Clubs suffer as inter-county championship schedule meanders slowly along

Another busy weekend of club activity in Offaly contrasts sharply with the national GAA scene, where a mere two games will be televised for the couch potatoes at home. With four teams remaining in the running for the All-Ireland football championship and three teams still in the race for hurling honours, it's remarkable to think that it will take six full weekends from now to sort out who will lift the Sam Maguire and Liam McCarthy Cups. Club players and officials, not to mention county board officials looking to maximise attendances at club fixtures, will no doubt be delighted that there will be less distractions on the TV, however the winding down of the inter-county season also brings with it the return of Premiership Soccer, and the build up to the World Cup of rugby - for those looking for a distraction, they aren't hard to find. Meanwhile in Offaly, the long weeks without championship action in June and July mean that many younger players and dual players are being asked to work their way through a veritable mountain of games as senior, minor, intermediate and junior championships all proceed at great haste, with a view towards being completed before floods, frost and freezes descend upon us for the winter. Most clubs are affected by players being asked to do too much in too short a time frame, whether due to players playing at different grades or in different sports, but within the framework that the GAA inter-county season creates, it's hard to feel anything but sympathy for the fixture planners within Offaly. Yes there are several areas where things could be done differently, not least the under-21 championships, however if players are to have a steady flow of games during the summer, the current system whereby two rounds of championship are played in late Spring, followed by a summer of league activity and then a resumption in July is hard to improve upon. It looks for all the world like the "least worst" solution. Offaly will get all their games completed, largely because the inter-county teams were, ahem, helpful in completing their seasons more or less as soon as possible, while most other counties will also struggle through due to the lack of a dual culture, or indeed by following the old fashioned Ulster model of simply playing a straight knockout system, as is currently in use in Armagh, Antrim, Fermanagh, Down and Tyrone. However Dublin will be playing games at great speed and well into the winter due to the incredible success rate of their teams this year, while other counties such as Tipperary, Wexford and Galway will also be running their championships very late - albeit the late conclusion of the Galway SHC matters less because they have no deadline in order to take part in the provincial club campaigns. All of this is being done so county teams can still retain the same old traditions that simply do not suit the modern game. The inter-county season starts on the first weekend in May, which is eminently reasonable, but is then hamstrung by issues like the Connacht championship taking seven weeks to eliminate six teams, like Ulster refusing to schedule more than one football championship match for each weekend, and by the insistence on setting aside whole weekends for each All-Ireland semi final. The first and third Sundays in September may be sacred according to some people, but they really shouldn't be - there is no reason why the provincial championships couldn't be run off much quicker and the All Ireland semi-final line-up known by the end of June or early July. That would allow the vast majority of counties to start their club championships mid July, thus avoiding the need for split seasons and perhaps even opening the door for a large marketing campaign on a national level, promoting club games as an affordable and enjoyable family day out. For as long as Offaly wishes to retain the culture of being a dual-county based on small rural clubs, there will always be players trying to play for three, four and even five different teams. No fixtures secretary could be expected to cater for that kind of crossover, much less when managers start adding in challenge match fixtures as well. However by playing club leagues from March to June, while the bulk of the county games are being played, then the summer months of July, August, September and October become free for club activity. Delegates within Offaly and indeed neighbouring midlands counties like Laois and Westmeath would do well to look at fighting this case on a national level, because sadly the national media is unlikely to fight for the cause of club players. They may pay it lip service from time to time, but ultimately club games don't fill column inches in national newspapers, and sports editor is going to let one of their columnists argue in favour of a reduction in time frame during which they have easy copy to fill space. However unlike many, indeed most sporting organisations out there, the GAA does not exist to serve the elite players, or indeed to generate sponsorship and advertising revenue. Ultimately the health of the association is to be seen on weekends like this, where over 200,000 people will attend senior championship action taking place in over twenty counties, spread across 200 games, while thousands more players will take part in junior, intermediate and underage games, and thousands more still will set aside some time to take in those great little events. This general good health is in place despite the structure in place, rather than because of it. There is no reason why Offaly shouldn't take the lead in looking for a change in the way of doing things so as to nurture the ground level of the association even further. Indeed looking at the young players being asked to play a game every two or three days, there is every reason why Offaly should take the lead.