Supervalu Sam: Bad weather, penalties and and a longer year needed

Losing on penalties is cruel. Your heart would go out to Oran on Sunday.

But deciding matches that finish level after extra time with penalties has become the norm. It’s here to stay.

And while everyone sympathises with the team that bow out on spot kicks, the chorus that are very opposed to it don’t appear to have any alternative. But we still hear the groans.

The officers that try to schedule all the club games in a county are handed a job that is almost impossible. Everyone and their neighbour has a view on how long or short a season should be, alongside what status each competition should hold.

I have sat at county board meetings in four counties. And I’ve probably heard the following lines about 100 times: “Mr Chairman, we’re very unhappy in our club with how the U-21 (or U-20) championship was run off this year. It was run off too quickly and there was a load of postponements where teams didn’t field.” And the general reply usually finishes with the following question: “We’ve run off the competition in almost every month of the year at this stage and it’s impossible to keep everyone happy. There aren’t enough weeks in the year to run off all the competitions. What time of the year do you suggest we run off the competition?” Sometimes, whether there’s hail, rain, or snow, matches have to go ahead. The knock-on impacts are too great. When it’s avoidable, there is full agreement.

Take the Western Gaels v Strokestown relegation game that was called off on Sunday. The pitch in Elphin was unplayable and both clubs agreed to play the game this weekend. But if this was a play-off game to decide a quarter-final place, with the quarter-finals taking place at the weekend, what would have happened? Play the game midweek, with a host of players travelling back from college, and many more making trips from Dublin and other cities?

A relegation final being called off doesn’t cause a fixture pile-up. All other fixtures do. No amount of planning can change the weather, or increase the number of weeks available. If officers felt that placing the Child of Prague statue outside every GAA venue would help, it would have made the clár at every GAA convention by this stage.

But there is one solution — one which a leading officer once suggested at a county board meeting. If this idea was put into place, it would ensure that all competitions were played off. All county champions would have sufficient time to play their competitions and be ready for the provincial championships.

“There is a solution,” the officer said. “We need to play an extra round of all adult competitions in July and August. But to do that, we need a year with 54 weeks in it.” *Have you a question or comment or would you like something to be highlighted in this column? If so, e-mail: supervalusam@gmail.com.