This is AIB’s 34th year with the Gaelic football and hurling championships, 12th with camogie, and now the bank has added the LGFA to its sponsorship to complete the full house.
Over the last 20 years, the LGFA has shown an ability to attract standalone sponsors and remain independent of the GAA in terms of media and finance agreements. The Camogie Association handed over the management of their commercial and sponsorship deals in 2021, along with the sale of broadcast rights, to the GAA’s commercial team.
The historic deal with AIB marks another positive step towards full integration and indicates a willingness and appetite on behalf of the LGFA to align themselves with the other codes.
The LGFA made the correct decision to sign up to the split season in 2022. It was another indication they were ready and willing to move forward on the journey to full integration. Since its introduction the majority of male and female inter-county players favour the format, however it has brought with it various issues and pitfalls across all codes.
Unfortunately this season has proved to be quite worrying for ladies football in particular as it has been affected the most by some of the drawbacks the split season has presented. Instead of seeing a continued growth in media exposure, an improvement in the quality of football and increased attendance figures, the association saw a significant drop in all three areas.
Due to the nature of the condensed season, not only were they competing for coverage with the other Gaelic games codes, the European Championships and the Olympics also consumed newspaper and television reporting from mid-June until early August meaning ladies football struggled to make headlines at times.
Many of the top inter-county male footballers and hurlers make the annual pilgrimage to the GAA pitches of North America for a few weeks after their season comes to an end. Their club teams suffer but only in the short term as invariably their star players return on time for knock-out championship.
However when the inter-county season concludes for the LGFA players contracted to teams in the Australian Football League (AFLW) they are on the first flight Down Under to link up with their respective teams. The AFLW regular season runs from August 30 until the last weekend of October, with the Grand Final scheduled for November 30. The LGFA All-Ireland club Final takes place in the middle of December meaning the 34 players who are playing in Australia this year will be unavailable for their clubs who rely so heavily on them.
The standard of club football across many counties has deteriorated significantly, mirroring the inter-county scene. The 2024 senior championship was unremarkable aside from the resilience and determination shown by Kerry to overturn the disappointments of previous finals defeats to win that elusive All Ireland.
It was a championship whereby the brilliance of individuals far surpassed that of any team performance and that in itself should be acknowledged and celebrated. Aisling Maloney of Tipperary put in one of the most dynamic individual performances by any player when she almost single-handedly beat Meath. She was equally spectacular against Armagh and throughout the Munster championship. She is a generational talent who we need in our game to ensure it remains relevant. She has since departed for Australia and is playing for the Geelong Cats.
Injured Armagh footballer Aimee Mackin.
Kerry’s wing-back Aisling O’Connell showed a level of consistency in performance not seen in that position since the great Bríd Corkery, and while Aimee Mackin only managed 60 minutes of championship football before suffering an ACL injury, her league campaign should be remembered as one of the greatest of all time. If Mackin remained injury free she, like Maloney, would also be in Australia for a second successive season with Melbourne.
While the split season cannot solely be blamed for the uninspiring and dull football this summer, it is a definite factor in the regression of the LGFA All-Ireland finals day as a spectacle. If the LGFA are forced to continue to play their showpiece games on the August Bank Holiday weekend, then the attendances and interest levels are in danger of dropping so significantly, they may never recover.
This year, 30,000 attended the final between Kerry and Galway. Just over 46,000 attended the two preceding years, the 2022 final was played on July 31 and the 2023 final on August 13.
The men’s hurling and football finals will always fill Croke Park regardless of the date they are played, but ladies football is very far off achieving a capacity crowd. However there is the potential to reach an attendance upwards of 50,000. A change of date from the August Bank Holiday Sunday is the single most important factor in rescuing the finals from further regression.
It is a very difficult situation for the LGFA. Had they opted out of an aligned split season with the rest of the Gaelic games community they would have faced heavy criticism from all corners, but they are now being inadvertently punished for doing the right thing. They need the GAA and Camogie Association to engage in a conversation around the rotation of dates for each respective final, otherwise they will be sitting in Croke Park alongside a limited crowd.
The Bank Holiday Act was introduced in 1871 when Ireland was under British rule, it granted the public four set days off work throughout the year, one of which was the first Monday in August. Historic records show that there wasn’t a significant amount of debate in Westminster when, in 1903 the Act added St Patrick’s Day as a bank holiday, mainly due to lobbying from those in support of Home Rule.
Undeniably, there are likely many other undisclosed factors as to why the Croke Park fixtures calendar is formulated as it is, but if the English Government of 1903 agreed to grant the Irish people a day off work on the feast day of our patron saint, then surely some agreement can be reached that would give the LGFA the best possible chance to consistently achieve the record-breaking crowd of 56,114 who attended the finals in 2019.