Official 26-man match-day panels will now be released by Croke Park to the public on Friday afternoons ahead of weekend Championship matches.
The Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) revealed that squads released to the GAA - as per match regulations - on Thursday mornings will now be issued to the public on Fridays. Counties have been informed that they will be published at 10 am.
The decision to release the match-day panels on Friday afternoons instead of Thursday mornings was made in response to feedback from supporters who wanted more time to plan their weekends around matches. The policy change will apply to all inter-county senior championship matches, as well as the Allianz Leagues.
Any county which subsequently introduces a player who wasn’t registered for that weekend will face forfeiture of the game in question.
The new rule will apply to future Allianz Football and Hurling Leagues, as well as all inter-county senior championship matches.
However, the policy change does not affect the deadline for submitting match-day squads to the GAA, which remains at 9 am on the day of the match. The new policy only applies to when the squads will be released to the public.
GAA president Larry McCarthy said, "This is a positive move which will give supporters and the media more time to consider teams and reduce speculation and rumour surrounding team selection."
However, some coaches are not happy with the new policy. Limerick's head coach, John Kiely, wants the GAA to revise their new team announcement protocols or risk widespread dummy teams going forward.
John Kiely has called for a rethink on the GAA’s new policy of releasing championship teams https://t.co/I2NhRrAWXJ
— Independent Sport (@IndoSport) April 6, 2023
"If your team is out on a Sunday and you’re out on a Friday, we feel very strongly that the players should hear from the management before the team is announced to the wider public and the wider media," said Kiely.
"You have to understand that this isn't just going to be for the first round of the championship. It's going to be for an All-Ireland final, and some difficult decisions will have to be made around team selections and panel selections.
"For a player who doesn't make it onto a matchday team or the matchday 26, it's going to be a significant disappointment in his life, for his season, and I think it's really important that we have the opportunity to lead that internally within our groups in every county."
"If it stays at 10 am or even 1 pm, it doesn't matter. If it's a time before training would occur that evening, what's going to happen is the teams that are going to be submitted are quite simply going to be just the panelists.
"I think it's a disservice to those who purchase a program on the day. I think they deserve to know within reason what the team is going to be, that there might be one or two changes but there are not going to be 12 or 15 changes to the team that's going to be put out.
"Teams might be inclined to name their team according to alphabetical order, and you might have a corner-back wearing No15 and a corner-forward wearing No4."
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