Having April club month merely a token gesture

A second April intended for club-only weekend games is almost upon us and the question remains why. Why the need for such a token gesture when it’s blatantly obvious that the county and club seasons must not be played off in blocks but in unison? Anyone who thinks the forthcoming measure is doing the clubs a massive favour is sorely misled. Those pockets for club championship games many counties had between inter-county activity in mid-summer pre-2018 have now been brought forward to an unreliable weather month.

Last summer, former Kilkenny star Tommy Walsh bemoaned the empty fields in May, June, and July and called for the return of club tournaments to help fill the void. His exasperation is shared by many club players who while they have more exclusive weekends — as many as nine in a lot of counties — are finding they lack in quality. It’s been correctly stressed the April concept was never intended for club championship fixtures and so it has transpired — over 50% of counties didn’t commence championships until the end of June and 11 senior football nine hurling commenced last April. As they will next month, club league matches were played this past weekend and throughout March irrespective of inter-county fixtures. So what is the intention of the April club zone again, please? For county players to play league games for their clubs? But then not every county operates the starred games policy.