What about a new system for the All-Ireland?

eagle eye

I was just thinking about the whole system we have now and the complaints regarding the provincial champions possibly losing out through having time off and not being allowed to lose a game either. Then there are all the players that want to see some reward for their efforts.
Well having thought about all that I was thinking about this system for the football championship.

Firstly there would be two leagues. Northern and Southern. The 16/17 most geographically northerly counties would play in the North league. The 16/17 other teams would play in the Southern League
Every team in both leagues would play each other once over the course of the league. At the end of the league structure, the top 4 from the Northern League and the top 4 from the Southern League would go on to play in the QFs of the All-Ireland. This round would be seeded with the winners of the Norhern League playing the 4th place finishers in the Southern League and vice versa.
Provinical titles would be a thing of the past, with their being three titles up for grabs, the All-Irelands Champions, the Northern Champions and the Southern Champions, but provincial titles could be given to the teams who have won the most games from that province if the idea of no provincial titles doesn't suit people.
There would be no draw result in these games either, if teams were tied after 70 minutes of football, another period would occur where the first team to score 3 points would be deemed the winners. The team with the most wins from a province would be deemed the provinical champions.
This would make for 16/17 competitive games for each county throughout the competition with the successful teams playing up to 20 games. I would dump the National League and leave the months of October, November, December, January, February and March for club football championships and start this in April with it running all the way up to the All-Ireland final at the end of September. As we all know you only get the real hardcore supporters turning up at national league fixtures anyways, be it the weather, club football or whatever else that stops people attending.
I would imagine that enough money would be generated from this to pay each player a wage.

I know this is off the cuff a bit, but I think it would generate more interest in GAA throughout the country, it would also generate growth within the game at youth level. I also believe that the weakers teams don't have much chance of improving year in year out in the current system with them only playing stronger counties at most twice per year. In this system the best and worst of each section all meet so they get to understand excatly where their respective weaknesses are and I'd imagine improve over time.

Just wondering what you think of this?
If you don't like it, why don't you like it?
If it wouldn't work, why wouldn't it work?

busbybhoy

eagle eye wrote: »

I was just thinking about the whole system we have now and the complaints regarding the provincial champions possibly losing out through having time off and not being allowed to lose a game either. Then there are all the players that want to see some reward for their efforts.
Well having thought about all that I was thinking about this system for the football championship.

Firstly there would be two leagues. Northern and Southern. The 16/17 most geographically northerly counties would play in the North league. The 16/17 other teams would play in the Southern League
Every team in both leagues would play each other once over the course of the league. At the end of the league structure, the top 4 from the Northern League and the top 4 from the Southern League would go on to play in the QFs of the All-Ireland. This round would be seeded with the winners of the Norhern League playing the 4th place finishers in the Southern League and vice versa.
Provinical titles would be a thing of the past, with their being three titles up for grabs, the All-Irelands Champions, the Northern Champions and the Southern Champions, but provincial titles could be given to the teams who have won the most games from that province if the idea of no provincial titles doesn't suit people.
There would be no draw result in these games either, if teams were tied after 70 minutes of football, another period would occur where the first team to score 3 points would be deemed the winners. The team with the most wins from a province would be deemed the provinical champions.
This would make for 16/17 competitive games for each county throughout the competition with the successful teams playing up to 20 games. I would dump the National League and leave the months of October, November, December, January, February and March for club football championships and start this in April with it running all the way up to the All-Ireland final at the end of September. As we all know you only get the real hardcore supporters turning up at national league fixtures anyways, be it the weather, club football or whatever else that stops people attending.
I would imagine that enough money would be generated from this to pay each player a wage.

I know this is off the cuff a bit, but I think it would generate more interest in GAA throughout the country, it would also generate growth within the game at youth level. I also believe that the weakers teams don't have much chance of improving year in year out in the current system with them only playing stronger counties at most twice per year. In this system the best and worst of each section all meet so they get to understand excatly where their respective weaknesses are and I'd imagine improve over time.

Just wondering what you think of this?
If you don't like it, why don't you like it?
If it wouldn't work, why wouldn't it work?

Best idea i have heard yet! The Northern and Southern leagues would certainly solve the geographical problem of teams having to travel the lenght of the country. It would also divide up Leinster and Connaught and give them a chance to play against the best in the country. I dont get what you mean about the situation of a drawn game. If its been run on a league basis then surely a drawn game would see both teams receiving a point?

The only downside is the club football situation. This is so often overlooked when people suggest changes to the championship. Club players who are not involved in their county set up would have 6 months off no football? Surely this cant be good for the game?

Dapos

I must say i really don't like this idea one bit. It is way too radical and has aload of problems imo. Here are a few issues:

There is a reason the provincal championships have been kept all these years even though they obviously create an imbalance with regards number of teams/quality etc. There are a great many people for who they mean an awful lot. If Antrim and Limeirck had won their respected provinces it would have made there year, their decade!

You can't create two new leagues and destroy 4 after 125 years and expect teams to take it seriously.

Would this "geographical North/ south not divide old rivals along the middle of Ireland. Would Galway be in the South league and Mayo in the North League? If you are going to divide up the country then have 4 even numbered seeded gropus (although i don't agree with this either)

16/17 games is too much for a championship/league competition. They are amateturs, also I doubt teams could gear up for so many high intensity games. Also there would be a load of poor quality football games as the weaker teams would still play 16/17 matchs. The current system weeds out the poor teams early (don't mean to offend here) and these teams should use the league to work on there game with similar teams IMO.

Also you mentioned wages!!! whole other agruement there! Would fundamentally change the game.

Oh and by the way, the GAA is the number one sport in Ireland. Think it has plenty of interest so the format can't be all that bad!

KerranJast

The whole system doesn't need radical overhaul. The qualifier system doesn't need a small bit of tweaking to avoid it becoming a preferred route for teams to go down.

eagle eye

Dapos wrote: »

I must say i really don't like this idea one bit. It is way too radical and has aload of problems imo. Here are a few issues:

There is a reason the provincal championships have been kept all these years even though they obviously create an imbalance with regards number of teams/quality etc. There are a great many people for who they mean an awful lot. If Antrim and Limeirck had won their respected provinces it would have made there year, their decade!

You can't create two new leagues and destroy 4 after 125 years and expect teams to take it seriously.

Would this "geographical North/ south not divide old rivals along the middle of Ireland. Would Galway be in the South league and Mayo in the North League? If you are going to divide up the country then have 4 even numbered seeded gropus (although i don't agree with this either)

16/17 games is too much for a championship/league competition. They are amateturs, also I doubt teams could gear up for so many high intensity games. Also there would be a load of poor quality football games as the weaker teams would still play 16/17 matchs. The current system weeds out the poor teams early (don't mean to offend here) and these teams should use the league to work on there game with similar teams IMO.

Also you mentioned wages!!! whole other agruement there! Would fundamentally change the game.

Oh and by the way, the GAA is the number one sport in Ireland. Think it has plenty of interest so the format can't be all that bad!

Firstly I'm not saying its a perfect system by any means. Its just a suggestion.
I understand the problems people will have like the provincial championships that have been around for so long, but there must be some way to include them. And to be fair the provincial titles have been devalued by the backdoor system.
The split would affect some rivalries but new ones would be formed very quickly.
As for the fact that players are amateurs, well in fairness its about time that changed. I think it would help the weaker counties too if players were paid. The amount of young players that are lost to football because they move to Dublin or Cork for work is a huge problem. If players were paid which they could be under a system like this with the money it would generate, then it would make a huge difference imo.

LeoB

Something needs to be done to give provincial winners a better chance. Its no advantage to Dublin to come thro Leinster and play a team (other than Tyrone or Kerry) who have been on a good solid run. It has to bring a team on coming thro the back door.

A little tweak would do no harm