Tommy Martin: Football and hurling are dealing with very different issues, but there is a common thread

This year’s winter agenda items speak to more fundamental matters, striking right to the viscera of the two main codes.

A general view of Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada. Picture credit: Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE

It is that time of the year when the GAA world concerns itself with hard-fought club battles and glitzy awards ceremonies. Handbags and gladrags season, you might call it.

It’s also the time for introspection and existential angst, the dead months for the intercounty scene being the high days for the committee man. Thankfully the subject of championship structures appears dormant for now, humanity having agreed to park it and focus on sorting out more straightforward problems like climate change and global poverty.