THE COMPLETION OF the 2020 All-Ireland club championships is among the proposals included in a document circulated from the Camogie Association to its members, outlining the possible formats for the 2021 season.
A consultation document, which has been seen by The42, includes two options — 1 and 2 — for its members to consider along with a list of the opportunities and challenges that are attached to each option.
The document also states that the “mechanism for adjudicating the result is one club — one vote.” Responses are to be submitted using the online form and are to be “circulated separately to unit secretaries by 10am on Tuesday, 11 May.”
The association has been heavily criticised in recent days after proposing a controversial fixture plan for this year, which would see the inter-county leagues, followed by the club championship and then inter-county championship.
This approach deviates from the route being taken by the GAA and LGFA who are playing inter-county competitions before club games this year.
The GPA subsequently revealed that 84% of players have voted that they will not participate in the Littlewoods Ireland Camogie Leagues later this month, should those proposed structures be retained.
The Camogie Association has since announced that it would poll its members about the issue and that the outcome ““will guide our fixture calendar”.
Both options propose playing the National Leagues in May and June, with the opening rounds set for next weekend, 15/16 May.
Option 1, which falls under the controversial inter-county-club-inter-county model, proposes the completion of the 2020 All-Ireland club championships by mid-July. The club competition would then run from July to October, with All-Ireland deciders taking place in 2022.
The senior and minor inter-county championships would commence in late October and conclude in December. The All-Ireland minor decider is provisionally pencilled in for the weekend of 4/5 December and would be followed by the senior final on the weekend of the 11/12 December.
The All-Ireland U16 championship would be scheduled for June and July.
One of the opportunities outlined in the document reads “inter-county dual player clashes avoided.”
Option 2 follows the inter-county-club schedule which the GAA and LGFA are implementing for this season.
Under this option, the 2020 All-Ireland club championships would not be completed. The inter-county championships would take place between July and early September while the minor championship would be completed between July and August.
The All-Ireland U16 championship would be played in June and July while the club championships would run from November to January with All-Ireland club finals being played in 2022.
One of the opportunities under this option in the document says that “dual club player clashes may be avoided (club/county player)”.
Speaking to The42 yesterday, Cavan camogie manager Jimmy Greville said the logistics of a season which sees inter-county followed by club activity and returning to inter-county “will never work.”
He said such a format would have a significant impact on dual players.
“For ourselves in Cavan, the All-Ireland Premier Junior championship is going to be ran, from the current situation, alongside the club football championship. 95% of my panel is dual club players, they play both.
“I’ve seven dual players in Cavan that play camogie and football with the county.
“Cavan is a football county and that’s just the way it is. I know other counties are in the same boat and they’re might be other counties on the other side of it where it’s just all camogie.
“For us, you can’t expect the girls to choose between club and county. At the end of the day, club is number one, where you learn everything.
“It’ll never work.”
“I can definitely see the pros in it as well in having a split season and you can see both sides of it. But when you go into the terms and conditions of it, it gets very messy and gets to the point where it’s not enjoyable. If it’s not enjoyable, there’s no point doing it.”
