Congress to hear plan to end dreaded six-day turnaround

A motion abolishing the six-day turnaround for beaten provincial football finalists will be put forward at Congress in Derry next month.

However, the same proposal has wide-sweeping repercussions for the structure of the Championship in both codes as the national fixtures planning committee attempts to streamline the GAA’s summer calendar from 2014 onwards.

While the hurling championship rescheduling does not require a rule change, a rule change is required to alter the football competition as the two sides of the qualifier draws would be linked to the two sides of each provincial championship. While four weeks will be the maximum wait for any team between games, the new schedule would halve the amount of counties a football team can potentially meet in the qualifiers. Where they are drawn in their provincial championship will dictate what side of the qualifier draw they would enter.