It didn't hit Tomás Ó Sé until he had retired from inter-county football and his focus had turned completely to the club game.
It was then he realised what a 'raw deal' the club GAA player gets.
Championships are postponed for months due to deference to inter-county. And when games are played, it is on the muddy pitches of autumn and winter. The summer months wasted in idleness.
Two proposals went before the GAA congress in Carlow on Saturday which would have gone some way towards improving matters for the club GAA scene.
Paraic Duffy, the GAA director-general, proposed that the All-Ireland finals be brought forward by two weeks. This would have meant the All-Ireland football final being played on the first Sunday of September with the hurling final two weeks prior and so county championships being able to begin and finish a little bit earlier.
At congress, the motion did not receive the required two-thirds majority and so did not pass.
Moving the All Ireland Finals to an earlier date has been lost...didn't get two thirds majority ! Yes 60.8% No 39.2%.
— Marty Morrissey (@MartyM_RTE) February 27, 2016
Similarly, a motion that extra time should be applied to all Championship games bar provincial finals and All-Ireland finals did not pass.
Obviously this was a proposal, should it have passed, which would have reduced the number of replays in the inter-county game.
Motion to apply extra-time to all senior championship games excluding All-Ireland and provincial finals FAILS (57.5%) #GAA #sportlive
— John Fogarty (@JohnFogartyIrl) February 27, 2016
A small positive is that the motion to move the All-Ireland finals did receive a large yes vote, just not the two-thirds required. It is likely we will see it before congress again. Hopefully, next time it will pass.
Picture credit: Matt Browne / SPORTSFILE
