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Hurling

CPA backs call for split season with separate periods for club and intercounty games

The Club Players Association (CPA) has backed the Gaelic Players’ Association (GPA) for a split...



CPA backs call for split seaso...
Hurling

CPA backs call for split season with separate periods for club and intercounty games

The Club Players Association (CPA) has backed the Gaelic Players’ Association (GPA) for a split season to be called between club and inter-county games.

Two weeks ago, the GPA suggested a new calendar which would see inter-county commence in February with the All-Ireland finals taking place in July. Club games would then take precedence for the rest of the year.

It is believed there is appetite for such a proposal within Croke Park with the GAA's Fixture Calendar Review Task Force set to meet on Wednesday.

The CPA called on the group's members to "capitalise on the growing momentum for real change and the dawning realisation that splitting the season is the best option for players."

Former Tipperary goalkeeper and manager Ken Hogan said the proposal to adopt periods for club and inter-county action is "a no-brainer" and should be agreed by everyone.

"Circumstances have presented the GAA with a golden opportunity to trial a clear split in the season," CPA chairman Micheál Briody said.

"The response from clubs, players and supporters has shown definitively there is merit in giving club and county their own clear windows, with the right governance structures in place.

"It may have taken different timelines and different routes to get to this point but there is a growing realisation that a split season approach is the best solution to fixing the fixtures.

“It is reassuring now to see that the GAA, GPA and CPA have come to similar conclusions. We have always said it is about what is right, not who is right.

"The current consensus has come about as a result of circumstances and the threat to our games posed by the disruption and uncertainty of COVID-19," Briody said.

"But with any threat there is also very often an opportunity, and if the Task Force can build on the current opportunity with evidence from the enforced split, then the GAA has a once-in-a-generation chance to fix the fixtures.

“Our Association has the opportunity to come out of this dreadful scenario, stronger, better and more united than before."

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All Ireland Final CPA Croke Park Football GAA GPA Hurling