New GAA NFL format?

legendary.xix

Plans to change the structure of next year's National Football League have been unveiled.

Under the new format, the 16 teams currently in Division 1 and 2 will make up Divisions 1A and 1B. The remaining 16 team would be moved into Division 2 and 3 based on their final standings in this year's league.

Tyrone, Kildare, Westmeath, Meath, Louth, Derry, Monaghan and Galway were due to play in Division 2 next year, but they will now join Cork, Dublin, Kerry, Mayo, Armagh, Donegal, Laois and Down in Division 1.

They would be divided into two groups of eight using a random draw, which would be repeated every two years to keep the competition fresh.

The new format would allow for the reintroduction of Division 1 semi-finals, while the bottom team in each of 1A and 1B would drop down and be replaced by the top two in Division 2.

Before reverting back to its current format in 2008, the National League had comprised of Divisions 1A, 1B, 2A and 2B with the outright winners being crowned Division 1 and 2 champions.

What's the view on this proposed format change? The only thing I would query is the draw, surely it should be seeded or based on performance?

jive

Sounds the same as it is now just with 8 lesser teams and semi finals. Doesn't look too good and there would probably be even more dead rubbers than there are already with the current format.

harpsman

Idiotic format.And the last time it was like this Div 1A was the de facto Div 1 with kerry,Dublin,Cork,Tyrone,Mayo and Donegal.So if a team gets relegated from that division they go from playing the best teams in the country to playing London,Carlow,Waterford etc the following season.
Like I said,idiotic.But sure what do you expect from the clowns on who make the decisions.

Syferus

It's better than the current system, the loss of the league semi-finals took alot of wind out of the end-of-league period.

Browney7

To be honest I think its not a bad system. I dont think theres a massive gulf between the bottom teams in div 2 and the top teams in div 4.

League semi finals are always decent occasions

legendary.xix

The only thing I'd find fault with it the idea of a draw ever two years? Surely there has to be a seeding system or something so that one section is not stronger than the other? I'd suggest teams 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th in 1A should move to 1B for the following year with 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th from 1B moving the other way. It would freshen up both sections A and B every year and keep the quality even.

Carthy303

Semi-Finals might not be a bad thing, but essentially the GAA are hoping for a money-spinner by throwing in two extra games. The whole Division 1A and 1B thing is a farce!

It is only a proposal though isn't it? Presume it'll have to go before Congress in January first?

Syferus

Carthy303 wrote: »

Semi-Finals might not be a bad thing, but essentially the GAA are hoping for a money-spinner by throwing in two extra games. The whole Division 1A and 1B thing is a farce!

It is only a proposal though isn't it? Presume it'll have to go before Congress in January first?

It's far from a farce, it just means that rather than having more of a chance of completely dead rubber games (ala Mayo playing Cork in the league before playing them in the final immediately after) and it means teams will be playing for top spot to play the second seeds in the other division even if they've already made it through to the semis.

Adding to that the fact there is more than eight teams that are capable of playing current divison 1 football it just means the overall level of quality of football will benefit - my own Roscommon being a prime example, if this were to be the format for next year's league we'd only need to get promoted once more to be able to get league games against the best teams in the country, as opposed to two promotions to do that under the current system. More chances for teams to develop is a good thing and going back to a format similar to past iterations has very few downsides.

Carthy303

Syferus wrote: »

It's far from a farce, it just means that rather than having more of a chance of completely dead rubber games (ala Mayo playing Cork in the league before playing them in the final immediately after) and it means teams will be playing for top spot to play the second seeds in the other division even if they've already made it through to the semis.

Adding to that the fact there is more than eight teams that are capable of playing current divison 1 football it just means the overall level of quality of football will benefit - my own Roscommon being a prime example, if this were to be the format for next year's league we'd only need to get promoted once more to be able to get league games against the best teams in the country, as opposed to two promotions to do that under the current system. More chances for teams to develop is a good thing and going back to a format similar to past iterations has very few downsides.

That was just because of the way the fixtures panned out, nothing to do with the format of the league.


I do understand your point about Roscommon and the likes. They are too good for the majority of the lower division teams but are they good enough then to make the step up to division 1? Laois are another example. Under this proposal they will be a division 1 team. That in my opinion is farcical. Alright so they were only beaten by Donegal in the league final but they then turned in two dismal displays in the championship, eventually being beaten by another side from Division 2!

Syferus

Carthy303 wrote: »

That was just because of the way the fixtures panned out, nothing to do with the format of the league.


I do understand your point about Roscommon and the likes. They are too good for the majority of the lower division teams but are they good enough then to make the step up to division 1? Laois are another example. Under this proposal they will be a division 1 team. That in my opinion is farcical. Alright so they were only beaten by Donegal in the league final but they then turned in two dismal displays in the championship, eventually being beaten by another side from Division 2!

That's what the league is about, teams climbing the rungs. Laois earned current Division 1 football this seasons and will be in with the biggest boys next season no matter the format. If they're good enough they'll stay up, if they're not they'll be relegated. If lower teams don't get the opportunity play bigger teams they'll never advance beyond middle of the road. Indeed the carrot of playing the teams in those divisions should be all the motivation any team striving to better themselves need.

Oh, and I fully believe Roscommon are more than capable of reaching Division 2/Division 1A/B this season and maintaining the level - Roscommon had be there or thereabouts for years prior to the complete league collapse between 2008 and 2010 and very few Roscommon people will tell you the current panel isn't better than the 2007 panel that played in the Division 2 final.

gaelic cowboy

Syferus wrote: »

Oh, and I fully believe Roscommon are more than capable of reaching Division 2/Division 1A/B this season and maintaining the level - Roscommon had be there or thereabouts for years prior to the complete league collapse between 2008 and 2010 and very few Roscommon people will tell you the current panel isn't better than the 2007 panel that played in the Division 2 final.

The new format if it happens is a good for a team like Ros, it cuts the time to reach the top table if they can qualify from 3 straight to 1A/B.

Carthy303

Format remains the same with the addition of semi-finals for Div. 1

http://www.gaa.ie/gaa-news-and-videos/daily-news/1/2008111447-hawk-eye-and-allianz-hurling-league-2012/

Syferus

Meh, seemed like there was way more support for it than against it. It'd have been better for the sport overall so it deserved a more discussion than it got.

Carthy303

Syferus wrote: »

Meh, seemed like there was way more support for it than against it. It'd have been better for the sport overall so it deserved a more discussion than it got.

Decision seemed to be made fairly quickly alright. Semi-Finals are only a money spinner really and will probably be a double header in Croke Park no matter who is playing in them!

ardmacha

This proposal was bizarre and it is good to see that it is not proceeding.

Syferus

ardmacha wrote: »

This proposal was bizarre and it is good to see that it is not proceeding.

It was almost the same format they had for half a century.