Bi-location needed to attend NL games

WEXFORD HURLING and football followers have from now until early February to master the art of bi-location if they want to attend all of the county’s Allianz League fixtures in 2017.

This year it was possible to be at each and every game in both codes because there was no direct clash on any given weekend.

However, it’s going to be a different story next year if the provisional fixtures released last week are formally adopted without any changes made.

There are two days when the hurlers will be at home while the footballers will be away. On Sunday, February 12, Wexford will entertain Limerick in hurling and travel to Leitrim in football, and on Sunday, March 5, the footballers will pop up the road to Wicklow while the hurlers will be hosting Kerry.

There appears to be the opportunity for just one double-header, on Sunday, March 26, when we are at home to Westmeath in football and Laois in hurling.

It was expected that the footballers would be away to London as we hosted them this year. However, the exiles have to play all seven of their games in Ireland in 2017 due to the re-development work at their Ruislip base.

It is proposed to end the tradition of a three-week break after the first two rounds of football, with two one-week gaps instead, after the second and fifth rounds respectively. The full fixtures list in the draft plan is as follows - Sunday, February 5: football home to Limerick. Sunday, February 12: hurling home to Limerick, football away to Leitrim. Sunday, February 19: hurling away to Galway. Sunday, February 26: football home to Waterford. Sunday, March 5: hurling home to Kerry, football away to Wicklow. Sunday, March 12: hurling away to Offaly. Sunday, March 19: football home to London. Sunday, March 26: hurling home to Laois, football home to Westmeath.

Sunday, April 2: football away to Carlow.