Ahead of next Thursday's Connacht Council GAA Convention, Provincial Secretary John Prenty has questioned whether counties have reviewed their own club fixtures programme to take into account the increased number of games at inter-county level in 2018. In his detailed annual report looking back on all aspects of playing activity and achievements in the province, Prenty also questioned the continuing increase in spending on the preparation of county teams, who are "locked into a system where we must copy what other teams, including professional outfits, are doing and to hell with the cost." Below is an excerpt of John Prenty's report for next Thursday night....
Club Fixtures Scheduling
In my report last year I concluded by saying:
“Finally I wish to encourage all of our county officers and especially those charged with fixture making to embrace the new changes and enhance the fixtures scheduling for the benefit of our clubs. I recognise the difficulties encountered with county team managers in balancing the schedule of club fixtures, involving county panellists versus the inter-county schedule. The time for double talk is over and as a council we will be adequately monitoring the progress. We have a responsibility to ensure that we reward good practice and put monetary penalties in place for those that do not comply. “This is our last chance to get the balance right and if we fail the alternative may be to remove club fixture scheduling and management out of the hands of county officers and out of the influence of county team managers” Tonight I pose the question: “Has anybody taken heed of that statement?”
➢ Has any county reviewed the fixtures in their county to take into account of the increased level of inter-county activity?
➢ Are we still trying to fit a quart into a pint bottle?
➢ Have our clubs any say on the fixtures schedule in their county?
➢ Are clubs being bullied into submission?
➢ Are rounds of the championship being played in April with a break of up to 20 weeks for the next round?
➢ Are starred games being played in December?
➢ Have county officers completely submitted to the inter-county scene?
➢ Is your county adhering to rial 6.22?
➢ Are you like Basil Fawlty when asked did your county break rule 6.22 and you answer, “I remember nothing”?
Most of the fixture problems being encountered by clubs have solutions in each of our counties. The question is where do we start? Do we want to continue with the round robin Hurling Championship, which has been very successful? Do we want to continue with the football qualifiers or do we want to go back to the pre-qualifier days and have a knock-out competition? It is unlikely that we will ever return to the old ways and consequently our
Counties will have to be creative in how they manage the whole club fixtures programme. Each county is an ‘independent republic’ and manage as best suits them. Nationally, since 2016, the main policy of the Association has been the development of a Club Fixtures Strategy. The following changes have been made:
- Changes to rules and competitions structures at Congress & Central Council
- Two significant club windows in the calendar year
- April window (between league and championship) end of the inter-county season
- Making August, September and October an enhanced period of intense activity for the club game at adult level.
There is no doubt that this period has been of enormous benefit to our club games and the emergence of teams like Mullinalaghta and Gaoth Dobhair, plus the major promotional work of TG4 has made those months special in the history of the GAA calendar. Since the strategy of prioritising club fixtures was developed it is interesting to compare the situation in 2015 v 2018. This will help expose some of the myths being promoted by those who wish to portray our club fixtures as being chaotic:
➢ Almost four extra weeks per county available for club fixtures in 2018 v 2015 (121 extra weeks created) from the end of the inter-county season to the end of October.
➢ In 2015, there were 15 Counties (47%) who were left with less than 10 available weeks (some as little as four) between their elimination from inter-county competition and the last weekend of October.
➢ In 2018, only four counties (12%) will have less than 10 weeks – two counties will have eight weeks.
➢ 29 of 32 counties will have benefited positively from the changes (or will have the same number of weeks as pre-change)
➢ While the above all relates to the amount of time being created for counties post their exit from the inter-county championships, all the above is in addition to the April window created for club activities.
➢ There was a 12% drop in the number of sanctions to the New York, US GAA and Canadian since 2015.
➢ Obviously there are a number of negatives, which are difficult to circumvent, experienced by counties who had previously been able to play some rounds of championship in the gaps between games in May and June in particular.
Nationally, it is planned to bring all stakeholders together later in the year to examine all aspects of fixtures scheduling. In order to help counties develop a coherent fixtures schedule the National Fixture Analysts Committee has developed a number of quality statements to assist fixture makers in their mammoth task. They should be used as a guide to ensure best practice in each county:
- The adult league season should begin no earlier than February.
- The adult league season should be concluded by the end of October.
- The season’s length should be between six to nine months for every player (in terms of internal competitions only)
- Adult players should have the following meaningful competition games during the season (meaningful games = league and championship)
- A master fixtures plan should be circulated to all clubs before the end of February.
- The start and end dates specified in the master fixture plan should be met
- Confirmed weekly fixtures should be posted on the county website before 10 a.m. on Tuesday each week during the season
- All adult championship fixtures – including relegation play-offs where relevant – should be completed by the end of October
- The finals for competitions that progress onto provincial level, should be played at least two weekends before a team is required to play in the provincial championship
- No team should be eliminated from the championship (including relegation play-offs) before the start of July
- Games in the adult championship that were drawn, did not affect the scheduled dates for the remaining rounds of the competition
- The maximum gap between official games for any club’s first team should be three weeks
- A county should review their postponements and re-fixture policy every year and circulate these policies to clubs
- Where pitches for county league games are unplayable, counties should have regulations that provide that the game is moved to the away team’s pitch
- The master fixture plan should contain a contingency in the event a county exits the championship earlier than planned or progress further than planned
- No rounds of the championship – as originally laid out in the master fixture plan – should be postponed due to the progression of any county team
- No rounds of the league – as originally laid out in the master fixture plan – should be postponed due to the progression of any county team
- A forum/review should be planned with engagement with players and club representatives before the end of the year and before the master fixture plan for the year is commenced
- The county officers/CCC should meet with county managers before the master fixture plan for the year is commenced
- There should be provisions included in the county teams/players charter that outline when players will be released to play with their club.
Are the above being adhered to in your county?
Finally, I repeat what I said last year: “This is our last chance to get the balance right and if we fail the alternative may be to remove club fixture scheduling and management out of the hands of county officers and out of the influence of county team managers.” The future is now.
The cost of preparation of Inter-county Teams
Almost €6m has been spent in the province in 2018 in this area. Is this sustainable? Do the clubs know what the budget was or did they approve it? Are we getting value for money? The mantra of our county officers is that: “Our players deserve only the best” which is true but the players come in very low in the expenditure chain. Huge amounts are being spent of backroom teams and professional services which appear to be uncontrollable with numbers as large as a small hospital!
- Are all backroom teams’ personnel agreed on the managers charter?
- Are they getting the same expenses as the players?
It appears that we are locked into a system where we must copy what other teams, including professional outfits, are doing and to hell with the cost. It is ironic that at a time when we are spending more than ever before that Gaelic football, in particular, it is losing spectator appeal and TV audience appeal. The results of the ESRI report are frightening. Players are spending a huge portion of their careers and time in training in particular. Players are beginning to question the time commitment involved and as an Association it is now time to put a process in place whereby the welfare of our players must be protected in order for our games to flourish by addressing the time commitments required of players. Maybe it is time that a fair play financial ceiling is put in place on how much should be spent on inter-county teams?
