Kerry legend Pat Spillane has hit out at the format of the All-Ireland championships, branding the condensed nature 'absolutely stupid' and akin to 'speed dating at its very worst'.
On the latest episode of his new podcast 'The Game on Sunday,' Spillane hit out at the structure of the competitions, and claimed the GAA isn't allowing them 'to breathe.'
Changes in recent years have seen the All-Ireland hurling and football championships wrapped up much sooner than they had been in the past, with the dates for All-Ireland finals moved from September to the end of July.
The logic behind these changes were to shorten the season and free players up to play for their clubs, but Spillane, and many others, believe the speed at which the Championship is conducted at is detrimental to both football and hurling.
"We're not giving our competitions, our top games, our top teams, a chance to breathe," said Spillane.
"It's speed dating at its very worst, it's box ticking, it's absolutely stupid.
"On top of everything else, not alone is it unfair on the senior inter-county players but it's unfair on spectators who are being asked to fork out huge amounts for an increased number of matches.
"It's absolutely crazy scheduling, it's absolutely bonkers. Instead of looking after players we are actually, both club and inter-county, giving them extra games. Yes, I can see in theory that it's not bad, the split season, in theory it's a good idea but it still needs a lot of tweaking and don't get me started on playing an All-Ireland final (in July).
"We have taken our two key products, inter-county football and inter-county hurling, off the shop window in July and taken them out of that shop window for seven months and allowed every other sport unrivalled exposure, unrivalled publicity."
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