Elvery's Mayo Super League Kick Off Times

[Thunderblaster]

This is the showpiece of Mayo football but the kick off times in this league are pretty staggered. I can outline them to you for a reasonable debate. 12/3/06 2:30, 19/3/06 2:30, 26/3/06 11:00, 9/4/06 2:30, 7/5/06 12:00, 14/5/06 2:30, 20/5/06 7:30, 28/5/06 11:00, 10/6/06 7:30, 25/6/06 12:00, 8/7/06 7:30, 23/7/06 2:30, 13/8/06 12:00 3/9/06 2:30, 24/9/06 12:00, 1/10/06 2:30, 8/10/06 2:30. That is eight rounds of games at Sunday afternoons at 2:30, four rounds at 12:00 on Sundays, two at 7:30 on Saturday evenings and two at 11:00 on Sunday morning. To me the showpiece of Mayo football should be on at 2:30 or 3:00 on a Sunday afternoon. This would allow for maximum crowd potential as the supporters of different teams would not need the obstacles of a Sunday morning lie in, Mass, Sunday lunch etc from stopping them from going to games. One club chairman has threatened to submit a letter of complaint to the Mayo League over loss of revenue on the gate due to the early kick off times and that the club should be reimbursed with loss of earnings on gate receipts. If the MAFL are serious about promoting their showpiece league, they need to have a look at the kick off times to boost support for the game. Some supporters have spoken to me and they feel that some of the kick off times are ridiculous. Other forumites from other leagues are invited to submit their opinions.

[Fair Play]

I think you have a fair point Thunderblaster. It would be great to have a regular standard Kick Off time for all Super Leage games but..............I think we have only 18 to 20 referees on the list, and not all of these are available every Sunday. With the Super league having 3 officials at most games this would leave no referees at all for all the other games in the lower divisions. I doubt very much if all the other clubs, whom I am sure pay the same fees, would agree or accept this situation.
I am sure you may remember that it was discussed at length a few years ago at a meeting in Milebush, and your suggestion was "knocked on the head" - democracy and "Fair Play" ruled on the night. The simple answer and solution to the problem would be to have more referees in the league. Maybe it should be a requirement for all clubs to provide 1 additional referee over the next two years. Maybe those that constantly criticise the referees would take up that role themselves.
It would appear however from your own statistics (and I know that you are a great man with the statistics), that the Super League does get preferential treatment and rightly so. Maybe you might consider taking up refereeing - loads of excitement, raising of fitness levels, a few bob and an abundance of abuse and criticism.............
Fair Play