Canavan: College competitions need a pre-Christmas slot

Former Tyrone captain Peter Canavan has said that moving the college competitions to a pre-Christmas slot is the best solution in that particular aspect of the fixture calendar debate.

The issue resurfaced on Sunday when Meath manager Colm O'Rourke hit out at the current schedule after his side’s win over Clare, labelling it an "abuse of players."

"This is disgraceful, the abuse of players with this Sigerson Cup. It needs to be put on at a different time of the year," O’Rourke said ahead of Wednesday’s semi-finals.

Canavan believes that O’Rourke is correct and sees a pre-Christmas start as the only real solution.

"With the split season now and the championship being moved forward, and the nature of the league, how it affects the championship... there’s an increased importance in the National League now that has never been there before," he told the RTÉ GAA Podcast.

"That has a knock-on effect to managers, there’s an increased pressure put on managers for their team to perform so they’re putting pressure on their players.

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"In some cases players are being asked during the week not to play for their university in the Sigerson Cup so right away players are being put in a situation of, 'do I go against my county manager here but I’m on a scholarship, I’m training with friends here and I know how important the Sigerson and Fitzgibbon Cup is?'.

"Yes, you could push the National League back out a week or two, it gets you out of the more inclement weather as well, which is not a bad thing, but I