Second option on the table as clubs asked to decide

Last week, Competitions Control Committee (CCC) had proposed playing a full 18 games league season and while that remains on the table for clubs, a second option has been added for clubs to mull over and make a decision on.

There had been some discontent with the 18-game proposal, which has led to a second option being drafted that will see a subsidiary club players competition linked to the Senior Football Leagues being played.

Option Two will see Division One and Division Two each split into two groups of five. Each side will play four games over successive Friday nights, starting on May 21 with four finals, then played between the top two teams in each group.

The four winners of the competitions will then be awarded three points to carry forward into the nine-round SFL, the runners-up will carry forward two points, while the third-placed team will carry forward one point.

After the nine games there will be automatic promotion/relegation between the top two in Division Two and the bottom two in Division One while there will also be finals in both SFL divisions.

This option guarantees 13 league games for each club.

CCC Chairman, Phil Flanagan, feels that this option offers an incentive for clubs to do well in the subsidiary competition without too much of a penalty if they don’t, going into the nine-round Senior Football League.

“What we are trying to do is trying to find a balance and provide regular meaningful football throughout the season for club players. I think asking clubs in this year to play seven, nine or eleven games without county footballers or hurlers would be an awful stretch.

“What we have managed to do is find a compromise that provides meaningful football without leaving it that once those games are played, a club season is written off.

“I think the incentive of three points, two points or one point is a good incentive for people, but it means that if a club isn’t successful in gaining those points they can still recover that lost ground in the nine league games,” he said.

Flanagan does feel that there is support for the 18-game league option, but acknowledges that coming out of lockdown, people will have other priorities.

“There are still a sizeable number of people within the county that feel that we should proceed with an 18-game league model and we will wait and see what feedback comes back from the clubs in the next few days.

“The feedback I had got on the 18 games model was not necessarily that the 18 games was too much, because I think if you look at the number of people out training with their clubs, there is a massive appetite amongst players to play games and I don’t think asking them to play nine games is enough to sustain them between now and the tail end of November, when the Ulster Club Championship is.

“We also have a responsibility to keep people in games until that stage to allow whoever wins our championships to compete at the highest level.

“But I think the fact that people have been locked down for at least five months at this stage; players haven’t seen their parents or their families, and whilst football is very, very important to a lot of people, at this time it is not necessarily the most important thing.

“People want to get re-acquainted with their families, and over the summer months I think it is important we allow some space to do that.

“There will be a two-week break in the middle of Option Two, and the first five weeks that are set aside for games will all take place on Friday nights, so players will have their Saturday and Sunday to do whatever they wish as things start to open up again,” he added.

And with clubs to respond by Friday night, Flanagan is hoping to get fixtures out quickly.

“We would hope to get things out fairly quickly but we are still waiting for some certainty from Ulster Council and at National level on the scheduling of other games.

“We are ready to go here and people should be prepared for our competitions to start on May 21, and hopefully in the next few days we will get a further update on underage competitions sent out to clubs, because children are mad to get playing games as well.

“It is important that we don’t leave it much longer to organise those games as children have been held back in their personal and physical development long enough, and the sooner we get things up and running the better for everybody,” he concluded.

CHAMPIONSHIP DATE

The Ulster Council yesterday confirmed the date and time for Fermanagh’s Ulster Senior Football Championship quarter-final clash with Monaghan. The game will take place on Saturday July 3 in Clones at 3.30pm.

Meanwhile the GAA have revealed that Minor/U20 training and return to games training can begin on Monday May 10 with games permitted from June 7.

In the coming days the CCCC will publish a schedule for both the completion of the 2020 competitions and the dates for the 2021 inter-county competitons at Minor and U20 level.