Split the split season: Galway plan to separate hurling and football

Padraig Mannion of Galway hurlers and Damien Comer of Galway footballers. Pics: Sportsfile

Galway have devised a draft proposal to overhaul the inter-county calendar with exclusive senior football and hurling weekends from 2026.

In a document they have submitted to Croke Park, all but two weekends of a January to July season would be organised on a football or hurling-only basis.

Citing too many games in a condensed period, injuries to players, spiralling costs because of the intensity of the season, the absence of jeopardy in the round-robin stages of the current All-Ireland SFC structure, and a lack of space for games in each code “to get exposure from a media and PR perspective”, Galway plan to go about giving each code priority time by reducing football fixtures.

They recommend cutting the minimum number of total league and championship football games a county can play from 11 as it is presently to nine and maximum from the current total of 18 to 15. Hurling’s minimum and maximum AHL and SHC matches of nine and 16 would change to 10 and 15 respectively.

As part of a plan the dual county have put in circulation, the only time football teams would play over successive weekends is at the outset of the provincial competitions, with only eight counties affected.

No hurling championship fixtures would be played on back-to-back weekends and the Leinster SHC would be sliced from six to five counties.

Galway have put forward a largely alternate weekend calendar for inter-county football and hurling, i.e. one week on, one week off. They envisage football would enjoy 14 of 16 weekends to itself while 13 of 15 weekends would be hurling-only.

The only football and hurling double/crossover weekends they consider are two occasions in spring when there would be provincial football matches on at the same time as Allianz Hurling League fixtures.

Galway see the majority of the provincial football championships running concurrently with the Allianz Football Leagues and the Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster SFC finals taking place in June, two weeks after the league deciders.

Those provincial finals would also serve as part of the All-Ireland SFC first round games with the other eight teams qualifying on the basis of their league position/Tailteann Cup success in the other half. Another qualifier round would follow before the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

They are also looking for hurling’s All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals to be disbanded and home advantage in the quarter-finals between the provincial runners-up and the third team in the opposing province to be staged at the home of the county with the better league record in that year.

Galway believes it’s in the GAA’s best interests that under-age inter-county competitions be played on the opposite weekend of its adult code. That way, Cork’s 60-hour rule between U20 and senior games would not be required. They also feel the additional space gives greater scope for the Sigerson and Fitzgibbon Cup.

In explaining the context to their plan, Galway underline their commitment to the split season: “The answer is less but more meaningful inter-county games, not a longer inter-county season. Slightly less but more meaningful inter-county games will reduce demand and injury load on our inter-county players, reduce costs on county boards, increase spectator attendance, give space for both codes to get more exposure and re-energise our under-age inter-county competitions.

“It is also prompted by the absolute necessity of maintaining the current calendar dates for the benefit of club players and particularly dual clubs and dual players. At its core, the GAA is about participation. Any return to a reduced window of games for players at club level will lead to a reduced numbers of people playing our games in worse conditions.

“A top line example of what the extension of the inter-county season would mean in Galway is as follows: the end of the dual player and the dual club, the end of our U19/U20 club championships and a reduced number of guaranteed championship games for all our players to two games. This would be compounded by a higher inter-county spend combined with reduced income from our club championships.” 

Galway’s plan also considers the All-Ireland senior finals taking place one weekend after the other and the inter-county season concluding in July. They have also consulted with the Gaelic Players Association and seek the end of pre-season competitions.

They conclude: “They key element of this proposal is the capped number of games for inter-county and the primacy of a week on/week off model. The only constraint on alternative structures is they fit the principle of week on/week off bar minimum exceptions.”