Sad that Burns passed buck on August All-Ireland finals
GAA president Jarlath Burns declared on Tuesday that there would be no August deciders in 2026. That's three months earlier than the moment last year when people learned from MCD Promotions that Liam, not Eoghan Bán Gallagher, would be a star attraction in Croke Park in mid-August 2025.
For somebody who 12 months ago floated the idea of a return to September All-Ireland finals, last played in 2017, some might say that Burns has made quite the retreat. Wasn't it only in February that GAA director general Tom Ryan said that 'stretching the season out a little would be no bad thing?' Of course it wouldn't. In August, as other sports stir from summer siestas, the GAA can recapture the national zeitgeist. But can they realise that?
Burns: 'This year it's out, next year it's out as well. But it's going to be the next president who will make that decision, whether or not we go into August.'
For a man who has unquestionably shown leadership in his first 12 months in office, it's unusual for Burns to be passing the buck like this. Are there concerts already in place for August 2026? In this and last year's appearances on YouTube show 'Ratified', he spelt out some of what it is wrong with the condensed season – the two-week gap between All-Ireland semi-finals and finals, the one-week between the showpieces, the proximity of the conclusion of the league to the start of the provincial championships. He is clearly aware of the problems but there are solutions.
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Burns: 'The moment there's ever any word that we might move one inch into August, I'll get a phone-call from Paul Bellew of Galway and Kevin O'Donovan from Cork. 'Don't move that one inch. We have a sweet spot'.'
Undoubtedly, Cork and Galway are the stress tests but as much as Galway is a bona fide dual county, we're going to take Cork as the real example here as the westerners don't have a provincial deadline for the club hurling championship. Cork need 16 weeks to complete their championships. Do those 16 weeks have to be completed by the end of October? A week in the calendar year can be taken back by moving the All-Ireland senior hurling semi-finals from December to January. Last year, Leinster GAA gave two weeks back to the counties by contracting the province's championships – can Connacht, Munster and Ulster do something similar?
It would mean more November county finals but also more clubs playing longer into the year. Let's not kid ourselves either that this is just about the club player. In their 2024 financial years, Cork and Galway earned €1.384 million and €982,482 in gate receipts respectively. To Croke Park, Galway chairman Bellew has provided a thought-provoking document to retain the inter-county schedule but take the condensed element out of it by removing games. It is a thought-provoking piece of work yet the issue of giving up a month of national profile remains unresolved.
Burns: 'We were showing so little respect to the club player that there was literally a group set up called the Club Player Association and they had one word, fixtures. We solved that for them. Let's not now go and unsolve it.'
The CPA did not have an issue with September All-Ireland finals. Not that they appear achievable anymore. The CPA's reddest line was always certainty for the club player.
Burns: 'And I'm going to say the next thing without any apology – we also have concerts in this. And Croke Park is now the major funding organ of the GAA. Let's not forget that. This stadium is keeping our organisation financially viable.'
Concerts have been known to take place not just in August but May (Bruce Springsteen, 2016), June (Taylor Swift, '18) and September (Garth Brooks, '22). Between the ladies football and camogie league finals and Sunday week's Leinster SFC final, Croke Park is available for four weeks. Between the Leinster SHC final on June 8 and All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals, it is open for another three. Undoubtedly, Coldplay's four gigs in August and September last year contributed a large portion of the €16 million Croke Park gave to the GAA last year. It is GAA stadium and commercial director Peter McKenna's job to sweat the asset but providing he is given notice he can do that in early summer too. As Chris Martin sang, 'Nobody said it was going to be easy'. It's such a shame for us to part with the idea that the inter-county championship can't be more than a microwaved option.
Burns: 'I would understand why they (the Ulster Council) would be cross with supporting the GPA but I did it for player welfare.'
Doing away with the pre-season competitions to reduce the load on inter-county players backfired spectacularly and not just financially as the Ulster Council discovered. The GPA themselves admitted counties (and their members) undermined the very zero contact month of November they devised. For player welfare, counties have to be forced into a later start. For game promotion, the GAA has to establish a later finish.
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