Nicky English: Hurling being undermined by the crammed calendar of the last three years

Oasis may have put the final nail into hopes of expanding the fixtures window for next year’s intercounty championship.
It’s not thought likely to change at Saturday’s Central Council meeting and I suspect minds were already made up about next year’s calendar.
I am glad though that in future there is likely to be a replay of drawn All-Ireland finals rather than extra time.
I equally believe that hurling is being undermined by what has happened in the past three seasons. Some of that may have to be accepted for the greater good but there are other issues that could be addressed in the interests of everyone. Even two additional weeks in the calendar could alleviate problems.
First, there is the time of year, which is one of those problems that can’t be addressed but it is worth acknowledging that it has a role in compromising the quality of championship play.
I’ve made the point previously that there is a lot of hurling being played in bad weather. Who knows what the weather patterns are going to be but we are pushing back into the year, leaving only the All-Ireland semi-finals and final being played at the height of summer.
The Munster final was played in very cold conditions this year, admittedly unusually cold, but the closer you get to May, the more that is likely to happen. Play is a step slower when the championship starts. It’s a different surface.
In traditional terms, it’s end of league conditions. League semi-finals always ran the chance of being quite poor. This was for a few reasons – imbalance of motivation, lack of competitiveness but one of them definitely was the pitches were on the turn.
Agronomy is more advanced than it was but at the same time, it’s less than ideal.
Short of playing every Munster match in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, which has had millions invested in its playing surface, it appears that we just have to accept two different standards of hurling as the season progresses.
From a marketing and promotional perspective, we are playing a lot of big games in direct competition with the climax of the English Premier League and the European Champions Cup in rugby. The rugby isn’t guaranteed an Irish interest but it has happened consistently over the past few years with all the associated hype.
Two years ago, the All-Ireland hurling final weekend was up against Ireland winning a Test series in New Zealand and Rory McIlroy being one of the last group out on the final day of the British Open. There was no question of the hurling being overshadowed but it was fighting for finite space.
This complicates things for the GAA as does the number of hurling matches in particular that are streamed on GAAGo. I have no problem with subscription broadcasting but using a platform that is difficult for many people to access – between technical issues and broadband quality – in my view impedes proper promotion of the game.
Again, that comes with the territory but other matters are more easily addressed. It was ridiculous that three of the championship’s last five games threw in before 4pm on a Saturday. Hurling needs better promotion. If you’re trying to push the game in Dublin where the crowds are slow to come out for the hurlers, you have to do better than that.
Their opponents Cork are the best supported team in the country but you’re asking them to play in Thurles at 1.15pm on a Saturday in an All-Ireland quarter-final. That makes no sense whatsoever and is in effect downgrading the game and the championship.
I’d like to see the quarter-finals played on a Sunday. A semi-final shouldn’t be played at 3pm on a Saturday. Again, I have no problem with the day but it needs to be at a time when the full focus of the audience can be on it.
Then, on occasion there are simply too many matches. You have days when two Leinster and two Munster fixtures are up against each other. This logjam has resulted in some matches not being screened at all – notoriously, last year when one of the big traditional set pieces of the hurling summer, Wexford v Kilkenny, wasn’t shown anywhere and of course it turned out to be a firework display of a game.
If you are trying to promote hurling to an audience that flicks in and out of it, like audiences do with most other sports, it is not ideal that momentum isn’t really reached until the All-Ireland semi-finals and final. Then the season is over.
One of the biggest disadvantages is the way in which the hurling champions are no sooner crowned than attention switches to the onrushing football final. You get a quick flash of Clare coming home but there’s no time for further reflection before high-profile hurling heads off into the sunset.
There will be club fixtures but they don’t have the same penetration with the public for obvious reasons. An extra week between the finals would make a significant difference to hurling’s ability to stay in the public mind a little longer.
The intense concentration of fixtures can have other consequences. For one reason or another there were injuries going into this year’s final. Two of the game’s top forwards were affected – Hurler of the Year elect Shane O’Donnell and leading points scorer Patrick Horgan both came into the final carrying injuries. Another, Tony Kelly, was only coming back after missing a lot of game time.
Even switching focus for a moment to the football final, Galway’s three marquee forwards, Shane Walsh, Damien Comer and Rob Finnerty had injury concerns going into the final. Finnerty had to go off early and neither of the others played anywhere near form. That was operating off the same timetable.
You can gain a week immediately by getting rid of the preliminary All-Ireland quarter-finals, which are an anomaly. The McDonagh Cup winners will have access to the Liam MacCarthy the following season, which is how promotion works in most sports.
I accept that this doesn’t buy you an additional week – because counties wouldn’t be asked to play an All-Ireland quarter-final seven or eight days after losing a provincial final – but it would reduce wear and tear on players.
Not getting time to breathe means that people’s attention often wanders. In theatrical terms, too many big productions are being moved off-Broadway and I think that has to be damaging over time.
Saturday’s Central Council meeting has a significant agenda to consider, writes Seán Moran
The main outcomes are likely to be the recommended restoration of replays after drawn All-Ireland finals – on foot of feedback to the CCCC review – and endorsement of a new format for the football championship although there may be pushback from delegates concerning implementation, which is being proposed as not taking effect until 2026.
The motion proposes making no changes to the football championship for 2025, which rules out any more extensive calendar footprint.
A number of counties are believed to want the new format installed for next summer’s championship.
It provides for the abolition of the All-Ireland round-robin stage, which has attracted criticism for its lack of jeopardy – the 12 group matches eliminated only four of 16 teams.
In its place is proposed a qualifier-type arrangement with the eight provincial finalists playing the next eight counties, ranked by league finish, in a knockout round.
Winners of the four fixtures involving the provincial champions will go straight to the All-Ireland quarter-finals whereas the losers of those fixtures will face the other four teams in a preliminary quarter-final.
The Football Review Committee, chaired by Jim Gavin, will also present proposals for rule changes, to go to November’s special congress.
These are likely to include the requirement for a defending team to keep three players inside their 65m line, an arc 40 metres from each goal outside of which a ball kicked over the bar is worth two points; a provision that a fouled player can play on from a free; increase the value of a goal to four points; the ball being brought forward up to 50 metres for an act of dissent or cynical fouling.
Gavin briefed county managers on the proposed changes on Thursday night.