training. It might even help a county management team seeing players in competitive action. Instead we've traded summer football for the split season. I don't think that's a better trade off. I see Inter county games as representative games rather than a separate team game. Build the rules around that as a sentiment rather that almost treating them as separate sports."
When the All Ireland series started, counties were represented by their county champions. It then became a representative game (as you see it). Most counties had the county champions appoint the captain and one selector.
The other selectors were appointed by the county board.
Clubs played all summer and the selectors watched the matches -
When the provincial championship started, the selectors picked the team based on club form.

All was ok until the 60's when teams started to train together more regularly and then the advent of the intercounty manager in the 1970's really split the county team from the club teams.
Once the qualifier system arrived, managers started demanding more and more club players time and club matches were getting constantly cancelled to keep the county manager happy.

This ultimately led to the split season.

The split season still doesn't work as the competitions aren't set up to finish the season in one season - with the All Ireland Club running into the following year.

There is no appetite to go back to representative football, but there is an appetite to have a fixed, workable structure for the intecounty teams."]@tirawleybaron

It is a representative game though. Otherwise the county players wouldn't play with their club once "called up to the big league". Every match program has the players club named. I think of it as a club player playing with the county.

To my mind the split season falls down due to the time taken to play the all Ireland club championships as well as the All Ireland series at intercounty level. When these games are happening nothing else is happening in the game.

In July this year only 4 football teams and 4 hurling teams will be still in the championship. That's a big gap in the calendar for all but the 240 squad members of those 8 teams.

Likewise - only County Champions go forward to the provincial and all Ireland series. These take months to play through with a small subset of players involved.

We want to fit about 8 months of club and 8 months of county games into 12 months. It won't go without some kind of compromise. The split season is a compromise - a better compromise can be reached. I think there's certainly an appetite for that.

Move the all Ireland finals at least towards the end of August. We can start the club championships before the all Ireland finals - give a provincial semi final bye to the county champions of all Ireland finalists and we'll have found a way to get an extra month or two of action in the year.

brianb (Kildare) - Posts: 484 - 28/04/2025 13:53:22    2605008

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Replying To brianb:  "
Replying To Pikeman96:  "<b>@brianb</b> - But that would lead to discrepancies and unfairness in how the "club weeks" are used in different counties. Say Tyrone are to play Dublin in an All-Ireland Football semi-final in August. Tyrone wouldn't need to use the "club weeks" in July for their club championship. They could continue to run their Club League, without the inter-county players involved, such that the county squad could continue to train 100% together in preparation for their semi-final. Dublin, on the other hand, would need those "club weeks" for their club championship. Their county squad wouldn't be able to train together at all."</div>That's the exact trade off to decide on. What's stopping a Dublin player playing a club game the weekend before a county game? The usual argument is a player might get injured - the same player could get injured in training. It might even help a county management team seeing players in competitive action. Instead we've traded summer football for the split season. I don't think that's a better trade off. I see Inter county games as representative games rather than a separate team game. Build the rules around that as a sentiment rather that almost treating them as separate sports."
But I wasn't suggesting that Dublin inter-county players couldn't play a club championship match the week before an inter-county match. In fact, the post was based on the assumption that under your system, they would be.

It was pointing out how this would lead to the discrepancy where the Tyrone (for example) county squad could continue to train together on those "club weekends" since they wouldn't need those weekends to run their club championship, while the Dublin (or whoever) county squad wouldn't be able to train together because the players would be off with their clubs instead.

And that would surely be handing Tyrone an unfair advantage.

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3310 - 28/04/2025 14:09:30    2605020

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Only 9,221 in Clones for the Down v Donegal semi.

Very poor crowd though totally expected as Donegal supporters in Clones 3 out of 4 weeks, crazy expense for people to maintain

macca999 (Fermanagh) - Posts: 1190 - 28/04/2025 14:30:54    2605033

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Replying To brianb:  "
Replying To tirawleybaron:  "[quote=brianb:  "[quote=Pikeman96:  "<b>@brianb</b> - But that would lead to discrepancies and unfairness in how the "club weeks" are used in different counties. Say Tyrone are to play Dublin in an All-Ireland Football semi-final in August. Tyrone wouldn't need to use the "club weeks" in July for their club championship. They could continue to run their Club League, without the inter-county players involved, such that the county squad could continue to train 100% together in preparation for their semi-final. Dublin, on the other hand, would need those "club weeks" for their club championship. Their county squad wouldn't be able to train together at all."</div>That's the exact trade off to decide on. What's stopping a Dublin player playing a club game the weekend before a county game? The usual argument is a player might get injured - the same player could get injured in training. It might even help a county management team seeing players in competitive action. Instead we've traded summer football for the split season. I don't think that's a better trade off. I see Inter county games as representative games rather than a separate team game. Build the rules around that as a sentiment rather that almost treating them as separate sports."
When the All Ireland series started, counties were represented by their county champions. It then became a representative game (as you see it). Most counties had the county champions appoint the captain and one selector.
The other selectors were appointed by the county board.
Clubs played all summer and the selectors watched the matches -
When the provincial championship started, the selectors picked the team based on club form.

All was ok until the 60's when teams started to train together more regularly and then the advent of the intercounty manager in the 1970's really split the county team from the club teams.
Once the qualifier system arrived, managers started demanding more and more club players time and club matches were getting constantly cancelled to keep the county manager happy.

This ultimately led to the split season.

The split season still doesn't work as the competitions aren't set up to finish the season in one season - with the All Ireland Club running into the following year.

There is no appetite to go back to representative football, but there is an appetite to have a fixed, workable structure for the intecounty teams."]@tirawleybaron

It is a representative game though. Otherwise the county players wouldn't play with their club once "called up to the big league". Every match program has the players club named. I think of it as a club player playing with the county.

To my mind the split season falls down due to the time taken to play the all Ireland club championships as well as the All Ireland series at intercounty level. When these games are happening nothing else is happening in the game.

In July this year only 4 football teams and 4 hurling teams will be still in the championship. That's a big gap in the calendar for all but the 240 squad members of those 8 teams.

Likewise - only County Champions go forward to the provincial and all Ireland series. These take months to play through with a small subset of players involved.

We want to fit about 8 months of club and 8 months of county games into 12 months. It won't go without some kind of compromise. The split season is a compromise - a better compromise can be reached. I think there's certainly an appetite for that.

Move the all Ireland finals at least towards the end of August. We can start the club championships before the all Ireland finals - give a provincial semi final bye to the county champions of all Ireland finalists and we'll have found a way to get an extra month or two of action in the year."]The current logic is
Jan - all ireland club championship
Feb - Intercounty football & hurling leagues
March - Intercounty football & hurling leagues,
April - Intercounty provincial football and hurling championship
May - intercounty all ireland hurling and football
June - intercounty all ireland hurling and football
July - Intercounty All Ireland football and provincial hurling finals
August - Club Hurling football round robins
September - club hurling and football knock out
October - county club championships
November - inter provincial club championships
December - month off.

The intercounty football season can be shortened by a grading system.
Provincial championships A&B in each province.
League groups of 6 teams
All ireland graded into 12,12 and 9
That brings down the no of county game to 9s with a max of 15. - Easy to fit into a 20 week window, with a 4 week preseason

Next years hurling season will be
6 league and 4/5 championship = 11 min and 15 max - will fit into a 20 week window.

Club championships can be reduced to 6 matches max
Provincial club is 2/3/4 rounds
All ireland club is 2/3 rounds

12 weeks for club hurling and 12 for football

You could fix the all Ireland club problem by moving it to the same time as the club championship - if your county champions make the all Ireland series - you give them a bye to the qfinals of your club championship the following year.

Using the above logic
Jan - preseason
Feb - Intercounty football league
March - Intercounty football & hurling leagues,
April - Intercounty provincial football and hurling league,
May - Club championships (county and previous years all ireland)
June - intercounty provincial hurling championship
July - Intercounty All Ireland football and provincial hurling finals
August - intercounty all Ireland football and Hurling
September - All Ireland intercounty finals & club knock out championship start
October - county club championships
November - inter provincial club championships
December - month off.

The intercounty managers didnt like the previous gap for club activity but again, we changed for the needs of the few over the many.
50% of club players would have their club championship over in May and would be free to travel for June, July & August if they so wished.
Instead, the current system prevents them playing for their club if they go to the USA for the summer or prevents them going to the US in the first place.

The rugby six nations appears once a year on the same logic - take the players away from the club for 6-7 weeks and then send them back again. The novelty of that competition makes it so popular. Intercounty sport should be executed in the same way

tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1647 - 28/04/2025 15:03:07    2605054

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Replying To Pikeman96:  "
Replying To brianb:  "[quote=Pikeman96:  "<b>@brianb</b> - But that would lead to discrepancies and unfairness in how the "club weeks" are used in different counties. Say Tyrone are to play Dublin in an All-Ireland Football semi-final in August. Tyrone wouldn't need to use the "club weeks" in July for their club championship. They could continue to run their Club League, without the inter-county players involved, such that the county squad could continue to train 100% together in preparation for their semi-final. Dublin, on the other hand, would need those "club weeks" for their club championship. Their county squad wouldn't be able to train together at all."</div>That's the exact trade off to decide on. What's stopping a Dublin player playing a club game the weekend before a county game? The usual argument is a player might get injured - the same player could get injured in training. It might even help a county management team seeing players in competitive action. Instead we've traded summer football for the split season. I don't think that's a better trade off. I see Inter county games as representative games rather than a separate team game. Build the rules around that as a sentiment rather that almost treating them as separate sports."
But I wasn't suggesting that Dublin inter-county players couldn't play a club championship match the week before an inter-county match. In fact, the post was based on the assumption that under your system, they would be.

It was pointing out how this would lead to the discrepancy where the Tyrone (for example) county squad could continue to train together on those "club weekends" since they wouldn't need those weekends to run their club championship, while the Dublin (or whoever) county squad wouldn't be able to train together because the players would be off with their clubs instead.

And that would surely be handing Tyrone an unfair advantage."]The county manager would think it to be a disadvantage. But would it really be? It's hard to say.

We have the split season because of the county manager and the past willingness of counties to grant every postponment request.

This never needed to be the case. We could instead have a rule that prevents spurious postponements.

brianb (Kildare) - Posts: 484 - 28/04/2025 15:34:43    2605071

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@brianb - I honestly don't see how you can question would it really be a disadvantage for one of the county sides involved.

For argument's sake, let's say County A are to play County B in an All-Ireland Football semi-final on the Sunday of the August Bank Holiday weekend (or even the Sunday after that). The four weekends in July have been designated "Club Weeks".

County A doesn't need those July weeks for club championships. But because they have different club championship structures, County B does need them.

Now, the county squad in County A can continue to meet two or three times a week all during July for training sessions, practice matches, team meetings, video analysis, etc.

The county squad in County B can't do this. How is that not handing County A an advantage?

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3310 - 28/04/2025 15:56:03    2605085

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@tirawleybaron - And yours makes equally little sense to me. You say 50% of club players would be finished with club championships by the end of May as though that would be a good thing.

Your logic is that they would then be free to go travelling for June/July/August if they wanted to. But it's only a small proportion of club players (basically, the students) who'd have this option in the first place. Any family man or anyone with a regular job wouldn't be able to.

So, you'd be changing things just to suit a few, and to the detriment of the many. The very thing you're opposed to in another way!

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3310 - 28/04/2025 15:59:31    2605086

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Replying To Pikeman96:  "@brianb - I honestly don't see how you can question would it really be a disadvantage for one of the county sides involved.

For argument's sake, let's say County A are to play County B in an All-Ireland Football semi-final on the Sunday of the August Bank Holiday weekend (or even the Sunday after that). The four weekends in July have been designated "Club Weeks".

County A doesn't need those July weeks for club championships. But because they have different club championship structures, County B does need them.

Now, the county squad in County A can continue to meet two or three times a week all during July for training sessions, practice matches, team meetings, video analysis, etc.

The county squad in County B can't do this. How is that not handing County A an advantage?"
I suggested alternating weekends rather that months.

County A may have more time for video analysis but County B might be more match fit. There would nothing stopping the county team continuing to train together in the early stages of the club championships.

I feel it's all about getting a good balance of games. The best months for our games are June, July and August. I'm advocating that we play both club and county games in the best conditions. We can split the season but we can't change the seasons.

brianb (Kildare) - Posts: 484 - 28/04/2025 23:03:08    2605182

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Replying To Pikeman96:  "@tirawleybaron - And yours makes equally little sense to me. You say 50% of club players would be finished with club championships by the end of May as though that would be a good thing.

Your logic is that they would then be free to go travelling for June/July/August if they wanted to. But it's only a small proportion of club players (basically, the students) who'd have this option in the first place. Any family man or anyone with a regular job wouldn't be able to.

So, you'd be changing things just to suit a few, and to the detriment of the many. The very thing you're opposed to in another way!"
Biggest attendances the weekend

Cork v Tipperary hurling 42,231 biggest attendance YTD

F Armagh v Tyrone 21,288
H Waterford v Clare 12,078
H Offaly v Galway 10,073
F Donegal v Down 9,221
F Louth v Kildare 8,000
H Dublin v wexford 7,734
H Antrim v Kilkenny 4,000
Circa 114,000 at these 8 matchs

OpenStand (Limerick) - Posts: 765 - 28/04/2025 23:12:04    2605185

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Replying To brianb:  "
Replying To Pikeman96:  "<b>@brianb </b>- I honestly don't see how you can question would it really be a disadvantage for one of the county sides involved. For argument's sake, let's say County A are to play County B in an All-Ireland Football semi-final on the Sunday of the August Bank Holiday weekend (or even the Sunday after that). The four weekends in July have been designated "Club Weeks". County A doesn't need those July weeks for club championships. But because they have different club championship structures, County B does need them. Now, the county squad in County A can continue to meet two or three times a week all during July for training sessions, practice matches, team meetings, video analysis, etc. The county squad in County B can't do this. How is that not handing County A an advantage?"</div>I suggested alternating weekends rather that months. County A may have more time for video analysis but County B might be more match fit. There would nothing stopping the county team continuing to train together in the early stages of the club championships. I feel it's all about getting a good balance of games. The best months for our games are June, July and August. I'm advocating that we play both club and county games in the best conditions. We can split the season but we can't change the seasons."
....and you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

ORIELMAN85 (Monaghan) - Posts: 888 - 29/04/2025 01:15:40    2605202

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Replying To tirawleybaron:  "
Replying To brianb:  "[quote=tirawleybaron:  "[quote=brianb:  "[quote=Pikeman96:  "<b>@brianb</b> - But that would lead to discrepancies and unfairness in how the "club weeks" are used in different counties. Say Tyrone are to play Dublin in an All-Ireland Football semi-final in August. Tyrone wouldn't need to use the "club weeks" in July for their club championship. They could continue to run their Club League, without the inter-county players involved, such that the county squad could continue to train 100% together in preparation for their semi-final. Dublin, on the other hand, would need those "club weeks" for their club championship. Their county squad wouldn't be able to train together at all."</div>That's the exact trade off to decide on. What's stopping a Dublin player playing a club game the weekend before a county game? The usual argument is a player might get injured - the same player could get injured in training. It might even help a county management team seeing players in competitive action. Instead we've traded summer football for the split season. I don't think that's a better trade off. I see Inter county games as representative games rather than a separate team game. Build the rules around that as a sentiment rather that almost treating them as separate sports."
When the All Ireland series started, counties were represented by their county champions. It then became a representative game (as you see it). Most counties had the county champions appoint the captain and one selector.
The other selectors were appointed by the county board.
Clubs played all summer and the selectors watched the matches -
When the provincial championship started, the selectors picked the team based on club form.

All was ok until the 60's when teams started to train together more regularly and then the advent of the intercounty manager in the 1970's really split the county team from the club teams.
Once the qualifier system arrived, managers started demanding more and more club players time and club matches were getting constantly cancelled to keep the county manager happy.

This ultimately led to the split season.

The split season still doesn't work as the competitions aren't set up to finish the season in one season - with the All Ireland Club running into the following year.

There is no appetite to go back to representative football, but there is an appetite to have a fixed, workable structure for the intecounty teams."]@tirawleybaron

It is a representative game though. Otherwise the county players wouldn't play with their club once "called up to the big league". Every match program has the players club named. I think of it as a club player playing with the county.

To my mind the split season falls down due to the time taken to play the all Ireland club championships as well as the All Ireland series at intercounty level. When these games are happening nothing else is happening in the game.

In July this year only 4 football teams and 4 hurling teams will be still in the championship. That's a big gap in the calendar for all but the 240 squad members of those 8 teams.

Likewise - only County Champions go forward to the provincial and all Ireland series. These take months to play through with a small subset of players involved.

We want to fit about 8 months of club and 8 months of county games into 12 months. It won't go without some kind of compromise. The split season is a compromise - a better compromise can be reached. I think there's certainly an appetite for that.

Move the all Ireland finals at least towards the end of August. We can start the club championships before the all Ireland finals - give a provincial semi final bye to the county champions of all Ireland finalists and we'll have found a way to get an extra month or two of action in the year."]The current logic is
Jan - all ireland club championship
Feb - Intercounty football & hurling leagues
March - Intercounty football & hurling leagues,
April - Intercounty provincial football and hurling championship
May - intercounty all ireland hurling and football
June - intercounty all ireland hurling and football
July - Intercounty All Ireland football and provincial hurling finals
August - Club Hurling football round robins
September - club hurling and football knock out
October - county club championships
November - inter provincial club championships
December - month off.

The intercounty football season can be shortened by a grading system.
Provincial championships A&B in each province.
League groups of 6 teams
All ireland graded into 12,12 and 9
That brings down the no of county game to 9s with a max of 15. - Easy to fit into a 20 week window, with a 4 week preseason

Next years hurling season will be
6 league and 4/5 championship = 11 min and 15 max - will fit into a 20 week window.

Club championships can be reduced to 6 matches max
Provincial club is 2/3/4 rounds
All ireland club is 2/3 rounds

12 weeks for club hurling and 12 for football

You could fix the all Ireland club problem by moving it to the same time as the club championship - if your county champions make the all Ireland series - you give them a bye to the qfinals of your club championship the following year.

Using the above logic
Jan - preseason
Feb - Intercounty football league
March - Intercounty football & hurling leagues,
April - Intercounty provincial football and hurling league,
May - Club championships (county and previous years all ireland)
June - intercounty provincial hurling championship
July - Intercounty All Ireland football and provincial hurling finals
August - intercounty all Ireland football and Hurling
September - All Ireland intercounty finals & club knock out championship start
October - county club championships
November - inter provincial club championships
December - month off.

The intercounty managers didnt like the previous gap for club activity but again, we changed for the needs of the few over the many.
50% of club players would have their club championship over in May and would be free to travel for June, July & August if they so wished.
Instead, the current system prevents them playing for their club if they go to the USA for the summer or prevents them going to the US in the first place.

The rugby six nations appears once a year on the same logic - take the players away from the club for 6-7 weeks and then send them back again. The novelty of that competition makes it so popular. Intercounty sport should be executed in the same way"]You still only have 2 and a bit months there for county club championships.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 17792 - 29/04/2025 06:28:04    2605218

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I absolutely hate the current intercounty season as it stands.

Rush everything through, get it out kf the way as soon as possible. People talk about promoting the games particularly hurling yet you don't even get to see the majority of the games so how the hell are they going to get promoted. We don't get the build up to big games anymore or even proper analysis or reflection because the time isn't there, I mean we can't even do a proper build up to our All Ireland finals.

Something has to change, has giving a club player more certainty been worth all this? Not even close imho.

But that doesn't change the fact that the first thing that has to give is the amount of games at intercounty level and in certain counties also at club level. That doesn't mean straight knockout should return but a reduction across the board league and championship.

The GAA needs to reclaim the summer before other sports make hay with the fact we decided to sacrifice the best months of the year something we had a monopoly over. But sacrifices need to be made, fhe GAA mantra of the last few years that more is better is flawed and it's the first thing that needs to be rectified.

tearintom (Wexford) - Posts: 1599 - 29/04/2025 08:16:26    2605225

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