Club manager Conor Deegan is at his wit's end with the club schedule and treatment of players in the GAA...
Its time for the GAA and all the those associated with it to stand the hell up and regain control. The Association has transformed so much over its lifetime. It used to be for the masses but it would appear that it is now more focused on the county and the money than those that it claims to represent.
I love the GAA. It is an affair that started 39 years ago when I went to primary school, was brought into the yard and chased a ball around. I have enjoyed it and have been fortunate to have gotten so much from it but as in all relationships it has hit a rough patch. Now it has not just happened overnight but is the result of a few years of being pushed away. It has left me and many like me pissed-off.
The madness of a club schedule
I am involved with a senior club in Dublin and began the league on the 24th of February with a total of 15 games to play. As I write this we have two games remaining. By the time these are played it will have taken 43 weeks to play 19 games.
Four were played in June, with two games played three days apart, then an 11 day break and then another two played three days apart. Similarly with July and also in October, where we had three championship matches in October. Only four league matches were played before the first championship match in May.
That's ten games played over an 11 week period and the remaining nine games played over 32 weeks.
In the county board's defence, the master fixture list supplied at the start of the year was largely adhered to which certainly helps but it shows that most club players are largely training and not playing – admittedly in a county that won the All Ireland.
This is not a rant at county boards but more the association as a whole. County boards and the one I am most familiar with in Dublin have a very tough balancing act, working within the confines of the playing calender imposed centrally, dealing with football and hurling on alternate weekends.You then must take county minor and under-21 commitments, not mention school or colleges looking for their piece of the action. Throw all this into the mix and the clubs get a raw deal.
Bow to the regime of the county dictator
Maybe the GAA should just take proper control again. County managers should not be dictating what happens and when. They are there to facilitate the county not the other way around. You have the ridiculous decision in Donegal of the manager deciding when games should be played.
What the hell were they thinking of one person dictating to the club player when he can or cannot play?
It is flawed and if it works it will be viewed as the way to do it but at what price to the association as a whole? Yes, supporters want their county to do well and many of the lads that play will pay their money and go and cheer them on but they deserve to be treated fairly.
How do we fix it?
So what are the solutions? Here are a few suggestions:
- The inter-county calender is tightened up.
- The national leagues could be removed. Not many seem to take it that seriously anyway.
- Also get rid of competitions like the O'Byrne Cup etc.
- County players go to the county and clubs get on with it. Clubs with more representation are penalised but at least the season moves along.
- All this would allow more intercounty championship games be played on a regular basis. Champions league style with groups of four, and home and away matches.
- Hurling and football run their own fixture lists (which would remove the club dual player completely; not a great thought admittedly).
- Remove the minor and under 21's and replace with maybe an under 19 or under 20 age group. Removing some fixtures and maybe with a view to the slightly older lad being able to progress to senior more readily, we loose too many minors at both club and county.
- Talk to those who are at the coal face and who truly understand the difficulties and really try to do something proactive.
- Do we need to have a representative body of the club player to argue their point? I thought that's what the GAA was.
There are many more ideas out there, from more learned people than me, which I would love to hear and I am sure that the solution is out there.
County players also should be treated fairly. What happens when the season is over? They are asked to play game on game for their clubs over short periods of time. This cannot be good for them either. What about player welfare and burnout? Phrases that are readily bandied about but nobody seems to act upon it.
I would just like to see players play regularly with an even spread of fixtures at club level. We also have to take into account that we are fighting to keep people involved in the association. If we cannot give structured, organised and regular games then we will loose people to other sports that can. This is something that should not be allowed to happen.
It is not an easy one to solve but it has to be for the good of the clubs, the players and ultimately the association.
