Fixtures plan will be a new ball game for everyone

WICKLOW’S CCC report in the Convention booklet took us on a reflection of the competitions in 2017.

Mick Hagan addressed the Convention on Monday night and he began by appealing for clubs to supply referees and he also urged clubs to support the new fixtures plan that will present radical changes in 2018.

“The year of 2017 would leave a lot to be desired regarding some clubs playing and not wanting to play,” said Hagan. “We have to address that in the year ahead. I would urge all clubs to support the new fixtures plan for 2018. Certainly, it’s going to be a new ball game for everybody.

“From a hurling point of view there were two disappointing things that happened during the year. We had no final of the Dessie Murphy Cup or the Billy Byrne Cup and maybe we should look at playing them as different competitions, but the late Billy Byrne and Dessie Murphy, we have cups there in their memory and we have to support them competitions when they come up,” he said.

The CCC report testified that almost 1100 games were played in the county in 2017 and that while most of those games were played in a sporting manner , there were “some isolated incidents which left a lot to be desired, including abuse to our officials”.

“It would be remiss of me if I didn’t thank Tom Byrne and Bridget Kenny for their great work behind the scenes on fixtures,” he added.