Fixtures chaos on the cards after a spate of weekend cancellations

Inside Track with John McIntyre

WAS it the Hand of God taking umbrage with the chaotic GAA fixtures madness running through the month of January that led to the monsoon-like rainfall which hit the country last Sunday morning? Ok, that’s maybe a fanciful notion but last weekend’s dreadful weather once again underlined why scheduling so much GAA activity – inter-county, club and colleges – in the first month of the year is asking for trouble. Virtually all matches were wiped out.

If only to make a mockery of the Connacht Council’s stubbornness, I take some delight in the cancellation of Galway’s FBD League clash against Roscommon at Tuam Stadium last Sunday. Both teams had already qualified for the final and it appeared a logical move in the circumstances to double up this fixture as the decider.

Instead, common sense was thrown out the window as the bods running GAA affairs in the province – notably secretary John Prenty – argured such a scenario would impact on the integrity of the competition. You’d swear the FBD League had the status of an All-Ireland final when we all know it’s just a mickey mouse tournament.

With more matches at county and club level than ever before, the over-crowded fixtures calendar is particularly vulnerable to bad weather in the spring-time. The month of January is now inexplicably the busiest of the year as player welfare continues to be sacrificed on the altar of an expanded programme, together with squeezing the inter-county season despite the increase in championship games.

This weekend both the Nationalk hurling and football leagues are scheduled to start for the first time in January – a total of 33 matches up and down the country – and with the broken weather continuing as we go to press, there must be some chance that fixtures could fall by the wayside. With so little room to manoeuvre on the timetable, you just wonder where any postponed games will be fitted in?

Bad weather doesn’t just cause postponements. It impacts on crowds and the standard of action. Players slogging their guts out on a near mud-bath surface and supporters freezing on the terraces is not in the GAA’s best interests, but still the Association ploughs on. Sure, rugby and soccer are also impacted by the elements, but their seasons don’t stretch out the full calendar year.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.