We have a defined split season for the county game; I think one is needed for the club game now.
The above statement will garner responses of agreement or fury, but either way, hear me out on this as someone who is still playing and coaching in the club scene.
I recently met a man named Frank Canning. To many of you, that name will be unknown, but you will all know his brothers, Ollie and Joe, who were handy enough players, I'm told. Anyway, we got to chatting, and it took all of about 30 seconds before we started talking hurling. The debate above came up, and I thought it was both very interesting and worth writing about to see how people feel and would react.
Next weekend in Tipperary, as in many counties in the coming weeks, the leagues will begin. Some players would have returned to training in January for this, and I do not blame the club player or management for doing so; they want their players to be able to compete and avoid injury in these games. To achieve this, a return to training some eight weeks out would be required.
Once the league is over for your club, the championship block of preparation will kick in. Many teams will take a break of two weeks or so and then return for a 'second pre-season', if you will, to ready the body for the championship in July.
Now, the hurling championship in Tipp is very straightforward to those of us who have lived it for many years, with our divisional championships and a link to the county, but to the outsider, I may as well be trying to explain the inner workings of the atomic bomb. Basically, in Tipp, we have four divisions: North, South, West, and East – or so you would think, but we decided to do away with the East and name it Mid-Tipp instead due to our geographical shape.
At whatever point, hypothetically, Tipp were to be knocked out, there will be a divisional game three to four days after the inter-county year has ended. It will be a straight knockout, and if you win, you will play again a few days later. If you lose, your focus switches to the county championship and your group of four teams, which starts in late July.
If you win your division, you get a 'backdoor' pass to the preliminary quarter-final, should you not make it out of your group of four in the county championship. Easy-peasy to understand, right?
In my opinion, we need to cut the link between the divisions and the county championship, as I feel it is just asking for injuries. Players are expected to go from nothing to perhaps three competitive games in the space of just 10 days or so. Some will agree with that; some will want me dead for that statement, but that’s just my honest take on it.
Anyway, that’s the situation in Tipp, but let me get back to the main point.
We have a defined split season for counties; should we not have one for the clubs too? What I mean is, we are not starting our championships until late July now, but why are we starting our leagues at the same time as we did before the split season even came in?
Leagues should start later, maybe in May, and the domino effect of this should be that clubs would not go back until at least mid-to-late March to prepare. This would provide a more defined 'return to play' for the club player, but it would also save clubs a significant amount of money in expenses paid to strength and conditioning or hurling coaches.
I am not suggesting an embargo be placed on the return to play, like there is with inter-county. That can’t even be fully controlled at the county level, so you wouldn’t have a prayer of enforcing it at the club level.
I would rather say that common sense would prevail for all involved and that players and management alike at club level would see there is no point in returning so early and if you did then the reality of this is you are going to be burned out and sick of it all by the time the championship rolls around in July.
Many of you might say, "But what if we get knocked out of the club championship in September? It's an awfully long time to wait until March to get back at it." True enough. But nothing would stop a player from going to the gym, running, or playing soccer, rugby, squash, five-a-side, or padel to keep the body ticking over.
Then, when you do return, it will be to grass pitches, brighter evenings, and a real hunger for the road. Nothing compares to the feeling of that first midweek session in daylight; even at 42 years of age, I still look forward to it with great anticipation.
With the end goal being a championship in late July, May and June could still be filled with stags, weddings, or holidays, but maybe don’t head away for 10 weeks. The temptation of hurling in the sun in the USA will remain regardless, and nothing will change that for those who wish to go. I also understand that the price of success is a longer year – a 'problem' I’d kill for, by the way – but even the teams reaching All-Ireland club finals are currently back training within weeks to ready themselves for the leagues. Pushing the start date back could finally offer them a well-earned break after a long run.
So, that’s my take. I know every county does it their own way, but for the majority still getting that text on 5 January saying, "Looking forward to getting back at it this weekend," I would love to see the leagues shifted to make the preparation for late July actually make sense. To the clubs, I would say: train hard and smart for a shorter period, rather than soft and reckless for a longer one.
How long is actually needed to get ready for the championship? If I knew the answer to that, I’d be writing this from a summer house in the Maldives rather than in the rain in Tipperary. It’s horses for courses, but coming back in January to peak in July just isn't the answer anymore, in this writer's opinion, anyway.
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