Interprovincials may be casualty

GAELIC GAMES THE FIXTURES PROBLEM: THE CHAIR of the GAA's Central Competitions Control Committee has questioned whether there is any longer room in the fixtures' calendar for the interprovincial competitions. Against a backdrop of concern about the possible effect of bad weather on tightly-scheduled National League programmes Jimmy Dunne also called for a two-yearly review of intercounty schedules and the moving forward of third-level competitions to before Christmas.

“Every two years or so there should be a forum involving those who put together fixtures taking into consideration all scheduled matches, including intercounty competition, interprovincials, to discuss how to improve things,” he said. “I believe there’s provision for that sort of consultation in the GAA’s new strategic plan.

“There’s a lot of thought being given to that (moving the third-level competitions) because of the impact of the Fitzgibbon and Sigerson at this time of the year considering availability of dates is so restricted. I think it has to come because the months before Christmas are free time for the counties. The colleges wouldn’t be in competition for intercounty players.

“Most county championships would be finished and although the provincial championships would be still going, you can’t have everything. There has to be give.”

Explaining that the football interprovincials have had to be moved to October, creating a clash with this year’s International Rules Tests, Dunne revealed that the reason the hurling has been scheduled for the weekend after next is that the final is taking place in the Middle East.

“The final is supposed to be in Abu Dhabi and that’s why there’s so much pressure to play that game. In relation to the football we’re proposing that it be moved to October 11th with the final on the 18th. We’re also conscious that the international series is on that month but what do you do?

“With the introduction of the calendar year and the expansion of the club championships they all have a knock-on effect. Then you remove intercounty training from before Christmas and add in the qualifiers. County managers don’t regard the interprovincials in the same light as they might have 20 years ago.

“Interest in the interprovincials – outside of Ulster – is limited unless there’s a trip overseas. There is a certain justification to criticisms and you’d have to ask whether the general interest warrants this type of competition.”

The Martin Donnelly interprovincials have experienced scheduling difficulties since the competitions were formerly known as the Railway Cups. January, April, October and November have all been tried without success.

“We had to put the hurling on because there was a deadline,” according to Dunne. “If you look at the football there is an opportunity at the end of the league but can you imagine if you asked interprovincial teams to organise themselves in April, what the county managers would say about that? You wouldn’t get a team out.”

Three years ago the interprovincials also clashed with the International Rules, both going ahead in October 2006 and creating difficulties for players involved in both provincial and national panels. Last year’s competition clashed completely with the international series and the respective panels were mutually exclusive.

Dunne says that bad weather is a threat to the schedules, which see both leagues run off over 12 weekends with only one of those free – the weekend after next when the interprovincial hurling and All-Ireland club semi-finals will be played.

“Whatever way it was going to be rejigged there was always going to be pressure on somebody. The leagues are run off in a short period and we also have a number of double rounds and that compounds the difficulty in finding alternative dates.

“It’s very difficult finding dates for it particularly when you have a white-out like last Sunday, which compounds the problems. I was hoping that we’d get away with it but we lost 10 games, including Galway and Kilkenny both of whom have clubs involved in the All-Irelands. What would happen if we had another weekend like that? It would be a disaster.”

Deteriorating weather at this time of the year has emphasised the importance of counties having alternative venues.

“There’s no doubt that the weather is getting wetter and wetter. You can disregard the snow – that doesn’t happen every year – but the weather patterns are changing dramatically. It’s because of that issue that it’s so important for counties to have alternative, sand-based pitches with proper drainage.

“We’ve been sending out notices to counties to make sure that they have standby pitches. Most have done this and the ones that haven’t are being encouraged to ensure that their second grounds are of a standard capable of taking intercounty matches.”