Long weekends – it’s a concept the GAA continues to spurn.
Not slow-paced easy-going Bank Holiday Mondays, mind, but rather the potential of high-octane Fridays under lights.
Friday night intercounty games remain kryptonite for the GAA. Just floating the idea would spark immediate kickback – along the lines of ‘how dare the Grab All Association ask amateur players to take time off work to play on a Friday.’
It’s a fight the GAA has been reluctant to pick because Friday night games straddle the frontline, it tends to get folk out of the trenches.
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And yet it feels like the GAA is missing a trick by not at least exploring the possibility.
The first intercounty game of the season took place on January 25th – the last is scheduled for July 27th. That’s a total of 54 potential match days (Saturday and Sundays) to complete all competitions.
Last Friday night, the Six Nations kicked off with France hosting Wales in Paris. Granted, Wales didn’t seem to get the memo they were required to actually turn up and play, but still the razzmatazz around the opening weekend made the game feel like a real occasion, an event.
[ Unshackled from tradition, the GAA has made change the new normalOpens in new window ]
Clearly there are significant differences between professional rugby players being asked to play on a Friday compared to amateur GAA players. But approached properly, surely the hurdles are not insurmountable.
The GAA doesn’t need to view Friday night as a third day for a raft of intercounty fixtures, rather it should be looked upon as an opportunity to stage occasional games – particularly during the league.
The GAA circulated its 2025 Master Fixture list in early December. It includes details of all Allianz Leagues fixtures up to the last round of group games at the end of March.
Given sufficient notice, and where geography allows and the counties are willing, is there not the possibility of adding something vibrant to the GAA calendar?
The leagues could have been launched with a Friday night game – set the season off with a bit of fanfare and some fireworks. There wasn’t any intercounty GAA action from the end of July until the end of January, so there was ample time for something to be arranged.
And yet there wasn’t so much as a sparkler from Jonesborough market on show to mark the opening weekend of the 2025 season.
Tyrone played Derry on the Saturday night in Omagh on opening weekend. With some pre-planning that fixture could have worked to launch the league on the Friday night instead.
The drumlin derby between Cavan and Monaghan also took place that weekend, another suitable fixture between two neighbouring counties.
A total of 31 league matches were fixed across last Saturday and Sunday. Now, nobody is expecting Dublin to play Donegal in Ballybofey on a Friday night, but Armagh hosting Tyrone in the Athletic Grounds could have been possible.
The GAA’s default setting on this issue has been not to dare raise the ire of the players. The GPA has spoken out in the past – not least because of concerns about players having to take time off work or college.
When it emerged that last October’s interprovincial semi-finals would be played on a Friday, GPA CEO Tom Parsons said: “We raised the red flag with the GAA.
“The GAA has given us assurances that this is a once-off and the GPA certainly wouldn’t want a move to games being played on Friday night.”
That then would seem to be that. Only, it doesn’t have to be the last word. While on a point of principle the GPA has understandably taken a stance against Friday night games, it is probably not the case that all intercounty players are uniformly and vehemently against the idea.
Done the right way – by consultation and agreement – Fridays could be utilised. Ensure no team is asked to play more than once or twice on a Friday evening in any given season. And commit to informing teams of those fixtures many months in advance.
Mike Quirke, the former Kerry footballer who managed Laois and was a selector with his native county until last year, made the point on social media over the weekend: “Obvious logistical issues aside, a few big Friday night games would be a massive addition to the GAA’s national league schedule.”
Several counties already play club games on Fridays while intercounty minor and under-20 championship games are regularly scheduled for midweek dates. Indeed, the entire 2024 Connacht minor football championship was run off across seven consecutive Friday nights.
And in the absence of the pre-league competitions this year, who believes there were no midweek intercounty challenge matches last month?
Again, preparing for a challenge match or a club game is not the same as preparing for a competitive senior intercounty fixture – so getting everybody on board with Friday night contests wouldn’t be straightforward.
But just a couple of months ago who would have believed a GAA pitch would have more arcs painted across it than you’d find in a technical drawing class, or that umpires would have as many flags to choose from as a dance troupe.
In a much wider context, society has evolved too, the Monday to Friday 9-5 environment is no longer the sole measurement of our working lives. The age profile of intercounty panels is different from what it was in the past.
It’s not too long ago when a Saturday fixture was a novelty. These days, it’s just the norm.
For now, Friday night intercounty games continue to flash like one of those comically oversized red buttons brandished with the warning message: Do Not Push.
But everything changes, eventually.
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