There’s pros and cons to it like anything. Players are happy having structured games and to be back at it, but hard for management to get teams peaking at the right time given the length of the season. At least the county board are putting serious effort into planning the season in advance and it being fair to both codes!
Spare a thought for football clubs in east cork, the following email was sent out by the east cork board (hurling board at this stage really).
“Following a meeting last Tuesday January 4th of Divisional Chairperson's and Secretary's with the County CCC, we as officers of the East Cork Board wish to refer you to the Document issued by the County Runaí on 10/12/21.
As you can see from the Master Fixtures Calendar on page 26, Divisions have only 7 weeks to complete their full programme of games (July 24th to Sept 4th ). This is not enough to complete our games programme. For example, in 2021 we needed 11 clear weekends to complete our Junior A Hurling and Football Championships.
The County Board cannot increase the 7 weeks, they are restricted by the Munster deadlines. The GAA CCC in Croke Park have brought the All-Ireland Club Finals into January thus bringing the Munster deadlines forward into October. As a consequence, the 7 weeks will not be able to change. The County CCC have asked all Divisions where possible to play as many rounds of the Junior Championships in the Inter-County window in order to reach the September 4th County Deadline.
The Officers of the East Cork Board met to discuss the ramifications of this, it was felt that the 7 weeks (July 24th to Sept 4th) will need to be ringfenced for the Junior Hurling Championships. The Junior Football Championship is the primary issue. In order for it to be a meaningful competition we wish to retain the Round Robin system but we want clubs to discuss how they wish to complete this Championship.
We see three possible options to play the Football Championship. They are;
1 Start in June, play the Round Robin games, park it and return to complete after Sept 4th.
1 This will mean playing without Cork Senior Inter County Players.
2 We nominate a team to complete in the County C'ships as we won't be ready for the County deadline.
3 Football Leagues will have approx. 6 games between February and June in line with County Leagues.
2 Start in April and complete the entire Championship before July 24th .
1 This will mean playing without Cork Senior and Under 20 Inter County Players.
2 Winners will be ready in time to go out in the County C'ships.
3 Football League will not take place or a max of three games only.
3 Play all Football Championships in October/November.
1 This will mean clubs will have all players available to them.
2 Winners would represent Imokilly in the 2023 County C'ships.
3 Football league can be fully completed between February and June.”
The sooner they remove divisional boards, the better I would think!
