Big squeeze on clubs, but Cork will find solution

Much has been made of a number of the decisions at last week’s Annual Congress.

The introduction of the expanded football quarter-finals or ‘Super 8s’, the decision to move the All- Ireland inter-county finals to August and the withdrawal of a motion to recognise the Club Players Association have featured greatly in every conversation from the parish pump to Twitter.

One would have to have a certain amount of sympathy with the new Uachtarán Tofa, John Horan who secured a remarkable vote to be elected in the first count and has gone virtually unnoticed since. While his role over the next 12 months may be akin to that of the mother of the groom at a wedding i.e. wear a nice hat and don’t hog the limelight, he will, given his mandate, become a major player in directing the fallout from last week’s decisions.

But that is all in the future. Until then, as the clubs and inter-county teams of Cork, we have to play the hand we were dealt by Congress. The GAA is democratic by nature. Its decisions, once made, no matter how contentious, have to be abided by. To borrow a phrase attributed to St Augustine, Roma locuta est, causa finita est: Rome has spoken, the matter is finished.

From an operational point of view, the biggest challenge for Cork is provided by the combination of the so-called ‘trilogy’ of motions 4, 5 and 6. Motion 4 concerns the quarter-final group stage or ‘Super 8s’, Motion 5 brings the All-Ireland finals forward to August and Motion 6 calls for dispensing of extra-time, except for provincial and All-Ireland finals. One could debate the merits or otherwise of Motion 6 until the cows come home.

Its introduction however, other than that it changes the tradition of replays, will have no great impact on the fixture programme. For example, when Cork play in a Munster semi-final, we will still have to legislate for Cork winning or entering an All-Ireland qualifier round. This is usually played two weeks later, so the players will be unavailable to their clubs anyway.

Strange as it may seem, Motion 4 (the quarter-final group stage) as a standalone change, presents very few logistical problems. This is for much the same reason as Motion 6. It is when Motion 4 is combined with Motion 5, and the All-Ireland finals are moved forward to August, the pinch on our current fixture structure is really felt.

Cork has always played county championship games throughout the summer months. It is because of this policy that the Championship Programme has been able to expand over the past decade. Last year, there were 382 club championship fixtures played in Cork. This year, with the expansion of the Junior ‘A’ hurling and football championships and the introduction of two more U21 ‘B’ grade championships, this figure will rise to approx 410 games. That figure excludes all championship games played within each Division and in the Coiste na nÓg.

The Cork Championship Programme is normally played between April 1 and Oct 31. This is a period of 30 weeks or 210 days. If you apply a rather crude measure, this equates to two championship games every day or 14 games each week during 2017.

The condensing of the inter-county season combined with the quarter-final group stage closes off a large chunk of those 30 weeks, especially as Cork can reasonably be expected to be involved up to quarter-final stage of the Senior All- Ireland championships most years.

Up to now, if Cork are not involved at the quarter-final stages of the Munster championship; we received no byes this year, the preferred dates for playing the first rounds of the county football championships are the first two weeks in May. The first rounds of the county hurling championships are then generally played on the last Sunday of May and the June Bank Holiday weekend. The plan is then to play the second rounds of each code by the end of June. In short, Rounds 1 and 2 of the Senior hurling and football championships are played in the weekends from week 19 to week 26 on the calendar.

Normally, six of the weekends between Week 19 and 26 are available to play club games (see graphs). If Cork were to produce only the same results in 2018 as we did in 2016 however, Cork would be involved in inter-county activity on seven of these weekends. Such involvement will close down the club championship scene except in the lower grades. In 2016, for example, Cork played 124 football and hurling county championship games during weeks 19 to 26. Next year, using the same draw as a template, of the 34 Senior championship games that were scheduled and played in that period, only one game would go ahead.

The story would be much the same at Premier Intermediate level, while most of Intermediate level games could probably be played. It is important to remember also week 26 is only the end of June. If Cork make further progress in either football or hurling, all of July will be lost to club games too.

It will not get any easier to play club championship games during August. On the inter-county front, the Cork Minor hurling and football teams may progress to All-Ireland semi-finals and finals, as might our U21 hurling team. Then there will be two Sundays when the All-Ireland finals will be played. These are the biggest days of the year for the GAA and no games should ever be played in opposition to them.

It will be the month of September before a serious amount of club championship games can be played. It is then that the dual club situation will come into play. There are 52 teams in the senior grades of football and hurling in Cork. This figure is made up of 36 club sides and 16 Divisional or University teams.

There are 27 dual club, or divisional team, crossover situations before you even look at the complications of the CIT and UCC clubs. These dual situations go from the obvious ones such as St Finbarr’s, Douglas and Bishopstown to the more obscure overlaps such as Carrigtwohill and Avondhu football, Glen Rovers and Delanys and Carbery Rangers and Fermoy. What this means is you cannot play hurling and football, to any great degree, on the same weekend.

So, it could take up to 16 weeks to complete the senior county championships. Postponing games for weddings, funerals, the All-Ireland Camogie final and Ladies Football final will be nigh on impossible.

Cork made these points at Congress. Our points were noted, but Congress chose to adopt the new format for the next three years and we accept this. The question now is how will Cork clubs cope with this change? To be honest, I am optimistic about the situation. The new format for the Provincial and All-Ireland qualifiers will be in place for only three years and it does not come into place until 2018. This gives Cork a chance to explore options.

When we changed the structures of the early rounds of the Cork championships at the beginning of last year, we built in a review to take place at the end of year two; that is next autumn. While the review was originally intended to tweak issues that arose over the past two seasons, it may take on a new complexion now.

Sure, it is going to be a challenge, but what isn’t? Getting through the massive programme we have this year is a challenge in itself. If Cork can build a stadium like the new Pairc Uí Chaoimh, we can surely solve what is essentially a logistics problem. New traditions may have to be established. Perhaps some competitions may have to move forward in their entirety to reduce complications in the autumn. There is a solution out there somewhere; the challenge is to find it. Certainly, rather than sit and curse our misfortune we need to dispense with any preconceived ideas, look for the opportunities that lie within the problem and see if we can create a good news story out of the potential chaos that lies ahead.

• Diarmuid O’Donovan is Cork County Board Senior Administrator