Westmeath football manager Pat Flanagan has called for all championship games, including All-Ireland qualifiers, to be held in neutral venues.
Westmeath will have to travel to Antrim on Saturday for their All-Ireland qualifier and they also were the team to travel when they lost to Wexford in the Leinster Senior Football Championship earlier this month.
“The trip to Wexford was about three hours,” said Flanagan.
“Two hours, fifty five minutes to be exact but it ended up taking us three hours, 20 because you have to stop a few times and let the lads stretch their legs before a game.
“Fellas are putting in so much effort these days, they are working in the gym long before the season starts in January and I feel that they should look at playing these games in neutral venues.”
While Flanagan believes that neutral venues would ultimately be beneficial for both teams, he has recognised the difficulty in arranging such fixtures.
“Unfortunately, the thing is that we’re in a recession and we just don’t have the resources to be going up the day before and staying overnight which you would like to do for these longer trips,” added Flanagan.
“We were looking at it but it doesn’t look like happening which is a pity. Wexford went down to Tullamore the night before they played Offaly and I believe that had a major effect on them that day.”