JARLATH BURNS has vowed to find a ‘proper place’ in the GAA calendar for the Sigerson and Fitzgibbon Cups.
College players have often been put under significant pressure with these competitions due to them being shoehorned in around the beginning of the National League season.
Third-level students already feel a lot of weight from their studies, with those playing inter-county forced to balance these Cups with their county duties.
Burns has vowed to do something to relieve this pressure while speaking at the launch of the Mary Immaculate College Gaelic Games club in Limerick.
He said: “Many other sports would give their right hand to have the footprint that the GAA has in our Colleges and Universities.
“But for the GAA, we have almost seen it in our Master Fixtures plan as being a nuisance.
“Where can we fit the Fitzgibbon and the Sigerson? Could we ask the students who are county players not to play for their Colleges?
“This is a terrible indictment of us and one of the plans I have for the Amateur Status Committee is to give a proper place to the Fitzgibbon and Sigerson Cups in the calendar to allow those players – many of whom have scholarships from their Colleges or Provincial Councils – to play and enjoy themselves.
“That’s a commitment I have given to Higher Education and I really want to fulfil.”
The GAA calendar has been under heavy scrutiny recently with the split-season being disagreed with by plenty of fans.
Burns has not ruled out a return to the September All-Ireland finals but counties with their own championships play a major part of the decision.
He continued: “There is a way of achieving that, going right back to September with the two finals.
“The difficulty is the people who are going to have to compromise are the counties with their own championships. We missed the point with what the problem was.
“That problem is, if you are organising the Premier League fixtures, very simple, all you have to look out for are UEFA and FIFA fixtures.
“But if you are organising the GAA master fixtures plan you have to bump into 32 master fixture-making bodies, Higher Education, and multiply that by two as you have hurling and football.
COMPLICATED PROCESS
“And then within that you have seven or eight different iterations of championships. It is totally ridiculous to think that we can organise a master fixtures plan around that.
“Let’s say we went back to the old way where we have All-Ireland finals back where they were. And what you say is there’s the master fixtures plan, they’ll work if every county operates its league and championship in this format.
“We’re not saying you have to do it this way but if you don’t do it this way you do so at your own risk.
“I think that would be a good compromise to say to counties, we can work the master fixture schedule in and around this iteration of club organisation.
“If you do it this way there’s where you play all your county games, there’s where you will have your county players, there’s where you will have your preparation.
“Build it all in. But if you want to continue with the old way that you had, don’t come running to us.”