Nickey Brennan: Crammed fixtures and focus on football rules have hurt hurling
Former GAA president Nickey Brennan argues the combination of a condensed inter-county championship period and football's new rules have taken away from the publicity of hurling.
A clash of broadcasted provincial hurling championship fixtures this Sunday means followers won't be able to take in the three top-tier hurling games in Leinster and Munster.
Brennan also stresses there is less written and said about hurling matches staged on Saturdays, but the Kilkenny man's bigger point is the scheduling difficulties are symptomatic of 'such a short window and you have to cram the matches in.'
He says: 'Let me be clear, I am not for one minute underestimating the challenges faced by the national CCC (competitions control committee) because it has to balance when counties are playing both codes, balance access to venues and TV companies who pay significant money to show the games and also have commitments to other codes.
'There are a lot of balls in the air they have to juggle but right now hurling is not coming out of this well at all. It's losing stakes and because it's crammed it's vying with itself for column inches.
'Because of the incredible work done by Jim Gavin too. He has done a brilliant job with the football rules and it's more entertaining and a much more watchable product, although I feel the real tests for them lie ahead. The rules and the analysis of them have taken up unnatural publicity and are eating up column inches hurling may have gotten as well.'
Brennan can't understand the 3pm scheduling of the Dublin-Kilkenny Leinster SHC game on GAA+ this Sunday, which clashes with the end of the Tipperary-Waterford and start of the Limerick-Cork fixtures in Munster, which will both be televised on RTÉ.
'I absolutely accept that the Munster championship right now is the main hurling product, but Leinster is getting shortchanged. It's getting poor coverage, poor publicity. The crowds aren't coming in great numbers yes but partly because there is so little said about them. Leinster has become a by the way.
'This Sunday, one of the key matches in the competition – Kilkenny v Dublin – is bang in the middle of two big Munster games. Who in the name of God is going to be bothered with that when they'll either be at it or watching the other games on television?
'Some of the scheduling has been horrendous. We seem to be paranoid about going up against football matches. Clare and Tipperary should have been played last Sunday, not the Saturday.'
The lack of promotion for the lower level hurling championships also disappoints Brennan. 'There was a right match on Clubber last Sunday – Carlow v Kildare – in the Joe McDonagh Cup. It was a cracker and we hardly heard a thing about it. The fixtures list that the GAA sends out highlights which games are shown on RTÉ, TG4 or GAA+ but Clubber is not mentioned.
'The Joe McDonagh is hotting up now with right big games. There will always be gaps between tier one and tier two but we should never forget the McDonagh is a fine competition.'
Although the Galway-Antrim game forms part of an anticipated sold-out double header with the footballers' meeting with Dublin on Saturday, Leinster SHC gate receipts are expected to be down this year, which will be offset by last Sunday's Louth-Meath football final.
'The GPA was the reason we lost the pre-season competitions and the provinces lost out on a small fortune,' Brennan highlights. 'The only saving grace for Leinster this year and what will keep it ticking over is the crowd at the football final.
'To be fair to (Leinster chairman) Derek Kent, he was ballsy enough to reduce prices for the first round and get the semi-finals out of Croke Park and the golden goose game came last Sunday. I'm delighted for him because he made some brave calls.'
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