As reported by HS, the Donegal Club C'ship has been put back to start in September. Ally this with the month of April that was designated as been for clubs by the outgoing Ard Stiurothoir Paraic Duffy, is now been openly dismissed by certain County Boards who are organising training camps & with NFL & NHL games to be played that month, it shows the contempt that club players are held by their various County Boards & the GAA authorities. Clubs are back training since January & some counties have as yet no Fixtures Masterplan published & some can't be definite as it all depends on how the County team progresses & nobody knows how the Super 8's is going to pan out. The GAA think this is acceptable, it's a sham & no one is willing to say it. County Boards are responsible for the club game yet they spend most of their time & funding on the county scene. Club Delegates are subservient to the Board & no one is willing to stand up & speak out as the whole thing has been politicised. The dismissal of the CPA & the condescending arrogance displayed by Congress Delegates recently only highlights the problem the club scene faces. An organisation that views itself as the epitome of Democracy votes against Transparency, laughable. The comments by one European delegate bordered on incitement. Do they expect the thousands of club players to continue to be pushed from pillar to post not knowing when fixtures will be played, do they think it's acceptable to have lads checking online week to week as to whether they are playing ? Unfortunately nobody gives a toss any more as it's all about the County Scene & the ammount of posts & interest on here reflect that & that's fair enough. This year will see the biggest mess ever at club level with more & more club players dropping out. The talk on here & at Croke Park is about burn out with lads training with County panels since last October (so much for the closed season & imposing it, Its been broken in front of the eyes of the authorities & they close their eyes to it) pre season tournaments like the FBD, O Byrne cup, Mc Kenna cup etc, then the NFL & then Sigerson & then C'ship & how a small percentage are being burnt out when lads in Donegal won't start C'ship till Sept ? The club players yet to play a game this year look on at this scene in bemusement. The irony is lost on the GAA authorities that 2% of their membership are playing non stop & the rest don't even know how they can plan their year as it can vary from week to week. At the present rate I can't see how the Gaa is going to stem the exodus of people from 18 upwards. There will be a massive exodus of players to the US, Canada & Britain this year as players know that they won't miss a thing & C'ship will only start when many go back to College in Sept, Remember these are not just club players but future sponsors, coaches, parents of children, club officers all being lost due to the sheer disdain by authorities over the years. It is already too late as the apathy from adult players is at an all time low. Clubs are mainly having to pay the mercenary managers doing the rounds as ordinary club people are not willing to manage an adult team as it goes for nearly 11 months on average & you cannot plan anything, so people won't do it or if they do, they pack it in after a year of torture & leave it to the mercenaries. Most have zero faith in the Gaa authorities any more & the outgoing Ard Stiurothoir & Uachtaran only served to increase the elitism & widen the chasm between club & county. Nothing will ever change now till it's too late or until Clubs press the nuclear button. Unfortunately there are now too many yes people in the Association & anyone who speaks out such as Joe Brolly are labelled as radicals. The "people's game" is no longer that it should be relabelled the Inter County game as that is where it's at.

moc.dna (Galway) - Posts: 1212 - 09/03/2018 00:50:37    2082843

Donegal Club C'ship To Start In Sept

Sensible decision. Everyone knows where they stand now and the Championship will have a nice momentum to it, and will hopefully run into the Ulster Championship.

People can book their holidays for June/July and have themselves back in training for August.

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13707 - 09/03/2018 09:24:33    2082869

Things getting crazy in Donegal , under 20 panel training three or four times a week and not allowed to train/play with their clubs and even their Schools . Clubs wont get proper football till September , so how do Clubs keep players motivated and interested till them . Under 20 don't have a game till end of May and have been training since before Xmas , at that age they don't need that kind of training for amateur sport , just let them enjoy their youth and their sport and develop the skills of the game

culmore (None) - Posts: 1398 - 09/03/2018 09:35:06    2082873

The April club month solution was stupid.

The best thing that could happen I think would be for the intercounty game to move to a more league based format and games are more fixed.

County boards will have a better idea of when they can play their games around the county games.

A contingency week would need to be factored in ahead of the final weekend to deal with postponements.

The current championship season doesn't let county boards plan set dates as the weekends they'd be playing are dependent on the progress in the Provincial championships.

If you'd teams playing 15 league games from March to August designated at the start of the season there'd be free weekends for club action.

September would be for All Ireland playoffs.

October for club quarterfinals on.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4219 - 09/03/2018 10:22:18    2082883

Cupotay (Donegal) - Posts: 31 - 09/03/2018 10:24:58    2082884

You know what, I see no issue here at all. Unlike most counties who will play 2-3 games in April and then shut up shop for the entire summer Donegal are calling it now and clubs within Donegal can plan accordingly. At least once September comes around they will have a ton of games which will run concurrently.

Not ideal given its September but at least they will have a run of games.

TheFullBack (Galway) - Posts: 110 - 09/03/2018 15:16:04    2082965

Will be some great club matches played in boggy pitches at the start of october. At least get the holiers booked for the summer anyways!

Spoddgy (Mayo) - Posts: 660 - 09/03/2018 15:55:52    2082980