James Horan believes the suspension of the preseason competitions next January could not have come at a more inconvenient time as the Football Review Committee looks to introduce significant changes to how Gaelic football is played.
It was announced last month that the provincial pre-National League competitions – which in football are the Dr McKenna Cup, O’Byrne Cup, FBD League and McGrath Cup – would not be taking place in 2025.
Putting those competitions in cold storage in advance of the association potentially introducing several landmark rule changes to Gaelic football looks like unfortunate timing.
The FRC’s battery of proposals has seven “core enhancements” that will be in use from the start of January if they be passed at Congress at the end of November. But with no preseason competitions, intercounty managers would effectively be forced to road-test the new rules in the first round of the National League.
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“I’d be cursing [those] who got rid of the preseason competitions this year, that’s who I’d be cursing,” says FRC member and former Mayo manager James Horan.
“Because we were talking to John Cleary [Cork manager] on Monday, he can’t start training until December 7th, he can’t have any challenges and he has no preseason competition.
“He’ll have all his college guys gone in January, and then in December, after the club season, you’ll have a lot of guys that have gone on holidays.
“So, he’s only going to get a couple of sessions of all his team playing before the National League starts. So, that’s an awful tough thing for an intercounty manager. If I was an intercounty manager, I’d definitely be giving out to someone. It’s too short.
“I think the likes of the FBD would be perfect for it this year, of all years.”
But Horan remains convinced that Gaelic football needs a makeover. After two spells in charge of the Mayo senior footballers and also having managed at club level, he doesn’t buy the argument that the game would be better off left alone rather than bringing in more tweaks and changes.
“Do people still have that view? Is there anyone that has that view?,” he wonders.
“Have you been to club underage games? I was at the Mayo-Leitrim under-17 game last year. Leitrim had some brilliant players but as soon as the ball was thrown up, all the Leitrim players were all back in their own half for the game. It was horrendous.
“I think when you have that at underage, when they come through that’s the only way they’ll know how to play. You have coaches doing that down there [at that age grade]. I think we’re in for another decade of fairly boring stuff if we don’t do something significant.
“You’ll eventually have players that won’t want to play as it won’t be exciting enough, and they’ll play Fifa. And then you have people that won’t go to them. You could very quickly see the intercounty game drop, the quality and general appeal.”
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