PARTING GIFT

New look schedule revealed as Duffy denies link to retirement

PARAIC DUFFY insists that the overhaul of the GAA calendar hasn’t been influenced by his departure as director general next year.

Duffy will retire after 10 years in the role in March having now delivered meaningful change on what has arguably been the single biggest issue since he took office with considerable space now made available for club fixtures with the condensing of the inter-county season.

Yesterday, the Master Fixture List for 2018 was published and following decisions at Congress in February and Special Congress in September, the hurling and football Championships take on a very different complexion with both competitions containing a round robin format.

The All-ireland hurling final will take place on August 19 with the football decider on September 1.

The League finals will also take place earlier than usual with the hurling final to be played on a Saturday night on March 24. The football final will be on April 1, leaving the rest of that month free for club activity before the Championship kicks in in May.

Additionally, the Leinster and Munster hurling finals will be played on the same day (July 1) while the Munster football final will take place on a Saturday night (June 23).

The changes are likely to be a cornerstone of Duffy’s legacy though he said it wasn’t a case of rushing them through before his retirement.

“It just happens to be the end of a process which has been going on for several years,” said Duffy. “It’s nothing to do with the timing of me leaving.

“It’s a three-year experiment. It could be in three years’ time that people say we don’t like round-robin in hurling, we don’t like the [football] quarter-finals that are round-robin, we don’t like the Leinster and Munster [hurling] finals on the same day, we don’t like the Munster football final on a Saturday.

“That’s fair enough as long as there is a better way.”

For the majority of his tenure, Duffy was opposed to moving the All-ireland finals out of their traditional September slots, fearing it would be a PR own goal though he has moved past that in recent years.

“It’s two weeks earlier than before and look at the programme of games you have from early in January right through to September apart from that month of April.

“There’s a massive programme of really top class games. I think from the point of view from the spectator they’ll want to go to games. Hurling, in particular.

“Hurling had very few big games. The Leinster Championship, there would have been three or four. In Munster, four.

“Now look at the number of games. I think it is far better both from the inter-county scene and from the point of view of the promotion of the game and for the clubs.”

Asked what was the tipping point, Duffy replied: “I think the frustration of club players, not just for me but for a lot of people.

“Not only in recent times with the CPA but I have written about this for the last three years and that has grown and grown.

“This issue for me became more and more the anger of club players and the constant frustration of clubs. A lot of this came from that.”

Duffy also intimated that, in time, he would like to see the All-ireland Club Championships completed in the calendar year.

“Ideally, yes, I’d like to see all our programmes completed within the calendar year but it would make sense now to run this schedule here next year and the following two years and then see.”