GAA has no issue with Meath cup initiative

THE GAA has no issue with the staging of intercounty challenge cups even though they run close to flouting the so-called closed season.

Meath club Gaeil Colmcille, in association with the Meath County Board, has revived the Fitzsimons Cup Intercounty Challenge, which in previous incarnations had run since the 1930s, and which has attracted four counties, Meath, Louth, Armagh, and Cavan.

The challenge begins with a double-header in Páirc Tailteann in Navan this Saturday, starting with Armagh against Cavan (5.30), followed by Meath against Louth (7.0). The final will then be played on Saturday week, October 29th – just two days short of the GAA’s official winter training ban, which prohibits any collective training or senior intercounty matches throughout November and December.

The Fitzsimons Cup, coincidentally, is a replica of the Sam Maguire, and the challenge could be viewed as affording the participating counties something of a head start in their preparations for the 2012 championship – when most other counties are either willingly or unwillingly already adhering to the closed season.

However, when questioned on the issue recently, GAA director general Páraic Duffy said counties were still free to do what they wanted this month.

“October is okay,” he said. “If you told me it was the first of November I’d be asking who the counties were. From November on is the problem, although I accept there are breaches all over the place.”

Whatever about possible breaches in November and December, playing intercounty challenges in October still runs somewhat contradictory to the principle of the closed season: the idea was first put forward as one of the proposals of the GAA’s Burnout Committee to lessen the burden on players, many of whom also have club and college commitments at this time of the year.

The problem for counties like Meath, Louth, Armagh, and Cavan is that they’ve already been idle for almost four months, or in some cases longer: Cavan and Louth haven’t played since losing in round one of the All-Ireland qualifiers on June 25th, while Meath and Armagh both exited in round three, on July 16th and 23rd respectively.

Meath manager Séamus McEnaney has suggested he will use Saturday’s challenge to start blooding new players for 2012.

Yet there is every chance this will be the last winter of the training bans, or at least in its current form – as the GAA has recognised to need bring some balance to the closed season. Central Council is set to send a motion to amend the controversial restriction at next year’s Congress, which, as Duffy explained, would see a “phased closed season”, whereby counties would be allowed return to training based on when they exited the championship.

It’s too late for this year, but the plan for 2012 is to continue a two-month training ban, although counties that exited in June or July would be allowed back training in November or December, and likewise those who exit in August. Only the All-Ireland finalists, who play into September, would still be prohibited from starting back before January 1st. The Australia Football League uses a similar system and that’s known to work well.

In the meantime €10, payable on the night, will gain you entry to all matches in the Fitzsimons Cup – good value for what will be the last intercounty matches, at least legally, until next January.

On a separate issue, the Gaelic Players Association will assess the desire to amend the entire championship structure by staging a vote on the matter as part of their agm in Dublin tomorrow.

The intention is to put forward a proposal for a Champions League-style format, thus doing away with the provincial championship, and if this receives the necessary backing the GPA would then engage with Central Council with a view to bringing a motion on such a proposal to the 2013 GAA Congress.

It’s also been agreed that the new joint GAA-GPA All Star scheme will see the 2011 hurling selection first announced to the written and broadcast media, sometime later today, while the 2011 football selection will be announced live at the All Star banquet tomorrow evening (live on RTÉ 1, from 7pm-8pm).