What will the delayed GAA season look like? Here are four possible scenarios

John Fogarty breaks down what competitions may have to be shortened or sacrificed depending on when the GAA returns

A sign on the entrance gate at Watergrasshill GAA Club. Picture: Denis Minihane

Want to know when Gaelic games will return? Look to the schools. When their gates open, the chances are so too will those of the centre of excellences and grounds for inter-county training.

“When the schools closed on March 13, we were ready to shut things down,” GAA director general Tom Ryan told this newspaper last May. “So much of what we do is centred around kids and schools that it just wasn’t going to be sustainable for us to carry on.”

A month’s delay is the general projection right now, with both the Allianz Leagues and Championships being retained as per the formats agreed last month. It’s a wait many involved in administration and the playing of games can live with, although the knock-on effect on the club championship start dates would be regretted, especially with some 2020 games still to be played.

The GAA’s finance department won’t be overly unhappy about August All-Ireland finals and possibly semi-finals either, simply because there is a better prospect of crowds being able to attend those games than in July. After all, over 80% of the GAA’s gate receipts are generated by six games a year.

But what if the GAA can come back sooner or are made to wait longer? We break down the possible scenarios:

TWO-WEEK DELAY — March 12 start date.

An unlikely scenario unless schools begin to return after the mid-term break on February 22. In such a situation, there would be little or no impact on the structures of the Allianz Leagues and the Championship, only the scheduling. 

As GAA director of club, player, and games administration Fergal McGill told The Irish Times last week, “Training was supposed to resume on January 15 but we can probably hold off until mid-February before we contemplate cutting competitions or compromising on the time available to clubs.”

Because of a free weekend built into the original 2021 calendar revealed last month, the All-Ireland hurling and football finals, due to take place on July 11 and 18, respectively, would need move back only a week. 

Instead of December, the 2021 All-Ireland club semi-finals would be pushed into January 2022 along with the final, with most counties’ club championships commencing in early to mid-August. 

Retaining the 14-week period for counties to complete their championship will be an objective for the GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee.

FOUR-WEEK DELAY — March 26 start date

If schools return on March 5, then inter-county training won’t be too far behind. A four-week run-in is regarded as a suitable preparation period, but as the Irish Examiner reports today, there have been suggestions that could be reduced by a week should the GAA really feel the squeeze on time.

A month’s delay and the Allianz Hurling League may have to be truncated, the six-team divisional groups possibly mixed up and split geographically into groups of three (possible groups: Division 1 South: Cork, Limerick, Tipperary; Division 1 East: Kilkenny, Waterford, Wexford; Division 1 West: Clare, Galway, Westmeath; Division 1 North: Antrim, Dublin, Laois) with quarter-finals brought in so each team is guaranteed three games instead of the five as per the original schedule.

There is a free weekend in the original football league plan but that may have to fall by the wayside or semi-finals could be scrapped. 

The Championship could begin in May and be completed in August, based on the agreed qualifier formats, with the club calendar consequently pushed back a month.

SIX-WEEK DELAY — April 9 start date

Outside of the financial argument, such a postponement would give reason for the Allianz Leagues to be abandoned for the year but there is a reluctance to do so in the GAA’s president’s office and among the CCCC when entry to the football championship qualifiers and the yet-to-be launched Tailteann Cup is contingent on finishing league positions. 

Do away with the leagues and the structure of the SFC would have to be amended. Even a scaled-down league would have to be reflected in the football championship. 

In the absence of a league, counties will need warm-up games, although reviving the pre-season provincial competitions might not be a runner given the same teams could be facing each other in the actual provincial championships. 

But if challenge games were to be permitted from the weekend after Easter, the GAA could begin the championships not too long after they had scheduled on April 17.

EIGHT-WEEK DELAY — April 23 start date

Goodbye to the 2020 leagues if inter-county games haven’t commenced by this point. 

The CCCC may also have to review if it is possible to incorporate qualifier systems should further delay be caused to the club championships. 

Using January 2021 to conclude 2020 provincial club championships will be regarded a no-go for administrators and the latest the provincial club campaigns will be able to start is mid-November.