THE LAST POINT: Club Player's voice has to be heard

There's a bit of me thinks I'll revisit last week's column about the weather after the rain and winds that lashed the country over the weekend, a reminder that winter is almost upon us and the threat of games falling victim to worsening conditions is growing at a time when we're only reaching the most important games of the year.

That feels like going over old ground but when the contingency plan for last weekend's final round of  the Connacht Gold SFC was that any postponed game would take place on Sunday at 1 pm and if that failed,  games were to be held on Wednesday, then we better all start thinking of ways to cope with the traditional inclement weather we get this time of year.

But I will revisit a topic that has been swirling around my mind for the past few weeks with the news that Croke Park have proposed moving the All-Ireland Senior Football and Hurling Final back a few weeks, the almost inevitable  result of an insidious campaign that has been spearheaded by the national media ever since the finals were switched to their July dates.

I'll be honest - when the switch was first made, I wasn't a fan. The inter-county season had a rhythm defined by the seasons that seemed as immutable as the tides. Clubs and counties made the best of it, scheduling their championships once their inter-county efforts ended. The old schedule with three or four week gaps between games was ideal as you could fit in a wee break, indulge your other sporting passions and not compromise your work - life balance without the fear of missing a big game.

Back in the good old days of knockout inter-county fare, you could wait from the end of March till the beginning of June for the championship or even later, the first Sunday in July back in 2000 (by the way, what a glorious day in the Hyde and what a point from Seamus Quinn). In 1994, there were four weeks between the Nestor Cup crossing the Shannon and the fabled trip to Croker.

THE LAST POINT: WEATHERING THE WEATHER A BIG FACTOR

Those were the days of one and done championships - back doors, qualifiers, Tommy Murphy Cups & All-Ireland B Championships, Group stages, calendar year Leagues and the Tailteann Cup have drastically shrunk the gap between games while also increasing the number of games. It has made for a more  intense season with a better balance of games to training but for a vocal rump of the media, the  calendar is a disaster.

You know the mantra by now - the GAA is shooting itself in the foot by ceding the  prime months  to those nebulous sports threatening to rob our players; that playing the All-Ireland Finals in late August or early September promotes gaelic games in a way that the actual matches cannot achieve and finally, to quote the Simpsons, 'will someone think of the children' - not having the All Ireland Finals in September means no trips to schools with Liam or Sam and all those children will now take up rugby, soccer or maybe even tiddlywinks!

The solution is to move the Hurling Final to the last Sunday in July, currently occupied by the Football Final which now moves to the second Sunday in August - can't have it over the August Bank Holiday Sunday because it might mess up those long weekend plans.

Sounds great in theory but no mention of the knock-on effect  for the Ladies Football Finals, the Tailteann Cup or the Camogie, the Minor or U20 grades whatever about the scheduling of club games all over the country - the only thing that matters is getting the Finals back to late August.

Does that mean all competitions  move back or is it just the final? Do the finalists get the benefit of the extra three or four weeks  or are the benefits spread around the entire country? Because from what I can see, the national media are preoccupied with only the latter stages of the championships when the big boys come to town, or Croke Park, as we like to call it! 

Think I'm raving? What game, League or championship, over the past 25 years featuring the Leitrim Men's team got the most column inches or airtime on TV and radio? It wasn't two Division 4 Finals or the Tommy Murphy Cup Final in 2006 but rather New York shocking the Green & Gold two years ago in Gaelic Park that garnered the column inches and only because of the sheer novelty of the situation.

Even Leitrim Ladies All-Ireland  triumph last year struggled for column inches and airtime - you don't have to be some savvy media expert to know little old Leitrim ranks very low in the pecking order  in the national landscape.

I don't expect Leitrim games to be covered in minute details but the GAA club scene is getting  a poor shake - Monday's Irish Independent featured over six pages on soccer, mostly the Premier League, and a paltry two on the Ireland Women's Rugby team in a World Cup Quarter Final.

There was one page  on boxing that focused on the sad passing of Ricky Hatton with a tiny bit on Roscommon's new World Champion Aoife O'Rourke. Racing had two pages and the World Athletics Championships the back page while there was a bit about the turmoil in cycling's Vuelta Espana.

All of these sports deserve what they get and more, but what about the GAA with games in every corner of the country? A bit less than two pages that focused entirely on two club games in Kerry mainly because David Clifford was in action. Nothing wrong with that but I single out the Indo because Pat Spillane is leading the charge to elongate the inter-county season, all supposedly due to the loss of visibility of the GAA.

That is the fundamental problem - to the national media, the GAA is the county game, the be all and end all, while to the vast majority of the GAA watching public, the club game is just as important, probably more so, but it simply doesn't rate unless there is a controversy like a mixed-up two point scoring or a sending off or a good auld fashioned melee.

Talk to the GAA public and, it has to be said, the majority of the players and the split season as it is a hit - sure, some miss September in Croke Park but the big complaint is not the early finish of the inter-county season but the late start of club championship action all over the country.

Back when the Club Players Association was formed, I didn't see the need for it but the work they did and the subsequent success of the split season changed my mind so you can see why I was delighted to read that the body are considering re-forming given the threat to the club eco-system now. 

THE LAST POINT: TRANSFER WINDOW MADNESS BAFFLING

I also got to thinking about other reasons why the calendar shouldn't be changed thanks to a message I got over the weekend from a community activist with a strong GAA connection, opening my eyes to other possibilities - I tend to think of the All-Ireland Finals in purely a sporting context but what about the communities all over Ireland who have adjusted to the new reality of GAA's season? 

Pushing the season back a few weeks, or more if the traditionalists have their way, will have a huge  impact on community festivals the length and breadth of the country? The All-Ireland Finals overshadow everything, families start looking at budgets and community events that have carved out a nice niche for themselves are bludgeoned by the hype over All-Ireland Finals.

The GAA prides itself as more than a sporting body, sometimes too much so, but as a community organisation, they've got to look at more than the insular concerns of the national media or those of commercial interests like O'Neills who have gone on record saying they want a return to the good old days because a longer inter-county season means more product sold.

Everyone has their own self interest but the GAA is supposed to be more than the inter county game - moving the All-Irelands back to August, with all the knock-on effects for clubs and communities, does a huge disservice to the ideals of the GAA, that club and community is the heart of all.