I’m an American who took a very casual interest in hurling years ago when I had a chance to first see a match at Fenway Park in Boston.
I later saw this RTE promotion: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qzpkgMFuPLs and put a reminder in my calendar each year to watch some high-level play at the senior All-Ireland final.
Since then All-Ireland day has rarely been played at the beginning of September. I know from this Independent article (https://m.independent.ie/entertainment/books/book-reviews/the-first-sunday-in-september-glory-of-carrying-the-ash-hurley-37389054.html) that there was a 3yr trial moving it to the end of August, but recently it’s also been held in December and July.
If early September really was a 100+ year tradition, why has it been so variable lately? Is there hope it will stabilize again, or are organizers and fans content to continuously mix it up now?
2 comments
Covid and changes to the season overall. You might gain a better insight in r/GAA
In 2018 it was moved from September to mid-August, and was at that time again in 2019, but for obvious reasons (i.e. Covid) it was not held until December in 2020.
It’s been decided (by a members vote) that it’s going to be mid-July from now on, this is to facilitate the GAA club game (every player that plays inter-county also plays with a local club, along with thousands and thousands of other people, all of them amateurs).