GAA Championship structures need sledgehammer approach

The Championship structure is unfair and hopelessly outdated, club players are treated disgracefully, and excessive demands are being placed on county footballers, suggests Paddy Heaney.

And the GAA’s solution to these deep-rooted and age-old problems?

The leadership wants to bring the All-Ireland finals forward by one or two weeks. (They’re still not sure).

As remedies go, it’s like using a plaster to mend a broken leg.

A brief summary of the main challenges facing the GAA is as follows: The bloated inter-county season subsumes nine months of the year.

Club fixtures are an administrative nightmare. The elongated county calendar means it’s impossible to provide club players with a fixed programme of games.

Too much is being asked of county players. The combined demands of club and county means they are faced with a never ending season.

The provincial Championship structure, a hangover from the 19th Century, provides an unfair advantage to the strongest counties in Munster and Connacht……….. see more at :- http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/columnists/paddy-heaney/gaa-championship-structures-need-sledgehammer-approach-300772.html