THE UGLY TRUTH: CLUB AND COUNTY DON’T MIX
Splitting the season is only solution to divisive tug of war
THERE is this seductive notion that the pandemic will make better people of us all. That it will show the way to a fairer society.
In Ireland, some of the things they said could never happen were made to happen almost overnight — the nation rallied as one to react to the coronavirus.
The tiered system of public and private hospital healthcare was substituted for a classless system where only the health of the patient mattered, not their type of cover. Rent controls were put in place to protect tenants when the political will for such action had been hotly debated at government level for years.
Banks gave businesses and home owners allowances on making repayments.
Like everything else, the sporting world has been turned on its head.
Just look at all the things they said couldn’t happen in Gaelic games. The summer calendar to be cleared for the club player, not the county player. The prospect of a December All-Ireland football or hurling final. A slimmed and trimmed schedule of games.
With the country effectively coming out of lockdown next Monday when a whole host of restrictions are eased under the accelerated Government roadmap, the question is already being asked what shape a new society will take. Can the world absorb the lessons? Will the sense of community, of being in it together, be quickly replaced by old norms.?
The history of humankind would suggest the latter. Charles Darwin’s didn’t quite have the AllIreland Championships in mind when he coined the term ‘survival of the fittest’ to describe the world in evolutionary terms, but it’s a phrase that fits neatly alongside sport, in a very literal sense.
Already, the battle lines are being drawn up in the all-too familiar club versus county dispute. Tomorrow, club fields will be officially open for action.
Adult players can return to noncontact training on their own pitches for the first time since mid-March. At the weekend, underage players can return before a return to full contact training next Monday, as per the updated Government roadmap. Officially, that is. Unofficially, there is a book of evidence to suggest that county teams have been back collectively in different ways, despite the GAA suspending the Player Injury Scheme that covers county training until the signposted date of September 14 when collective county training is supposed to be permitted, ahead of an October 17 inter-county restart.
The Club Players Association is like a public watchdog. It has been highlighting the counties and scenarios where the tensions between club and county are already simmering, some appear ready to boil over.
Why are players breaking the GAA’s guidelines? Even with no insurance cover. Why are they prepared to put themselves at risk? Why are managers asking them to do so?
This appeal to players’ best selves is well-intended – but ignores the reality.
Because the investment of time, energy, money and sacrifice, is such in the modern game that so many involved feel that they can’t afford to be left behind.
The ugly truth? Club and county don’t mix. They are like oil and water. And that’s certainly since the modern county game became quasi-professional.
Derry chairman Stephen Barker won plenty of praise for his public stance when stating in an interview on BBC Sport that the Derry club championships in football and hurling will take place over the initial 11-week period between July 31 and October 11, allotted by the GAA.
While some counties are considering reducing the number of games to allow players to take part in training ahead of the start of inter-county matches on October 17, Barker ruled that out, saying how Derry football manager Rory Gallagher will have to live with it ahead of an Ulster first round tie against Armagh.
‘Will this cause arguments between the club and Rory Gallagher? I would hope not. Certainly, I’ve told Rory this is the way it’s going to be… Rory will have a few weeks to prepare with the players before we take on Armagh,’ suggested Barker.
It as also haard to dispute his further claim: ‘The Derry club championship is one of the best in Ireland’ – as the 10,000 spectators who saw Magherafelt claim a first Derry football crown since 1978 — by defeating Glen 0-12 to 0-11 in last year’s final — will no doubt attest.
But the county team is in Division 3 and isn’t mapped as an AllIreland contender. Does that make a difference? Should it? The answer to both of those questions is not necessarily the same.
The Allianz League is where it’s at for plenty of counties. And Derry are still in the hunt for promotion from Division 3. That leaves a six-day window of uninterrupted preparation for Rory Gallagher if the GAA start back on October 17 with the outstanding two National League games.
Could a vibrant, club scene come at the cost of county success? Could it serve to damage promotion and Ulster Championship prospects? Would this be the case if rival counties have a greater window of preparation?
Or could the club act as a unifying force and the perfect springboard to county success? There are no easy answers. Or maybe that’s not the case. Davy Fitzgerald knows that his Wexford team are in that window where they are All-Ireland contenders. The county’s touted club hurling format with its floated August finish reflects that.
NO more than Liam Sheedy had recognised the pitfalls of the April club window when taking over as Tipperary manager. He worked to reduce the intensity of the schedule which didn’t help his predecessor Michael Ryan in preparing for Munster in 2018 – and Sheedy promptly master-minded Tipperary’s 2019 AllIreland triumph.
A games-based programme is all players want. A schedule that is fixed, immovable, and isn’t hampered by club versus county conflicts.Given the circumstances of the pandemic, it represented a serious show of faith by the GAA in the grassroots, in putting club competition first.
The 98 per cent being placed ahead of the elite two per cent and the flagship, money-spinning All-Ireland competitions.
But the locks haven’t even come off club gates yet and it’s abundantly clear that by going first, the running battle between club and county players is going to run right up to, and include, the climax of club competition. And not in a good way. A split season is the obvious answer in any normal year – where the county goes first. Moving the All-Ireland finals from their traditional September slot to an earlier August slot was an important first step. Not only does it allow club championships more time to breathe in autumn, but it paves the way for a proper calendar year of GAA competition, not one that overlaps into January.
Despite the break in tradition, there was never any sense of the finals being downgraded or losing any of their historical and cultural lustre.
The next step is to bring the AllIreland finals further forward. Every week is like gold-dust in terms of club fixture-making, particularly in dual counties.
Ditch the April club window which is another mini version of what is going on right now. Run league or cup competitions without county players during that time.
A split season, with an extended club window in the second half, might just be the only solution.