Tiered Championship

ArnoldJRimmer wrote: »

For that stat to make any sense, it would have to be the same Division 4 teams for the period of time those games took place in. Plenty of teams from Division 4 have climbed through the divisions over the years, potentially gaining valuable experience from playing higher ranked teams in the championship along the way.

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

I don't what to "bin" any counties as you put it.
I want to see an attempt at restructuring the football championship.

Right now it's not fit for purpose for a high level multi million euro competition.

It's based on structures a century old

Why do Tyrone have to play twice as many games as Kerry to reach the same point ?

Why is it possible that for example Louth who beat Wexford at the weekend could end up in Round 1 of the qualifiers along with Wexford.

What reward do they get for actually winning a game ?

It needs a massive overhaul

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

Actually yes it will, every team should have to play the same amount of games against roughly similar opposition in the early stages of the cship. This can't happen under the present system

Bass Reeves wrote: »

First off counties are not being thrown out of the All Ireland Championship. Rather it would be reconfigured to be similar to most County championships. You would have an Senior, Intermediate and Junior county championship. Depending on set up either one or two teams could be promoted or relegated. So no team is consigned to a certain tier of the championship forever.

There are huge advantages teams will have much the same amount of games regardless of the tier that they are in. At present about 16 teams only get 2 championship games a year. Take Limerick it was 5-6 years since they won a championship game. In a tiered structure it would allow round robin competitions in all tiers. So every team would get a minimum 4-5 games every year. Teams that had to pay relegation playoffs and teams that got to tier final would get 6-8 games a year. Would TnaG and TV3 be interested in showing the the junior and interested division games if not I am sure that an internet TV GAA channel could be set up.
It would mean the end of provincal championship's but the Leinster and Munster are meaningless at present. However on the counter balance every team would be playing against teams more or less at there own level with the reward of a final and promotion to a higher tier for reaching it

ArnoldJRimmer wrote: »

Because the financial doping of Dublin over a period of 15 years has made the Leinster championship so uncompetitive that no one, including Dublin fans, wants to watch it anymore?

Bass Reeves wrote: »

What is happening at present is punishing weaker counties. They get 2-3 championship games a year and then that is it. Many weaker counties considered DIV 3 or 4 title now more important than championship. Most are struggling to get players to play for them. Last year something like 50 players that were approached by the Limerick football management refused to make themselves available to play for the county. One the main reasons is that playersknow taht they have to train for 8-10 months of the years for to arrive in a mismatched competitions.

This year we will see few football games on TV until after the hurling round robin is completed. Again because TV has no interest in mismatched games that mean nothing until the Super 8's starts. I was not in favor of the S8's but we have them now and have to get on with it. But we need to find a solution for counties that cannot compete in the super eights.

As can be seen more and more lower division managers also are of the opinion that change is needed. It makes no difference to the stronger counties they will continue to have the S8's Teams that win All Ireland do not come from nowhere. Tyrone, Armagh and Donegal were winning Ulster titles and getting to semi finals before they won there titles.

If a team is promoted from Tier2 to Tier1 they will have the winter to prepare themselves for T1 championship and the same with T3 going into T2. Under the present structure a weaker team getting to S8's like Kildare and Roscommon last year will always struggle. Tipperary making the semi final a few years ago is also an example a weaker county under the present system can only advance so far before being beaten.

If there was 10 team in the top tier it would give those teams that are promoted a chance to consolidate. Where round robin is played in County championship promoted teams are seldom relegated straight away again. You see team going from Junior grade to senior grade in 2-4 years and often being competitive at senior level. In counties that play either knock out or 2nd chance teams find it hard to progress as survival becomes more important.