Replying To KillingFields:  "Formating of last few posts is terrible. Any chance a change can be made to make it easier to read threads of posts quoting each other like any other forum?"

Replying To legendzxix:  ""Just from my experience of the last few years, I agree with it, to be honest with you. This year is a juncture, not the full fix. It will be a calendar year next year. That will be the ideal scenario.
I just found over the last few years, you win your provincial and it is a long slog through December, Christmas, January to play a semi-final at the beginning of February. It is mentally and physically draining. You have lost all your momentum."
Words of All-Ireland club winner."

Replying To legendzxix:  "July for the majority, August and September are great months for the club championships. There's October then as well for those counties that start later due to making the latter stages of the inter-county All-Ireland championships. The majority of the GAA players are getting to play county club championships in the better weather.
Any plan that is agreed needs to have a clear close season. The two weekends during Christmas and the two weekends should suffice.
The All-Ireland finals will be one week later in July next year. That's a step in the wrong direction. The AI club finals should complete before Christmas. The intercounty season needs to be brought forward a week again."

Replying To Whammo86:  "1) Inter-county from February to July:
There are going to be no club games over the 2 weekends of Christmas. Best to have the AI club finals before Christmas so that there is a clear close season.

2) Shorter timescale available for completing club championships. A compromise solution. Both counties from the same province to receive the bye.

3)Inter-county from March to August or April to September:
There was a suggestion in some parts that some club players would prefer to enjoy their summer holidays! That's why I briefly discussed that option. Taking all opinions on board etc.

4) Something has to give. For longer timescale for county championships, it will put a squeeze on the timescale for the provincial and All-Ireland series. Something has to give. If you want more time for the Wexford championship, it takes time from somewhere else.

5) Again, something has to give. Club championships from August to October being 3 months. 2 months remain."]Or how about go back to where it all started? Only a little more structured or organised. Run the club championships from March to July then rather than have provincial or AI club championships the winning clubs represent their county in the Intercounty championships. Run these in August and September as straight knockout.
This will solve most of people's complaints as follows-
1- playing on bad pitches in February or November/December- no adult hurling or football games in bad weather months.
2- player welfare/burnout- alot less fixtures and a good off season. No clubs to be back in training til 01 February.
3- No proper room for minor and u21 championships-
These could be run in September/ October/November with a straight knockout championship. They won't clash with exams, and the Fitzgibbon and Sigerson Cups could take place in December, January and February.
4- illegal payments to intercounty managers- there won't be any intercounty managers and expenses for travelling could be reduced by insisting only club members can manage their club team.
5- no high level GAA action in high summer months August/September- the intercounty competition will be in those months
6- uncertainty for club players over fixtures- these will be run as outlined above so there will be absolute certainty
7- richer or bigger population counties having an unfair advantage- population or wealth hasn't the same bearing on club success- look at Ballyhale.
8- standard of refereeing or in particular referees not being able to keep up with the modern intercounty game- as there will be less top level players playing in any given game the games will be that little bit slower and easier to referee. So less need to abuse referees also.
9- bandwagon county supporters- lads will tend to support their own club so crowds should be easier managed size wise come the Intercounty championships.
10- undue pressure on young children- no need for intercounty development squads etc from u11 upwards.
11- arguments like ours over how many weeks should be given over to county or club fixtures- not a problem anymore as there would be alot less games with alot more weekends to play them in!

In conclusion this isn't a serious proposal for change. Like all of us I love top level intercounty action. What the above is an exercise. To show how our collective greed for more and more top level intercounty action has caused all of the problems we complain about these days."]That's not a serious proposition at all."]No it's not. Just pointing out that most of the problems lads are complaining about have come about due to the demand for more and more intercounty games since the 90s. There are so many now that there's no room for club fixtures between them as intercounty managers won't release players during the intercounty season. And that's what's caused the AI finals to be in July and the club AI finals to be in January. There's no ideal solution to it now Whammo86."]Yeah fair enough, I get where you are coming from.

If I was in charge I would move the club provincials and All Ireland to the start of the year. Jan/Feb/March.

I'd play a tight intercounty season from April to August.

Counties able to start when their county teams are both out and not before 1st August.

Let counties play off their club championship as they want. If they start late and can't finish until November then so be it, doesn't impact on others because we're not running into the Provincials.

1 code county making an All Ireland can still play September and October. Most would be playing August, September or August to October.

Galway are used to playing their hurling championship late in the year with no Connacht club competition and it doesn't cause an issue.

The provincial and All Ireland club are the big issue and having every county expected to end their championship at the same time when they've different traditions and requirements and start at different times just doesn't make sense."]That would also work well.

Replying To Pikeman96:  "Just wondering about this line in an earlier post (and sorry, have lost track of where it came from originally!) -
Counties able to start when their county teams are both out and not before 1st August.

If a county's inter-county teams are finished in their championships by let's say the middle of June (it could happen), why stop that county from starting its club championships in late June and running through July, instead of making them wait until 1st August?"

Replying To Pikeman96:  "Just wondering about this line in an earlier post (and sorry, have lost track of where it came from originally!) -
Counties able to start when their county teams are both out and not before 1st August.

If a county's inter-county teams are finished in their championships by let's say the middle of June (it could happen), why stop that county from starting its club championships in late June and running through July, instead of making them wait until 1st August?"

Replying To Pikeman96:  "Just wondering about this line in an earlier post (and sorry, have lost track of where it came from originally!) -
Counties able to start when their county teams are both out and not before 1st August.

If a county's inter-county teams are finished in their championships by let's say the middle of June (it could happen), why stop that county from starting its club championships in late June and running through July, instead of making them wait until 1st August?"

Replying To Viking66:  "Agree 100%. What also put us under pressure down here was the Leinster Championships starting in October. Ideally they would start in November."

Replying To Whammo86:  "Okay, I see where you're coming from.

But we can't have it every way. Several here are saying club players should be able to play in the best weather months of July and August.

Holding up every club championship in the country for one of those months, just so some lads won't have to miss a match if they want to go on holiday, isn't conducive to that.

Replying To legendzxix:  "I've already given an example of how the club provincial and All-Ireland championships can be played over 8 weekends.

October
29. Hurling Provincial Preliminary Round

November
05. Hurling Provincial Quarter-finals and Football Provincial Preliminary Round.
12. Hurling Provincial Semi-finals and Football Provincial Quarter-finals.
19. Hurling Provincial Final and Football Provincial Semi-finals
26. Football Provincial Final

December
03. Hurling AI Semi-finals
10. Football AI Semi-finals and Hurling AI Final
17. Football AI Final

All inter-county and club championships should be aligned for that end of year schedule."

Replying To Pikeman96:  "Okay, I see where you're coming from.

But we can't have it every way. Several here are saying club players should be able to play in the best weather months of July and August.

Holding up every club championship in the country for one of those months, just so some lads won't have to miss a match if they want to go on holiday, isn't conducive to that."]The staring demand for the split season was certainty of fixtures. Tieing the start of the County Championships to when the county exists the All Ireland was the biggest problem to fix. The way this is developing all we've done is shift the year around without fixing any problems.

Tha main problem I see with the GAA calendar is that theres a long tail of Club All Ireland fixtures where some players get to extend their season into December where as others finished up back in August. How can we think this is the best way to go?

One thing I'd put out there for consideration is why we roll straight from county champioships into the provincial and All Ireland? By winnig your championship in 2022 you could qualify for the Provincial & All Ireland championships to be played in 2023 (like champions leage in Soccer). Such a championship could be played alongside the following years calender with certainty of fixtures for all.

Replying To Pikeman96:  "Okay, I see where you're coming from.

But we can't have it every way. Several here are saying club players should be able to play in the best weather months of July and August.

Holding up every club championship in the country for one of those months, just so some lads won't have to miss a match if they want to go on holiday, isn't conducive to that."]Yeah but the county season will be shorter and start a little later. A lot of counties do like to have the championship finish the season. As a player I preferred that too. August and September are very good months to play championship still. October less so.

I don't know, it is tough to get everything perfect.

Replying To Pikeman96:  "Okay, I see where you're coming from.

But we can't have it every way. Several here are saying club players should be able to play in the best weather months of July and August.

Holding up every club championship in the country for one of those months, just so some lads won't have to miss a match if they want to go on holiday, isn't conducive to that."]Maybe you put All Ireland club in February.

Intercounty March to July.

Clubs can start as soon as their teams are out.

Counties allowed to end of October to run off club championship.

Replying To brianb:  "Okay, I see where you're coming from.

But we can't have it every way. Several here are saying club players should be able to play in the best weather months of July and August.

Holding up every club championship in the country for one of those months, just so some lads won't have to miss a match if they want to go on holiday, isn't conducive to that."]The staring demand for the split season was certainty of fixtures. Tieing the start of the County Championships to when the county exists the All Ireland was the biggest problem to fix. The way this is developing all we've done is shift the year around without fixing any problems.

Tha main problem I see with the GAA calendar is that theres a long tail of Club All Ireland fixtures where some players get to extend their season into December where as others finished up back in August. How can we think this is the best way to go?

One thing I'd put out there for consideration is why we roll straight from county champioships into the provincial and All Ireland? By winnig your championship in 2022 you could qualify for the Provincial & All Ireland championships to be played in 2023 (like champions leage in Soccer). Such a championship could be played alongside the following years calender with certainty of fixtures for all."]That's a good idea. Or like Whammo86 suggested maybe run the Provincial and AI club competitions in Jan, Feb, March altogether.

Replying To Pikeman96:  "Okay, I see where you're coming from.

But we can't have it every way. Several here are saying club players should be able to play in the best weather months of July and August.

Holding up every club championship in the country for one of those months, just so some lads won't have to miss a match if they want to go on holiday, isn't conducive to that."]Or just do what any other sport does. Plays on if people are away on holidays. That's life. You can't hold games up for holidays. That's part and parcel of being a summer sport.

Replying To Viking66:  "That's an unworkable example for a couple of reasons as firstly it's discriminating against dual clubs who have many players playing on both their hurling and football teams. It was just lucky Crokes only had 1 lad affected and he is only a sub for their footballers. Also secondly any teams qualifying for provincial or AI club championships will want more than a week between games to allow for proper recovery. And what happens in the event of a draw after extra time?
Suppose a club like ours with 14 lads on both teams make it to the Leinster championship in both? Player welfare and the integrity of the competitions is surely more important than an arbitrary end date of Xmas?"

Replying To brianb:  "Okay, I see where you're coming from.

But we can't have it every way. Several here are saying club players should be able to play in the best weather months of July and August.

Holding up every club championship in the country for one of those months, just so some lads won't have to miss a match if they want to go on holiday, isn't conducive to that."]The staring demand for the split season was certainty of fixtures. Tieing the start of the County Championships to when the county exists the All Ireland was the biggest problem to fix. The way this is developing all we've done is shift the year around without fixing any problems.

Tha main problem I see with the GAA calendar is that theres a long tail of Club All Ireland fixtures where some players get to extend their season into December where as others finished up back in August. How can we think this is the best way to go?

One thing I'd put out there for consideration is why we roll straight from county champioships into the provincial and All Ireland? By winnig your championship in 2022 you could qualify for the Provincial & All Ireland championships to be played in 2023 (like champions leage in Soccer). Such a championship could be played alongside the following years calender with certainty of fixtures for all."]I think that we've gone from no certainty of fixtures to too much certainty of fixtures.

There was a duel problem of the qualifiers where depending on results teams could be playing on different weekends and the season going to September it meant that championship had to be scheduled around intercounty activities but there was no notice for players of when that would be.

Some flexibility where club players know that they start championship on one of 3 weekends could be a decent compromise and would mean that potentially good Summer days for club action aren't going to waste needlessly or that we rush our Intercounty competitions.

Being able to know that in March to June or July that you can take a break and not miss championship would improve a lot of quality for life for club players.

I retired early as football and life got in the way of one another and just a little bit of more structure would've made a big difference for me. I'm sure others would be in a similar boat.

The full ability to know the schedule before the season starts is too inflexible in my book.

Replying To legendzxix:  "There has to be an honest conversation. To allow more time for the county club championships, the provincial and All-Ireland series will have to be completed in a shorter timescale over November and December.
If a county like Wexford has 8 rounds in hurling and 8 rounds in football, in successful years of making All-Ireland finals in July, club championships might have to utilise a few midweek matches."