CPA renews call for club fixture master plan
August 11, 2017
The CPA launch their master fixture schedule proposal © @ClubPlayerAssoc
The CPA (Club Players' Association) has reiterated its call for the GAA to provide clubs with a national fixture master plan.
The body, which is still awaiting formal recognition from the GAA, has released a statement through chairman Micheál Briody in which it once again voices its concerns about the decision to introduce the so-called Super 8s next year. The average winning margin in this year's All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals was 14.5 points.
"We are aware of the unease that many GAA people are expressing as they realise the Super 8's come into play next year, especially after seeing the quarter final results the last two weekends. Meanwhile clubs still aren't yet formally on the agenda for Special Congress," the statement read.
"We did ask Croke Park to park the proposals on Super 8's back in February which they refused to do. And in advance of the forthcoming Special Congress we are still calling for Croke Park to present the clubs of Ireland with a national fixture master plan that allows club and county to dovetail seamlessly.
"We have presented three plans which deliver on this and they are available as a discussion document for anyone to study on our homepage www.gaaclubplayers.com
"We continue to receive a lot of emails and calls highlighting the imbalance that exists at club level. Unreasonable and unfair demands are placed on players with matches refixed and scheduled with no regard to players' personal and family lives or basic sports science principles on proper preparation and recovery.
"We are calling on all CPA members to email us detailing any problems they are having with fixtures at this time at [email protected]
"A lot of the problems go unnoticed beyond the clubs concerned. To illustrate the scale of the problem we will publish a selection of the correspondence on our website on an ongoing basis to let people understand the scale of the problem. Also as members of the GAA we want to keep the pressure on Croke Park and on county boards to deliver a fair and predictable fixture plan to club players."
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