Championship Revamp?

[Seán Boyle Ó Rathallaigh]

An article by Brendan O'Brien following an interview with Pat Daly the GAA's head of Games..............


By Brendan O'Brien
THE GAA's Head of Games Pat Daly believes that the All-Ireland football SFC is in need of a radical and urgent overhaul.

He has mooted a four-group Champions League-style format in which only 20 counties would compete.

Currently, individual county championships are being shelved for months on end because of the increase in the volume of inter-county games in recent seasons.

Daly has warned that the situation is deteriorating with every year.

Restructuring and restricting the starting line-up in the race for the Sam Maguire would help alleviate the pressure on clubs while also streamlining, what Daly considers an already unwieldy format.

The four groups would be played off on a round-robin system though traditional provincial boundaries would be somewhat blurred.

Five Leinster and five Ulster teams would comprise two groups with one other team from each province joining the four leading counties from both Munster and Connacht in the other pair.

Beyond that, it would be a straightforward progression through to the last eight, four and finally the decider.

The existing Tommy Murphy Cup would serve as a second division for the remaining counties with teams being promoted and relegated between the two tiers year after year and ensuring that every county could still map a path through to ultimate All-Ireland glory. Replays would also be abolished.

"What the GAA needs to do at this juncture is sit down on a strategic basis and work out an effective balance between hurling and football, underage and adult, strong and weak.

"That won't happen through motions at congress either," said Daly yesterday.

Daly would also envisage a system where teams play on the same days rather than the staggered calendar adopted at the moment.

He added that the group system would eradicate all the current imbalances which, for example, saw Armagh wait four weeks between their first and second championship matches before then playing two games in seven days.

Daly stressed that, as long as the current provincial structure is maintained, such imbalances will continue. As it stands, he suggested, there are teams competing in the All-Ireland series who haven't won provincial championships in the past 100 years.

The increase in popularity and exposure the GAA has enjoyed since the back door systems were unveiled is undeniable.

Despite all that, it is still possible to have too much of a good thing it seems and Daly argues that something radical needs to be done to benefit all sectors of the game.

Kerry approach their All-Ireland quarter-final against Mayo this weekend with only three games under their belts while Armagh are still awaiting a date and an opponent for their last eight fixture having already togged out six times.

The fact that Joe Kernan's men have had to negotiate two replays strengthens rather than weakens that argument as it merely highlights the disparity in the depth of the standards between the two provinces.

But it is the club situation which is causing most concern at headquarters.

"The level of unease among the clubs is increasing all the time, not just in football but hurling too," warned Daly.

"For example, there has been very little club activity in either code in Clare for the past few months.

"There hasn't been a ball pucked in about two months in Waterford and two years ago Laois abandoned everything, senior, minor, junior, in football and in hurling when their football minors went on to win the All-Ireland. Even then that went to a replay.

"With everyone you talk to the big bugbear is the fact that players aren't getting regular games and you would have to say that, as long as we stick with the current provincial system, there's not going to be any way around that. There is no easy solution."

[Bord na Mona man]

Straight away you have an unfair suggestion.
4 out of 5 Connacht teams get in. Leitrim or Ross FFS
4 out of 6 Munster teams get in. Clare or Tipp FFS
5 out of 12 Leinster teams.

Offaly, Laois, Dublin, Meath and Wexford would be the top 5.
Only one of Kildare, Wastemeath or Longford can get the extra slot.
The others would join Wicklow, Carlow, Kilkenny and Louth in the Tommy Murphy cup.

Either we stick to the Provincial system, or abandon it.

[Seán Boyle Ó Rathallaigh]

I would go for an all out open draw on the terms above, pick the best 20 teams regardless of provinical boundaries

[Lone Shark]

The only word for this article is horse***t - of the highest order. The man doesn't know what he wants.

He has mooted a four-group Champions League-style format in which only 20 counties would compete.

Why 20? Could that be because that's roughly the magic number that would get Clare in? Truth be told that All - Ireland winners don't come out of nowhere. Down in 1991 breaking the Leinster - Munster hegemony was a surprise. Before that you probably have to go back to the 1940s to find a team that wouldn't have been in the top 7 or 8 contenders at the start of the year winning an All - Ireland. And with no disrespect to Monaghan, since I know we have at least one Monaghan lurker, I don't expect this year to be any different.

Currently, individual county championships are being shelved for months on end because of the increase in the volume of inter-county games in recent seasons.

True. And his sytem would have no less games - so if he just wants to play more games at the same time and condense the calendar, then why can we not do that with the current system?

Daly has warned that the situation is deteriorating with every year.

Why??? It's the same number of games. This makes no sense. Just because Clare is having a particularly tricky year doesn't mean it's any worse anywhere else. Perhaps Tommy Murphy is partially to blame - but then that's a personal crusade of the president, so we can't criticise that .....

The four groups would be played off on a round-robin system though traditional provincial boundaries would be somewhat blurred.

Five Leinster and five Ulster teams would comprise two groups with one other team from each province joining the four leading counties from both Munster and Connacht in the other pair.

Where to even begin here. Firstly he only allows six counties from the strong provinces, so one of Offaly/Kildare/Westmeath/Meath in Leinster, and probably Fermanagh and Monaghan in Ulster would miss out, while - funnily enough - Clare get in, despite the fact that Clare would be outsiders against each and every one of those teams. Equally one county gets horsed out into a province where they've no tradition and lose all their famous rivalries. Do this across the board if you must - do this to two counties?????

"What the GAA needs to do at this juncture is sit down on a strategic basis and work out an effective balance between hurling and football, underage and adult, strong and weak.

That's such a nothing statement it's like something that would be spouted by the pointy haired boss in Dilbert. It says nothing at all.

"That won't happen through motions at congress either," said Daly yesterday.

Aye. Seeing as congress would be (in theory at least) the county delegates representing the views of club members all across the land who would be abhorred by such a hare-brained scheme.

Daly would also envisage a system where teams play on the same days rather than the staggered calendar adopted at the moment.

This part I actually agree with. Why it can't be done with the current system is a mystery to me though.

He added that the group system would eradicate all the current imbalances which, for example, saw Armagh wait four weeks between their first and second championship matches before then playing two games in seven days.

This happens every year in Ulster because the Ulster council refuses to play two games on the same day, replays notwithstanding. Get them to cut out this folly and you have that problem solved right there. Leinster have twelve teams and it wasn't an issue. Go figure.

Daly stressed that, as long as the current provincial structure is maintained, such imbalances will continue. As it stands, he suggested, there are teams competing in the All-Ireland series who haven't won provincial championships in the past 100 years.

Yup - like Fermanagh - all Ireland semi finalists last year. But Clare won a freak Munster title in 1992, so that makes them okay.

The increase in popularity and exposure the GAA has enjoyed since the back door systems were unveiled is undeniable.

And where has this manifested itself most? - in the provincial championships. 82,000 at a Leinster semi Final double header ffs. The provincial system allows teams get up a head of steam. You'll get a great crowd for Offaly vs Laois or Westmeath in a Leinster quarter final - as has happened the last two years. (ok, not a quarter in the case of the Westmeath game, but you get the idea) but instead we're going to horse one of those counties into Connacht just to put them into games with no context or tradition.

Kerry approach their All-Ireland quarter-final against Mayo this weekend with only three games under their belts while Armagh are still awaiting a date and an opponent for their last eight fixture having already togged out six times.

The fact that Joe Kernan's men have had to negotiate two replays strengthens rather than weakens that argument as it merely highlights the disparity in the depth of the standards between the two provinces.

And his solution? Put in place a system which takes two provinces with supposedly huge disparity, and yet put the same proportion of each into an All Ireland senior championship. If there's that much disparity it would be three munster teams and 8 ulster ones - but of course that precludes Clare, so we can't have that.

"For example, there has been very little club activity in either code in Clare for the past few months.

Offaly hurlers played one more game than Clare hurlers so far this year - Offaly footballers played the same number of games as Clare footballers. We have Shamrocks, Tullamore, Ferbane/Belmont and Clara that are senior in both codes - they have Eire Og in Ennis and that's it. Our underage county sides have played a lot more championship games than theirs. You might want to have a rethink there Pat. I'm not saying our system is perfect, far from it, but even so, how bad must the administration in Clare be if that's the case.


The system does need work, and I don't think anyone would suggest that it's ideal that club players have a six month season with 4/5 championship games in it, but he'd better come up with something a little more plausible if he wants to be taken seriously.

[turk]

You're right lads, this guy is just talking rubbish and a paper never refuses ink

[Seán Boyle Ó Rathallaigh]

It is the silly season afterall

[The Biff]

Aha, one of my hobby-horse subjects. But what a load of horsesh*t from Daly. Can this guy really think that this proposal could ever be taken seriously by his power-broker brethren? There are so many holes in it (as exposed above) that I cant see it even being discussed.

I would like to see a full revamp, but unfortunately history suggests that the GAA powers-that-be can only accept piece-meal change over time. The perception is there that the Provincial Councils still hold considerable power and influence, so any change that "demotes" the importance of the Provincial Championships is going to be resisted strongly.

However, no amount of tinkering of systems is ever going to make sense in the context of equalising the effort required to win the All-Ireland unless the inequalities between the provinces is directly addressed.

What are the chances of a GAA Presidential Candidate running on a campaign promise of a radical new format for the A-I series? It worked for Sean Kelly on Rule 42.

[Bord na Mona man]

What are the chances of a GAA Presidential Candidate running on a campaign promise of a radical new format for the A-I series? It worked for Sean Kelly on Rule 42.

The Biff for President!

[The Biff]

I'll get working on my Manifesto a.s.a.p.

Now, what's another terms for "Champions League format"? I better not use any of those soccer terms.

Also I need to make sure that all the Ulster teams have to keep playing each other before the rest of the country is subjected to having them in opposition. That'll be a sure vote-winner in the other 3 provinces.

Hmmmmmm .....