District woes start with inter-county dominance
Sean Counihan tackles the big issues head on
T HE East Kerry GAA Board will, I’m sure, have a look at its championship (O’donoghue Cup) going forward into the new season. The executive will not be happy that their championship has moved into the new year. Of all the district boards the East Kerry board always prides itself on having its fixtures and championship finished in the calendar year.
Traditionally, some of the other district boards, including North and South Kerry, see the completion of their senior championship going very late in the year for various reasons, but for East Kerry not to have finished its domestic programme within the calendar year is a surprise to most as it always finished its programme before all others. Of course, the Mid Kerry championship for 2011 has also yet to be finished.
This is not good enough in my view. Now one can argue that the success of teams in the different grades of the club championships is the cause of this – Dr Crokes in East Kerry’s case and Milltown / Castlemaine in Mid Kerry – but on closer examination one can see that the main reason why these competitions are pushed right back until the end of the year is because of the closed summer season for club footballer brought about by the county team. This is something that will have to be looked at.
Games should be played, insofar as it is possible, in the summer months when players can showcase themselves to county selectors. Football is of a much higher standard when the weather is better and pitches are firmer, and players are less likely to pick up injuries than when playing in mud and rain and heavy ground.
Physical conditions can make a huge difference to any team’s possible success, and it’s not enough to say that it’s the same for both teams in a game. You could have a team that is totally based on the skill factors of the game, but all of that can be nullified by poor conditions. That’s not fair to any team or indeed to managers, who give of their time to promote good football being played.
And is it fair to ask club players to train through the entire year? So much for all the talk of alleviating burn-out and of a proper winter closed season.
The ball, of course, falls to the County Board who must have a closer look at who runs the GAA within its county. Is it the county management team or the county board? Inter-county managers are now becoming too powerful when it comes to closing down football in one’s county.
This problem, of course, is not just particular to Kerry. This is a problem in a lot of other counties. Even in some of those counties that will exit the All-ireland Championship at an early stage there seems to be a pact in place as to when county finals will be played.
One can even see that in predominantly hurling counties there were hurling games played in October this year; at a time when pitches were not in prime condition. This is not fair on players and indeed does nothing to promote the game.
I would hope that the powers that be in Croke Park and the delegates at Congress would address this carry-on. Something needs to change. The inter-county football or hurling manager should not be allowed to dictate to either county committees
or divisional boards on how to run their fixtures.
I know if I was in intercounty management in Kerry right now I would be encouraging district boards to play their championships at a time when I could unearth a few players. We need to do that and anyone who thinks different is in cloudcuckooland. I remember a time when they used to play final trials two weeks before an All-ireland semifinal and saw footballers playing themselves on to the team – the team, mind – not just the panel.
Now we are hardly even playing domestic games to give a fellow a chance to be considered. Yes, there are county league games going on, but these are usually diluted by the absence of the inter-county players. Even the county championship is put on the back burner from May until October, with the odd exception.
This, in my view, is not the way forward. We are all aware of the challenge games arranged for the county panel and the behind closed doors A versus B situations at training, but why not open up the county panel to players playing well in their own championships and give lads a fair crack of the whip.
Remember early last year I wondered what happens if a lot of lads retire. Now it seems it may not happen this year, but believe me when it happens we will have to unearth a new team. Management teams come and go but good ones will always leave with the nucleus of a good side for the new people to work with.
That was always the Kerry way and this will only continue if we take our heads out of the sand and play our games at the appropriate time of the year. Players need to be able to play themselves on and off the Kerry panel. This debate will go on and on I’m sure, but we must get it right for
the future.