The GAA's Central Council has agreed that 'the Mark' will come into effect in gaelic football on January 1st while there will be no semi-finals in next year's Allianz FL Division 1 competition.

Here's some of the key decisions that were reached at last Saturday's Central Council meeting...

GPA / Inter-county players

An updated protocol has been agreed with the GPA following on from the draft agreement as announced in July last.

Revised Central Council guidelines for inter-county players (to include suitable provisions on expenses, tickets, gear etc.) have also been agreed including the adoption of a new players' charter.

2017 Fixtures

Last Saturday's meeting also ratified the GAA 2017 Fixtures Masterplan.

It included the following points of note:

- On a pilot basis in 2017, the Allianz League hurling quarter-finals and semi-finals will finish on the day the games are played avoiding the need for replays. If games in these competitions are level after two separate periods of extra time have been played, the outcome will be decided by a free-taking competition.

- No semi-finals will be played in the Allianz Football League

- The finals of the Allianz Football Leagues and the Division 1 Hurling League final will be played a fortnight earlier than they have been heretofore thus freeing up additional time for club programmes. 

- A special U17 competition will be organised in 2017 to address the cross-over from U18 minor competitions to U17 in 2018. Like the Allianz Hurling league quarter and semi-finals, games in these competitions will finish on the day.

Fingal

The decision of Fingal to withdraw from hurling competitions this year will have the following impact on the 2017 fixture schedule:

There will be no relegation from Division 3A and there will be a double round of games in this division.

There will be no relegation from the Rackard Cup.

The Mark

The mark as introduced at Congress 2016 in Carlow has been trialed in Higher Education League action (Division One). It has been agreed that it will be introduced for all games from January 1 2017.

 

Tweet

Most Read Stories