Fixtures Analysis Committee presentation
Cuala captain Paul Schutte lifts the Tommy Moore Cup in the company of GAA President John Horan after the AIB GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Club Championship Final replay match between Cuala and Na Piarsaigh at O'Moore Park in Portlaoise, Laois.
By John Harrington
GAA President, John Horan, has recommended that the All-Ireland Club Finals take place in January rather than on St. Patrick’s Day.
He believes the current club calendar does not have “a good balance”, and that tightening the schedule in this way makes sense.
“In talking about club fixtures, we have tried in the past to look at fitting the club championship season into the calendar year and it hasn’t happened,” said Horan at Congress 2019.
“Perhaps we were overly ambitious in our approach.
“However, the problem hasn’t gone away and I feel asking teams who remain in the All-Ireland series to play two matches in an 18 week period is not a good balance.
“I would endorse the suggestion already raised at this Congress by Micheál Martin and back considerations that we could play our AIB All-Ireland club semi-finals before Christmas, and then play the finals in January and before the start of the Allianz Leagues.
“This would reduce expenses on clubs involved, leave players available to play for their county in the league - which is particularly relevant for smaller counties - and also reduce clashes with Third Level competitions.
“St Patrick’s Day could be used for Allianz Hurling League fixtures such as the staging of a semi-final double bill to celebrate our unique game.”
GAA President, John Horan, addressing Congress 2019.
On the wider issue of the scheduling of club championships nation-wide, Horan believes some counties are still not making good enough use of the added space in the calendar that has been made available by the condensing of the inter-county season.
“The significant changes of 2018 were just a start and it was never envisaged that they would cure things for club fixtures overnight,” said Horan.
“We need more counties to face up to this opportunity and to grasp it. In particular we need fixture co-ordinators in every county to look at how they can better maximise the April closed month.
“April is not necessarily a time to run off championships, but it is a time that should be used for club activity before the inter-county championship summer.
“At national level the GAA has made things very clear and for the vast majority, the inter-county season is now only five months long – the leagues have effectively been put into the months of February and March and the Championships into May, June and July.
“There may be tweaks required but we do not see a time when we will reverse significantly away from this structure. It has been designed to facilitate club activity properly and counties need to embrace it for the benefit of our club players who are a much larger constituency of members than their inter-county equivalent.
“The emergence of the CPA is in response to difficulties and frustrations that have existed around club fixtures.
“I do not question their intentions. But I would put it to them that we need to see them submit a more detailed sample of how they would propose to fill the blank canvass on fixtures which they talk about to further enhance debate on the challenge around fixtures. We want solutions.”