GPA chiefs says seven-month inter-county GAA season would be 'blockbuster'

92% of players want the entire inter-county GAA season to last just seven months, or less.

GPA CEO Tom Parsons said there are "tweaks" which could be made to create a seven-month inter-county GAA season. Pic: ©INPHO/Ben Brady

Gaelic Players Association chief Tom Parsons has insisted that slimming down the inter-county window to just seven months - from the start of pre-season training to the All-Ireland final - is achievable.

The GPA's annual membership survey for 2025 revealed that a whopping 92% of players want the entire inter-county season to last just seven months, or less.

Almost two thirds, 63%, of players said they favoured a seven-month window with another 29% stating that they would like the county season to be even shorter.

Current county teams will be permitted to return to collective training on November 21 with the 2026 All-Ireland football final taking place on July 26, over eight months later.

To put the figures into a traditional context, when a staggered return to training was in place ahead of the 2016 season, November 15, 2015 was the initial date permitted for certain teams to return with the 2016 season not ending until October 1 when Dublin played Mayo in an All-Ireland football final replay.

Asked if it was feasible for the GAA to strip back their competitions calendar even further to accommodate the seven-month window, Parsons maintained it was.

"Well look, the GAA has already recognised that the group stages (of the SFC) amounted to too many games so that's changed already for next year," said Parsons.

"So that's one game down. I think the GAA has also recognised that pre-season competitions, in the long-run, are just not viable, so that's another month down.

"Are there other mechanisms to find another two weeks? There is. The leagues could be restructured. You could strip the league finals. You could have three leagues of Division 1, 2 and 3 and split them into 1A and 1B so you can, of course, find extra time. There are tweaks there to find a seven-month season. And then what you have is that seven-month season, a blockbuster, which is really positive."

A similar majority of players, 87%, said there should be a 'mandated off-season for all inter-county players'. Half of respondents pointed to a 'no-contact November' as the best option for this closed season.

Responding on a wide range of topics and issues, a total of 3,676 players, across the GPA's male and female member base, also touched on the amateur status issues of payments to managers as well as the playing rules of their games and the issue of drug taking among players.

Of the male players, 64% said they were content with the current amateur status - that figure drops to 58% among the stronger Sam Maguire Cup teams - while 75% favoured some form of payment to managers, 'over and above expenses'.

Asked what form the payments to managers should take, a 'fixed stipend payment' was backed by 41%% with 34% suggesting a 'full annual salary and contract'.

"Any conversations I've had with players, the vast majority are aware that there's some form of payment happening at inter-county level," said Parsons, the former Mayo midfielder. "And they're very aware of what's happening on the club circuit.

"I think, A, it's transparency and, B, there are a lot of professionals within Gaelic Games already. The GAA pays for professional coaches at development level, there's 350 of them.

"And then, at senior level, when clubs have invested so much time in these players, we hand it over to somebody that has no qualifications and isn't given the adequate time to do it."

Parsons noted that inter-county hurlers have been more supportive of the GAA's amateur status than footballers.

"That has been consistent over the years," he said, explaining that footballers may simply have not been enjoying their product as much as hurlers.

On the rules front, 95% of footballers said the new rules in 2025 had improved their playing experience. But 92% of ladies footballers want a review of their rules with 78% calling for 'more physicality' and 87% claiming the current tackle isn't adequately defined or policed. Almost all players, 97% , said they would favour 'some incidental contact' whilst tackling.

Perhaps concerningly, 20% of players believe that recreational drug use is an issue among inter-county players with a further 41% saying they weren't sure if it was.