Sean Kelly: Calendar year championship would be a disaster

Sean Kelly thinks it would be "a disaster" for the GAA to run off all its fixtures in the one calendar year.

Director General Paraic Duffy and others are looking to draw up a fixtures list that would see the All Ireland Club Championships concluded before Christmas in an effort to ensure a regular series of games for club players and prevent the burnout of top young players. But Kelly, who during his presidency championed and oversaw the introduction of the highly- successful provincial and All Ireland championships for junior and intermediate clubs, believes it would backfire on clubs at that grade as well as at senior level with its finals losing its St Patrick’s Day slot.

“If I wanted to do damage to the GAA I’d bring in the calendar year. It’d be a disaster. Madness. The way the club championship is now is good. Because it’s only affecting eight clubs (in each grade). You finish your provincial championships in December and you’ve two months to absorb the glory of it all. The anticipation (of the All Ireland semi-finals).

“It’s particularly magical for intermediate and junior clubs. More often than not it’s the first time in their lives they’ve experienced anything like it. In those eight weeks they have time to raise unprecedented sponsorship, everyone wants to be on board, the diaspora are looking when the final is on, the build-up is fantastic. It’s interfering with nobody!

“This year from Kerry you had Ardfert (intermediate) and Brosna (junior) in Croke Park and I met people up there supporting both clubs who had never been in Croke Park before. Some of them had flown over from America.

“Now you try to fit everything into the one calendar year. Everything is pushed back a few weeks earlier to try to get everything finished. You’re looking at playing your All-Ireland Club finals when everyone is thinking about Christmas. Instead of all the clubs in the provinces celebrating their great win and enjoying the big build-up, there’s only one club celebrating.”

As well as favouring the retention of the All-Ireland intermediate and junior championship finals being played in February, Kelly is in favour of the senior finals remaining on March 17.

“What else are you going to have on St Patrick’s Day? Back in the day we had Christy Ring and Mick O’Connell drawing 50,000 (for Railway Cup finals) and it tapered away to nothing. Then came along the club championships and we have a big event on that date again. Why would you give that up? Do they think putting Dublin on in a league game is going to have the same appeal?

“The only people I can see gaining from it (a calendar-year fixture schedule) are the stronger counties. It would allow the Dublins and Kerrys and Kilkennys have their St Vincent’s, Dr Crokes, Ballyhale players back earlier rather than be distracted by an All Ireland Club semi-final.”