Collins urges clubs to reject fixtures proposal

CRATLOE senior football manager Colm Collins has urged Clare GAA clubs to tear up the 2013 master fixture championship proposals and play round one of the senior hurling and football championships in May. Clubs are due to meet this Thursday night to mandate or reject the masters fixtures schedule, which was presented to clubs last week.

“I think it’s vital that we play one round of both codes in May. It’s the only way that you have any chance at all. If the plan is accepted as it is presented now, delegates better be prepared for the possibility of not having Clare representation in the Munster club competitions,” Collins warned.

Last year Cratloe were hit with a fixture pile-up in hurling and football as most of their players play both codes. They also had five players on the All-Ireland winning Clare U-21 hurling panel.

“Last year four or five of our players had to play three championship games in eight days. The same thing could possibly occur this year. We’ve made it clear, as a club, that we’re not going to bale them (the county board) out. They made the mistake themselves the first year. If they’re not going to correct it, they’re not going to be baled out,” the former Clare U-21 manager predicted.

Collins feels dual clubs are being targeted.

“There’s a couple of questions you have to ask. Do they want to just get rid of dual clubs completely? Is this what they’re saying? That seems to be what’s coming across.

“The whole area of fixtures is a difficult job but last year it was proven that it didn’t work. They made a mistake last year. Cratloe baled them out by playing three championship games in the same week. Unbelievably they’re going back to the same format again. It’s beyond belief to my mind, after the mess that was made last year, that they’re coming back with exactly the same mistake,” he reiterated.

Collins also maintains that no allowance has been made in the proposed masters fixtures list for draws or for county teams reaching the latter stages of their respective All-Ireland series.

“Anybody that has studied the schedule in detail will realise that there is no provision for a draw, a postponement or for success, which we hope we will have in U-21 hurling or with our senior teams. The football starts in August and if you’re a dual club, you could be playing every weekend up to the county final.

“There isn’t a hope if any dual club is doing well that we’re going to have Munster club representatives. It’s just not going to happen. It’s unbelievable to me that the football isn’t played in May. That would mean that every intermediate and junior player can play their championships. They’re going to compress all of the football and most of the hurling championships into two and a half months,” he pointed out.

“It’s a possibility now, from a football club point of view, that you can play the first round of the championship and eight days later, you can be out and finished for the year. At least if you play in May and if you lose, you get the summer to get your act together and have a right crack at the next game,” Collins concluded.