Any fixture changes would have to wait

ANY CHANGES in the GAA’s central championship fixtures can only come into effect for 2013, despite a motion to Congress later this month aimed at revising the qualifier dates in order to reduce the waiting period for certain counties and also avoid the scenario where beaten provincial finalists only get six days to recover before being involved.

GAA director general Páraic Duffy yesterday confirmed that such a motion would be put before Congress on Saturday week, submitted by Central Council on behalf of the National Fixtures Planning Committee, and that if successful then moves can be made to implement it for the 2013 championship.

“If it is passed at Congress this year it wouldn’t take effect until 2013, but maybe would address that issue once and for all,” said Duffy. “But it wouldn’t affect this year.”

The motion is based around the principle that no team will have to play within one week of losing a provincial match, while three to four weeks would be the maximum time a beaten provincial team would have to wait before entering the qualifiers.

In the meantime Duffy has also expressed his satisfaction with the new format of the Allianz Hurling League, which came in for some considerable criticism before being agreed in its current format.

“I actually think it worked very well. The big challenge there was trying to find 12 teams competitive games, and I think it has done that when other years when it was two groups of eight,” he said.

“So as a personal opinion, I would think it has worked very well and it has been competitive right to the end. The relegation play-offs, semi-finals and finals will be good, so everything has worked quite well.”

Duffy also reiterated his belief that any legislation towards a ban on alcohol sponsorship in sport would be ill-timed. “There’s a shared view on that, and the view of all the sports organisations, that this is not the time to do that.

“I’m not sure that it will ever be right, but certainly when funding has been reduced, as we’ve heard today, and with all sports bodies finding it harder to attract sponsors, this is not the time.

“We want to continue to invest in sport and participation and sponsorship is a very important part of that.

“Anything that limits our ability to draw down sponsorship is a cost. We’re all singing off the same hymn sheet, that this is not the time to do it.”