Proposal to Restructure the All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship

letowski · 08-05-2017 1:43pm #1

Did anybody read the Sunday Times yesterday? Is this a true story?

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/irish-sport/round-robin-groups-point-the-way-forward-0z7vr85rk

Balls.ie condenesed the story

https://www.balls.ie/gaa/new-hurling-championship-format-364496

The main points:

- The Munster and Leinster Championships will be played on a group basis.
- Each Championship will feature five teams.
- Teams will play four games each, two home and two away.
- The top two teams in each group will contest the provincial finals.
- The teams which finish third in the groups will progress to an All-Ireland quarter-final along with the losing provincial finalists.
- Provincial winners will automatically progress to the All-Ireland semi-finals.
- The bottom two teams in each group will be eliminated from the All-Ireland Hurling Championship.

The proposal is expected to be presented to Central Council in mid-June and then to a Special Congress later in the year.

First off I accept that this is a thorny issue.

But I like the idea of the group stage system, I think its a step in the right direction for the hurling. It will increase revenue, have a more fixed hurling calendar that will benefit clubs, while still have the provincial systems in place. Players play more games also.

That said the idea put forward above has a few holes. Just having 5 teams in each province is unfair in not letting the developing counties take part in the championship. The biggest issue from a Munster perspective is one of WAT, CLA, LIM, COR and TIP, have to be relegated to whatever second tier structure is in place. That certainly won't go down well.

Overall though I think this style of format is the most best and popular sports competition format. One can look at all the biggest competitions in sport, Champions League, Football and Rugby World Cups, NFL, NBA, etc. They are all run in a group stage then knockout format. The hurling provinical championships are dead now, my own county will play Limerick in a month and probably only 15k will show up.

Anyway, that's what I think.

munchkin_utd · 08-05-2017 1:50pm

re unfair to developing counties, the format isnt finished but you'd presume that thered be some prequalifier like there is now as a pathway to the Liam mcCarthy for developing teams.
Its mentioned that one of the 5 leinster places would be through a development league .

enoughtaken · 08-05-2017 1:56pm

munchkin_utd wrote: »

re unfair to developing counties, the format isnt finished but you'd presume that thered be some prequalifier like there is now as a pathway to the Liam mcCarthy for developing teams.
Its mentioned that one of the 5 leinster places would be through a development league .

You could have the Christy Ring winners and runners up play the 3rd team in the province for a quarter final spot.

munchkin_utd · 08-05-2017 2:03pm

enoughtaken wrote: »

You could have the Christy Ring winners and runners up play the 3rd team in the province for a quarter final spot.

its another game in the schedule so youre loosing 2 or 3 weeks in the entire hurling championship for all teams as they wait for this extra lobsided game, shoehorned into the middle of proceedings, over just keeping it simple.

I'd say too for the club player in a developing county you'd be happy to not add 3 more weeks
You'd have a development round robbin starting in April, feeding into a leinster round robbin in May/ June, and to drag another 3 weeks on to that for a qualifier for a quarter final to only prolong the wait till a Kilkenny batters them off the pitch in a miracle chance happening of them managing to win the ensuing quarter final.

A championship is there to see who is the best team, not to prolong the hopes of second rate counties and keep club players idle in the meantime.

Shurimgreat · 08-05-2017 2:08pm

Ideally you'd want 2 groups of 4 of the best counties.

It would be great to see Kilkenny in a group with the likes of Clare, Galway and Tipperary at some stage, ideally in July or August. This would offer competitive high tension games that supporters can buy into.

Round robin games in Leinster or Munster would only devalue these provincial championships even more.

Coillte_Bhoy · 08-05-2017 2:19pm

letowski wrote: »

Did anybody read the Sunday Times yesterday? Is this a true story?

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/irish-sport/round-robin-groups-point-the-way-forward-0z7vr85rk

Balls.ie condenesed the story

https://www.balls.ie/gaa/new-hurling-championship-format-364496

The main points:

- The Munster and Leinster Championships will be played on a group basis.
- Each Championship will feature five teams.
- Teams will play four games each, two home and two away.
- The top two teams in each group will contest the provincial finals.
- The teams which finish third in the groups will progress to an All-Ireland quarter-final along with the losing provincial finalists.
- Provincial winners will automatically progress to the All-Ireland semi-finals.
- The bottom two teams in each group will be eliminated from the All-Ireland Hurling Championship.

The proposal is expected to be presented to Central Council in mid-June and then to a Special Congress later in the year.

First off I accept that this is a thorny issue.

But I like the idea of the group stage system, I think its a step in the right direction for the hurling. It will increase revenue, have a more fixed hurling calendar that will benefit clubs, while still have the provincial systems in place. Players play more games also.

That said the idea put forward above has a few holes. Just having 5 teams in each province is unfair in not letting the developing counties take part in the championship. The biggest issue from a Munster perspective is one of WAT, CLA, LIM, COR and TIP, have to be relegated to whatever second tier structure is in place. That certainly won't go down well.

Overall though I think this style of format is the most best and popular sports competition format. One can look at all the biggest competitions in sport, Champions League, Football and Rugby World Cups, NFL, NBA, etc. They are all run in a group stage then knockout format. The hurling provinical championships are dead now, my own county will play Limerick in a month and probably only 15k will show up.

Anyway, that's what I think.

Not the case. Only 1 team from the cship will drop down

letowski · 08-05-2017 3:33pm

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

Not the case. Only 1 team from the cship will drop down

Yeah correct my mistake.

Bonniedog · 08-05-2017 5:36pm

Seems like just another idea to get around the fact that if it was implemented this year, by semi final stages it would still be Tipp, and most likely Galway, Cats and maybe Clare or Waterford with outside chance of Wexford, Limerick, Dublin Cork.

No other team has a snowball's chance in hell of making it that far. That is simple truth of the matter and no amount of jigging it about will change that.

commonsense. · 08-05-2017 5:36pm

Its half a step in the right direction. In an ideal world, two groups of 5 on an open draw each year. Of course too many vested interests within the provinces to allow this.

Bonniedog · 08-05-2017 5:57pm

Group qualifiers when they were there were a disaster. Dublin were bad at the time but instead of getting one hiding from the Cats we were put into a group and got three more hammerings! One was sufficient, believe me :-0

nice_guy80 · 08-05-2017 9:21pm

Use the league to decide who gets onto the Super 8/10
Simple

PTH2009 · 08-05-2017 10:08pm

i quite like the proposed system as it gives at least 4 games a summer for each team but we will only see a small number of Munster vs Leinster games each summer. I think we should try it for a year or 2 and see how it goes. Towns and businesses around the stadiums will surly benefit

Munster will be very competitve as anyone could anyone on there day , With Leinster being a tiny bit easier as team 5 (which would be someone like Offaly, Laois, Westmeath, Kerry etc) wont be as strong as Kilkenny, Galway, Wexford, Dublin

for ourselves in Waterford will Walsh Park be big enough or even pass a H&S check for a big championship game ???, same could be said for Cusack Park in Ennis.

kkclubhurling · 09-05-2017 10:55am

An absolute death knell for club hurling.

Boom__Boom · 09-05-2017 3:46pm

Seems very much a reaction to the Super 8 in the football. I think the hurling side of the house might have been wiser to see how the first year of the Super 8 works in football and then decide on what's best.

Will the group stages of the championship look very samey in terms of playing the same opposition over and over after a few years with them being separated by province.

Tipp, Clare, Waterford and Cork will all play each other in the regular stage of league next year, then there is the knock-out stages of the league where odds are high some of these will end up playing each other as well. Then these four plus Limerick will all play each other again in the championship group stages with 3 of the 5 of Tipp, Clare, Waterford, Cork and Limerick getting to the knock-out stages and good odds of some of them meeting again.
That's before you even go near the Munster Hurling League - there's surely no way that will continue in it's present form.

Coillte_Bhoy · 09-05-2017 6:04pm

nice_guy80 wrote: »

Use the league to decide who gets onto the Super 8/10
Simple

Would play havoc with club fixtures. At least with this format the fixtures are known months in advance and club cships can be planned around them

Davys Fits · 09-05-2017 9:38pm

Its not a bad plan. It accomodates all the so called 'top teams' and allows 1 of the so called lower group to participate and guarantees all teams a minimum of 4 games. I woudnt think it unfair on the developing counties either. How many times have we heard that games like tipp v offaly recently was of no use to either team. Its just impossible to please everyone. I like the idea of the 3rd placing making the AI 1/4 finals. It means that more than likely the last round of the round robin should not be dead rubbers. If all 5 munster counties were strong as is often is the case then there could be a slight imbalance that would favour say a weaker Dublin or Wexford team.(or visa versa of course) . Not perfect!

Exiled1 · 09-05-2017 10:11pm

Boom__Boom wrote: »

Seems very much a reaction to the Super 8 in the football. I think the hurling side of the house might have been wiser to see how the first year of the Super 8 works in football and then decide on what's best.

The proposal was first made in 2012 by then HDC. Their plan envisaged a guaranteed one weekend per month for club games April-August inclusive.
It was not a reaction then but an attempt to balance the year between inter county and club.

munchkin_utd · 10-05-2017 7:40am

kkclubhurling wrote: »

An absolute death knell for club hurling.

go on, explain, and in more than 7 words please .

KevIRL · 10-05-2017 9:42am

Seems like a decent idea but more thought needs to go into how the 'lesser' counties fit into it. Also, the groups should be open imo, not Munster/Leinster - this may be too much of shift so soon however.

Davys Fits · 10-05-2017 11:37am

Doing that would mean that one of the 5 munster teams may have to fight to stay in the competition. The 10th place would seem to be up for grabs so unless Kerry start beating other Munster counties then the 5 Munster counties will continue in the competition every year regardless of their strength. Thinking about it if Leinsters 5th seeded team was stronger than Munsters 5th seeded team then the Munster team is still safe with the current proposal.

munchkin_utd · 10-05-2017 11:43am

Also, you are not going to get a change passed where the Munster championship is abolished.

Just not a runner and a waste of time and effort even discussing it. Youve more chance of the north Koreans stopping their nuclear programme voluntarily than abolishing the Munster hurling championship

letowski · 10-05-2017 3:58pm

One cannot deny the proposed system would benefit the clubs compared to the present system.

Like its a fixed fixtures calendar season, every county board will know exactly what dates the county team are out and what dates the knockout stages are if qualified. This is exactly the type of solution clubs want. Club fixtures can be planned accordingly not this bullsh*t of postponing rounds due to county qualifier games. At the end of the day the hurling calendar of a senior county player is a complete and unpredictable mess during the summer.

keeponhurling · 10-05-2017 4:05pm

They introduced a group stage into the hurling roughly 10 years ago, but it was scrapped as there was little interest and poor attendances in the matches. We like a "knock-out" culture seemingly.

If a county loses in their provincial championship, and then loses again to a loser from another province, maybe two matches is enough. They might be as well off focusing on the clubs over the summer.
They do have the league as well.

Pure tashte · 10-05-2017 5:34pm

kkclubhurling wrote: »

An absolute death knell for club hurling.

Not necessarily, maybe bad for Kilkenny, as they generally have to play only 3 games to get to an All-Ireland final, but it's probably no harm that they'll have to play a few more games.

Compared to a team that went through the qualifiers to the All-Ireland, it doesn't make much difference. Take Clare in 2013 for example, 2 Munster Championship games, 2 qualifiers, QF and SF, so 6 games to get to final. With the new system, it will take teams 6 games to get to the final, or 7 if they lose the provincial final (the quarter final for 3rd place and losing provincial finalists is probably unnecessary though, top 2 in both groups should just go straight to semi finals).

Either way, it's still less than what it could take some of the football teams in the Super 8 format.

gobo99 · 10-05-2017 10:57pm

Pure tashte wrote: »

Not necessarily, maybe bad for Kilkenny, as they generally have to play only 3 games to get to an All-Ireland final, but it's probably no harm that they'll have to play a few more games.

Compared to a team that went through the qualifiers to the All-Ireland, it doesn't make much difference. Take Clare in 2013 for example, 2 Munster Championship games, 2 qualifiers, QF and SF, so 6 games to get to final. With the new system, it will take teams 6 games to get to the final, or 7 if they lose the provincial final (the quarter final for 3rd place and losing provincial finalists is probably unnecessary though, top 2 in both groups should just go straight to semi finals).

Either way, it's still less than what it could take some of the football teams in the Super 8 format.

Kilkenny played 6 games in 2013 aswell, and that only got us to a quarter final.
In general if you win all your games you will take the direct route to the final, that goes for any county. Don't try make out we get preferential treatment when most Kilkenny people would have scrapped the provincial set up years ago in favour of an open draw

Cake Man · 11-05-2017 2:35am

I'm generally in favour of it and think it's worth a try to see how it goes. It does seem like a more higher stakes version of the league (with the exception of being confined to only playing teams from your province as opposed to mixed) and as someone earlier mentioned you could easily have two counties play each other up to 4 or 5 times in a season between league and championship.
A fixed calendar is not a bad thing and allows the clubs guaranteed weekends to play off matches. If the championship was to go from say June - mid August (assuming they bring forward the AI final), it would give clubs the rest of August and all September to finish off their championship. Could also squeeze two rounds in around late April/early May. Schedule the league to maybe start a week earlier and finish by mid April.

One issue I see that I don't think has been mentioned so far is the problem with drawn games - they're a bit of a logistical nightmare at present and would surely be worse with the introduction of more games. It wouldn't be an issue with the round robin series but you'd have to expect at least one or two drawn games that require a replay at the provincial finals, AI quarters, AI semi or AI final.
I could just see a situation where this would happen and you'd have a team out every weekend for 5/6/7 weeks. You'd probably have threads on here and players/pundits speaking out regarding player burnout soon after. Would be interested to hear some players opinion on the proposal to see if they'd be in favour of it (i.e. more games).

nice_guy80 · 11-05-2017 7:50am

knockout hurling gives teams like Limerick a chance to reach a semi final or final
they'd never reach a final otherwise in a round robin

OldMrBrennan83 · 11-05-2017 7:55am

This post has been deleted.

Pure tashte · 11-05-2017 9:10am

gobo99 wrote: »

Kilkenny played 6 games in 2013 aswell, and that only got us to a quarter final.
In general if you win all your games you will take the direct route to the final, that goes for any county. Don't try make out we get preferential treatment when most Kilkenny people would have scrapped the provincial set up years ago in favour of an open draw

Sorry I wasn't trying to have a go at Kilkenny! I just meant that given their succcess in Leinster, their route to the final is probably the most straight forward, any year following them winning Leinster the previous one, ie. 3 games.

slegs · 11-05-2017 10:54am

If they do this then the league in current format should be scrapped in favour of a knockout tournament. Or at least the pre league tournaments should be abolished

Bonniedog · 11-05-2017 2:39pm

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Straight knock out then is the fairest. I think the point was that Limerick - or Dublin or Wexford - are capable of taking down a big beast, and all have done so in past 5/6 years. However, giving the big beast a second chance is unfair surely?

Championship should be straight knock out. Best team will win anyway. Cats or Tipp in hurling or Dublin and Kerry in football should not be given another chance if they are taken out.

slegs · 12-05-2017 8:48am

Bonniedog wrote: »

Straight knock out then is the fairest. I think the point was that Limerick - or Dublin or Wexford - are capable of taking down a big beast, and all have done so in past 5/6 years. However, giving the big beast a second chance is unfair surely?

Championship should be straight knock out. Best team will win anyway. Cats or Tipp in hurling or Dublin and Kerry in football should not be given another chance if they are taken out.

No league format is fairest as it will always produce the best team that year. Why do you say best team will win anyway when any team could be caught cold on one day. They could still be the best team that year.

If Limerick want to be the best they will have to improve as said before. It amazes me that people think the format should somehow enable weaker teams to go further by allowing them to catch someone on an off day.

Mehapoy · 12-05-2017 4:20pm

slegs wrote: »

Bonniedog wrote: »

Straight knock out then is the fairest. I think the point was that Limerick - or Dublin or Wexford - are capable of taking down a big beast, and all have done so in past 5/6 years. However, giving the big beast a second chance is unfair surely?

Championship should be straight knock out. Best team will win anyway. Cats or Tipp in hurling or Dublin and Kerry in football should not be given another chance if they are taken out.

No league format is fairest as it will always produce the best team that year. Why do you say best team will win anyway when any team could be caught cold on one day. They could still be the best team that year.

If Limerick want to be the best they will have to improve as said before. It amazes me that people think the format should somehow enable weaker teams to go further by allowing them to catch someone on an off day.

If a team can't get into the top 3 in a 5 team group they're not getting far whatever the format,

Powerhouse · 12-05-2017 11:23pm

letowski wrote: »

Did anybody read the Sunday Times yesterday? Is this a true story?

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/irish-sport/round-robin-groups-point-the-way-forward-0z7vr85rk

Balls.ie condenesed the story

https://www.balls.ie/gaa/new-hurling-championship-format-364496

The main points:

- The Munster and Leinster Championships will be played on a group basis.
- Each Championship will feature five teams.
- Teams will play four games each, two home and two away.
- The top two teams in each group will contest the provincial finals.
- The teams which finish third in the groups will progress to an All-Ireland quarter-final along with the losing provincial finalists.
- Provincial winners will automatically progress to the All-Ireland semi-finals.
- The bottom two teams in each group will be eliminated from the All-Ireland Hurling Championship.

The proposal is expected to be presented to Central Council in mid-June and then to a Special Congress later in the year.

First off I accept that this is a thorny issue.

But I like the idea of the group stage system, I think its a step in the right direction for the hurling. It will increase revenue, have a more fixed hurling calendar that will benefit clubs, while still have the provincial systems in place. Players play more games also.

That said the idea put forward above has a few holes. Just having 5 teams in each province is unfair in not letting the developing counties take part in the championship. The biggest issue from a Munster perspective is one of WAT, CLA, LIM, COR and TIP, have to be relegated to whatever second tier structure is in place. That certainly won't go down well.

Overall though I think this style of format is the most best and popular sports competition format. One can look at all the biggest competitions in sport, Champions League, Football and Rugby World Cups, NFL, NBA, etc. They are all run in a group stage then knockout format. The hurling provinical championships are dead now, my own county will play Limerick in a month and probably only 15k will show up.

Anyway, that's what I think.

Sometimes the mind really boggles at how easily people can contradict themselves as you have done. You say that "the hurling provinicial championships are dead now" but "like the idea of the group stage system" which means that the "dead provincial system" is flogged even more. What's that about?

If you think 15k is not a great crowd for a match between your county and Limerick wait until they are meeting in a dead rubber at the end of the "group stage system". It'll make 15k look like the glory days.

You also think that it's a good idea because the GAA will "have a more fixed hurling calendar that will benefit clubs". The number of games in the Munster championship is going to more than double and you think this will benefit clubs? Are you taking the p1ss? County team managers will have even more of an excuse to monopolise players now because they'll have games nearly every week from February to July and that's before the real championship starts. This is going to bury the clubs.

As for your comment "overall though I think this style of format is the most best and popular sports competition format. One can look at all the biggest competitions in sport, Champions League, Football and Rugby World Cups, NFL, NBA, etc. They are all run in a group stage then knockout format."

What's the deal with citing the "NBA" (wtf?) and getting in the inevitable Champions League reference? The National Hurling League has been run for years under the group stage and then knockout format. It is not exactly revolutionary.

The Lost Sheep · 12-05-2017 11:55pm

Powerhouse wrote: »

Sometimes the mind really boggles at how easily people can contradict themselves as you have done. You say that "the hurling provinicial championships are dead now" but "like the idea of the group stage system" which means that the "dead provincial system" is flogged even more. What's that about?

If you think 15k is not a great crowd for a match between your county and Limerick wait until they are meeting in a dead rubber at the end of the "group stage system". It'll make 15k look like the glory days.

You also think that it's a good idea because the GAA will "have a more fixed hurling calendar that will benefit clubs". The number of games in the Munster championship is going to more than double and you think this will benefit clubs? Are you taking the p1ss? County team managers will have even more of an excuse to monopolise players now because they'll have games nearly every week from February to July and that's before the real championship starts. This is going to bury the clubs.

As for your comment "overall though I think this style of format is the most best and popular sports competition format. One can look at all the biggest competitions in sport, Champions League, Football and Rugby World Cups, NFL, NBA, etc. They are all run in a group stage then knockout format."

What's the deal with citing the "NBA" (wtf?) and getting in the inevitable Champions League reference? The National Hurling League has been run for years under the group stage and then knockout format. It is not exactly revolutionary.

The provincial system isnt dead and doesnt need to be either. This proposal shouldnt lead to many if any dead rubber games if it means top 3 will still go through. And if it happens too much you simply adapt the competition to give 4th in the group another shot.
If there is more games. No chances of replays and there is a very fixed schedule for counties to work around then this should help clubs fix their games and actually play them especially as both games in a round robin will be played same weekend. 2 groups of 5 and then provincial final means 6 weekends of games. Considering how they currently stagger games in Munster hurling championship its played over 4 weekends if there isnt a replay and Leinster is played over 6.

Bonniedog · 14-05-2017 12:18am

slegs wrote: »

No league format is fairest as it will always produce the best team that year. Why do you say best team will win anyway when any team could be caught cold on one day. They could still be the best team that year.

If Limerick want to be the best they will have to improve as said before. It amazes me that people think the format should somehow enable weaker teams to go further by allowing them to catch someone on an off day.

Championship should be best on the day. if it is straight knockout then better teams will be well prepared. If then the Cats or Dubs or Kerry or Tipp are beaten then why give them another shot?

Coillte_Bhoy · 17-05-2017 7:50pm

Bonniedog wrote: »

Best team will win anyway

Bonniedog wrote: »

Championship should be best on the day.

You're contradicting yourself. Bets on the day might not be best team of the cship. When the FA Cup was a major competition taken seriously by the top teams the best team did not always win

Bonniedog · 17-05-2017 10:29pm

Best team is one that wins, surely! If Usain Bolt loses a race it is not re-run!

PTH2009 · 06-06-2017 5:29pm

Official structure is out that will go to congress

Hope it goes through but it will take a while to get used to the championship starting so early

How on earth will Cusack Park and Walsh Park be able too host big championship games ??

Imo Only disadvantage I see is that there will be very few Munster teams vs Leisnter teams games but no harm in trying this system. Be good too have at least 4 championship days out next summer

OldMrBrennan83 · 06-06-2017 5:43pm

This post has been deleted.

KevIRL · 06-06-2017 7:36pm

With Offaly in the current mess they are in it effectively means 3 from 4 into the all Ireland series for Leinster while the Munster lads go at it any of the 5 there could be gone.

PTH2009 · 06-06-2017 7:51pm

KevIRL wrote: »

With Offaly in the current mess they are in it effectively means 3 from 4 into the all Ireland series for Leinster while the Munster lads go at it any of the 5 there could be gone.

yeah its a bit unfair

if this goes ahead next years league could be a bit of a shambles as teams wont be going full tilt for it with so many championship games coming up

its weird thinking next year that there will be teams out of the championship by mid may. Did the GAA forget the soccer world cup is on next year too

Davys Fits · 06-06-2017 8:44pm

KevIRL wrote: »

With Offaly in the current mess they are in it effectively means 3 from 4 into the all Ireland series for Leinster while the Munster lads go at it any of the 5 there could be gone.

Sure its not perfect. But the Munster teams can be sure that they will be in the Liam Mc the following year bar a miracle in Kerry. Leinster has a drop every year. One concern could be that the top teams may meet 3 times in a short space of time. Not a bad plan though and it means 15 teams are in with a chance to win and all have 4 games minimum.

PTH2009 · 06-06-2017 9:51pm

The championships as we know them are about to change.

The days of knockout games are starting too end as were going down the route of soccer/rugby in which were adapting group stages, multiple games etc

I wonder will Waterford play there home games in Thurles or Cork and Clare play there's in Limerick as demand could outweigh stadium capacity ???

mickmackmcgoo · 06-06-2017 9:54pm

The proposed dates for provincial championships might not go down well with the counties. First 3 games are 3 weeks in a row then a week off then another game .

Copper_pipe · 06-06-2017 11:12pm

mickmackmcgoo wrote: »

The proposed dates for provincial championships might not go down well with the counties. First 3 games are 3 weeks in a row then a week off then another game .

Be costly enough if you go to all the games

mickmackmcgoo · 06-06-2017 11:14pm

Copper_pipe wrote:

Be costly enough if you go to all the games

For sure , not too mention the possibility of no club fixtures in a lot of counties until June and July

Copper_pipe · 06-06-2017 11:19pm

mickmackmcgoo wrote: »

For sure , not too mention the possibility of no club fixtures in a lot of counties until June and July

As a limerick man, it could mean making a trip to thurles and cork and one home game in limerick in the space of 3 weeks.

Be interesting to see how many games would be shown on TV each week also.

mickmackmcgoo · 06-06-2017 11:25pm

Copper_pipe wrote:

Be interesting to see how many games would be shown on TV each week also.

You would probably get one on tv on a Sunday and sky on a Saturday night. Hurling definitely needs a new structure , will be interesting to see if this gets approved

munchkin_utd · 07-06-2017 9:02am

Copper_pipe wrote: »

As a limerick man, it could mean making a trip to thurles and cork and one home game in limerick in the space of 3 weeks.

Be interesting to see how many games would be shown on TV each week also.

Do you follow your county in the league ?
It doesnt sound all that different than the commitment that the core group of county supporters show during the spring, albeit less travelling as you only have teams in your Provence.

As for TV, you'd have probably no more games on telly than before, but just proper decent hurling matches rather than a mickey mouse football qualifier on a Saturday evening.

The interesting aspect would be how the highlights get dealt with, as with so many more good games on those weekends it'd be a pity to only have a 5 minute piece on the Sunday game for what could have been a ding dong battle. Maybe there'd be a need for a Saturday and/ or Monday extended highlights programme to cope with the extra games ?

Hammer Archer · 07-06-2017 10:13am

So basically the GAA made a big song and dance about not promoting both Christy Ring finalists last year only to promote both finalists the following year :rolleyes:
Would have been more advantageous to Meath to lose last year's Christy Ring final and make this year's final instead.

Proposal to Restructure the All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship

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