Pat Spillane disagrees with many on divisive GAA issue

It is a controversial topic.

As of now, the All-Ireland SFC and SHC finals are played in July, rather than the traditional September showpieces which were such a significant part of the Irish sporting calendar for many years.

The split season was introduced more so for club players, providing them with a defined season, allowing for less clashes with inter-county games, and giving the majority of the players in the country more certainty around fixtures.

It remains a hugely discussed issue, with journalist Cahair O'Kane recently writing well thought out column in favour of the current format, while Cork hurler, Niall O'Leary, has also backed it.

However, Kerry legend Pat Spillane has come out strongly against the split season, arguing that the All-Ireland SFC and SHC need to be more drawn out, and that the GAA are missing a huge opportunity to garner interest by moving the finals from September.

In his Irish Independent column, he wrote: "The split season in its present format is wrong in so many ways. We are cutting off our nose to spite our face with far too many matches, with too many competitions, too many games in too tight a time-frame.

"The major competitions are not getting room to breathe and not getting the profile and publicity they deserve.

"And let’s not forget the club player now plays for 12 months of the year, so there is no split season in that sense."