Graham Cummins: Summer soccer makes sense at adult level but GAA remains a big draw underage

WHEN I first heard about the FAI’s new plan to align all senior and underage football to the calendar year, my immediate reaction was that it was an excellent idea. 

That's mainly because summer football for all ages at all levels means better pitches and fewer games being called off. Although I still side with the FAI’s plan, I can understand the argument against the switch.

For underage, it could be hurtful in terms of losing some of the best players to GAA. Kevin Doyle was right when he recently highlighted this on TV because unfortunately when it comes to a decision between GAA and soccer for kids around 13 or 14, the majority of the time GAA will win. 

At such a young age, there's a lot of development to come and they could blossom into an excellent soccer player by 16 or 17. Forcing young teens to make a choice could deny them the opportunity to become the next Kevin Doyle or Shane Long. Even Liverpool's Conor Bradley was a standout Gaelic football in Tyrone before going down another route. 

With the facilities the GAA has compared to the average amateur soccer club, you can see what's more appealing for a young child. And their parents.

I do believe that the revised scheduling would benefit adult amateur football. Having managed a Munster Senior League club side this year, I have seen the challenges first-hand of what ‘winter football’ can bring. 

The first is the condition of the pitches. Because of the poor weather in this country, it’s often the case that matches are called off and when they are on, more often than not the pitches are in such a poor condition that games have to be played with the ball more in the air than on the surface. 

UNEQUAL

Some clubs in Cork do have full-size astroturf pitches to combat this but then does it create an unequal advantage to a side getting to have the use of an astro which allows them to play passing football, compared to a team that has to play their home fixtures on a heavy bobbly pitch that gets worse every game. 

It would be different in the summer because pitches wouldn't cut up, meaning whether you have an astro or grass pitch, there is no major edge.

Financially, clubs would benefit if ‘summer football’ became the norm. 

Right now and for the past few months, because the clubs can only train at night and because pitches will be destroyed if teams train on them, clubs are having to use astroturfs for their teams to train.

Some clubs have an advantage here because they don’t have to spend thousands of euros to use someone else's all-weather. Many are struggling to survive, without the additional cost in this regard. 

Switching to summer football would mean brighter nights and harder pitches, which would allow teams train on grass.

It would still be the case that the schedule switch at adult level would see a clash with GAA. I have benefitted from having GAA players at my club, but do know that once games resume, it’s not really a choice for them because GAA is their sport, and there is no negotiating that no matter how important a soccer match is. 

IMBALANCE

It would be good for the amateur leagues that it isn’t a case that teams are flooded with GAA players for certain months and then have none for others. At the moment, it means a team could be strong for the first half of the season, and weaker for the second.

That creates an imbalance.

For example, if two teams were competing for a title and one team played the club flooded with GAA players at the start of the season and the other played them towards the backend of the campaign then it’s a much easier game for the team that plays the club with the GAA players in the latter part.

I’ve seen it this year, with the amount of games my team has had called off, a team can go a month or more without a match. 

Something has to change and if that means changing soccer to the calendar year then so be it.