Split-season issues still a talking point at club and county level
There was a big debate at the recent Kilkenny GAA Convention
The split-season has largely been seen as a big success story in the GAA but as the Annual Convention showed, there are still a couple of issues affecting both the club and county game that still need to be sorted out.
Patrick O’Flynn who is the Kilkenny coaching officer along with his club Muckalee brought a motion forward looking to amend Rule 3,46 that stated.
“To fall in line with split season policy in place at inter-county level, the development CCC should ensure the hurling inter-county competitions including blitz tournaments such as the Arrabawn, Tony Forristal and Eugene Carey finish no later than the second Saturday in August. The football equivalents should finish no later than the third Saturday in August.”
This motion came together after the underage inter-county competitions ran deep into the summer months and in some cases effected club fixtures in the county during the past season.
There has been further talks that the Development CCC, who run the competitions, are planning on extending the season in both football and hurling till October which would have big consequences in a county like Kilkenny.
Muckalee gave a passionate plea for the motion on the night with the clubs and schools at the heart of the discussion.
“We are either a split-season or we are not - and we must think of the wellbeing of our players and our clubs and schools in decisions like this,” they said.
There was almost universal agreement in the room and the motion will now go forward to Congress for further discussion.
On the same split-season subject, the Fenians club brought forward a recommendation to look at extending the length of the club season where they advised on a nine-week minimum league/championship season to be looked at for all flagship club teams in the county.
Coupled with that, Clara also brought a dual recommendation offering a two week break from Kilkenny’s exit in the senior hurling campaign to the start of the club championship except in the case of reaching the All-Ireland final where a one week break would suffice.
As well as the two clubs mentioned, Bennettsbridge also added to the debate in looking for a bit of an extension to the club season.
“The introduction of the split-season has completely squeezed the club calendar which means if a player gets a bad injury, his whole year could be gone which is not fair either.
“While the split-season has had merit, there was always going to be a bit of a drawback for club players and that’s what’s happened,” they said.
“We’ve a fantastic league/championship in Kilkenny and it worked really well before the split season while it’s all a little rushed now.”
Vice-Chair Jim Fennelly acknowledged that club players needed to know well in advance on when games may take place and it’s difficult to strike the balance with the Leinster club campaign taking place in November.
“The issue here is maybe certainty and players need certainty of when they are going to begin that first round of the league.
“I spoke to Cork about this last year and when they are planning their master fixtures, they plan it as if they are going to win the All-Ireland Football and Hurling in the same year and by that they mean that the master fixture list should show a start date,” he said.
“Our own fixtures do need a bit of certainty as well as we can’t just wait and see what may happen in the All-Ireland series.
“We have 13 weeks to run nine weeks of hurling action from the current start date and allowing for a weather alert or a bereavement, you could be caught for time with Leinster games fixed for the beginning of November.”
The CCC said they will look at it so you can expect to hear more about this in the new year.
There was also good debate around the structure of the Premier Junior Hurling Championship with the Emeralds club calling for the removal of second teams which got considerable kickback from the likes of O’Loughlin Gaels, Clara and James Stephens and while it will be debated again, the championship will remain the same in the 2025 season