Proposal by Wexford

[Hyper]

LS, Maybe now is the time to put forward your proposal re the rearranging of the fixtures schedule.

Wexford want All-Ireland finals brought forward
Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Wexford will table a motion at next month’s GAA Congress proposing that the All-Ireland senior hurling and football finals be brought forward to August.

The Model County are calling for the hurling final to be played on the second Sunday in August, with the football decider taking place two weeks later. This year’s finals have already been brought forward a week to September 3 and 17 respectively to avoid a clash with the Ryder Cup, but Wexford believe that the showpiece games should be played earlier so that more time becomes available for club activity.

“We believe that this is a sensible way to facilitate clubs who find themselves being squeezed from all sides by the county scene during the summer and early autumn,” said Wexford secretary Mick Kinsella.

“Bringing forward the All-Ireland finals to August would demand a tightening of the entire championship schedule but that should be possible. There’s too wide a gap between some of the various rounds at present.”

Kinsella added that dual counties such as Wexford found it extremely difficult to run off their championships because of county demands but the situation would be greatly alleviated if the All-Ireland finals were staged in August.

“It would give counties an extra month for their club championships. As things stand, counties have to run off their local championships virtually on a week-by-week blitz late in the season.

“We believe that earlier All-Ireland finals are one way of alleviating the problem. We keep hearing that the clubs are the bedrock of the Association so we would hope that counties would support our proposal for earlier All-Ireland finals.”

[Kevin]

I don't know the practicality of it on the ground (as I am not on the ground), but that timing and allowing for the clubs to get underway would seem to have its merits.

Hopefully we can help them in their quest to start their championship early by sending them into a qualifiers bracket by 5PM on June 11th.