Changes in the GAA - super thread

The leauge has proved that teams find their natural level and you have competitive games in every division.

The point is that under this new proposal every team in the country gets 7 championship games in late Spring/Summer allowing teams to grow and develop as opposed to the weak having 1 or 2 games giving no scope for improvement and development while the strong go deep into the Summer and the gap between the haves and have not gets increasingly wider.

As for the div 3 and 4 winners getting drubbings in the quarter finals they will have to negotiate a top div 2 team in the preliminary quarter finals first and if they do that I wouldn't have too many fears for them in the quarters.

Derry won div 3 last season and they were unlucky to lose to Donegal in the championship, a Donegal who many had down as dark horses to win the championship.

What has to be factored in is the confidence and belief that winning games breeds in a team and the damage that is done by taking ritual hidings in outdated championship formats.

Is there any other competition in the world that would work in as ludicrous a way as this proposal?!

Highly doubt it and the worse part is plenty of good journalists and many figures in the GPA I have a lot of respect for can't see or simply choose to ignore these flaws as they promote Proposal B as the best thing since sliced bread.

Change is needed and it will happen this year or next but we need to get it right as this change will be staying in place long term.

Is there any competition in the world that would separate there starting 32 teams into 4 groups of 12, 9, 6 and 5 and and start it from there. Crazy stuff.

Most competitions have a leauge format as their premium competition and a cup as a secondary competition (premier leauge and fa cup)

The fairest way to find your All Ireland champion would be have every team in the country play each other home and away and who ever tops the table is king, time constraints and a need for showpiece knockout games rules this out.

Proposal b is the best compromise to get something near the above, what has gone on in the past is loaded in favour of the strong teams. The provincial championships are lopsided and shambolic.

But 7 of the 8 teams in divisions 3 and 4 would still play no main championship knock out match under the proposal so their season is just the league under this system? How is that better for them?

I know yeah but I was referring to the other poster who says it's an improvement for those teams in terms of their participation in the main championship.

I've no problem with lower teams being included but not at the expense of higher ranked ones.

I agree with all you say. My only issue is lower ranked teams proceeding ahead of higher ranked ones.

What would people think of the following? Play the league as proposed in early summer. Then have div 4 play div 3 in 8 knockout matches. Then the winners play div 2 teams. Those 8 winners join div 1 teams in last 16? The lower divisions could start a week or two earlier to give time for it.

Because it would be just like the league always was in the spring

But then the teams in the top half were competing to make the final. Under this system there would be a little at stake in the league stages for the better teams and that stage would effectively become a series of warmup games for the knockout phase.

Although now that I think there isn't much at stake in the proposed league phase for the very top teams either. What would be the chances of Dublin, Kerry and Mayo not making the top 5?

The least stupid proposal out of 3 stupid proposals is what I'd call B. Any competition where weaker teams leapfrog stronger teams to enter the main competition is just ridiculous in itself.

Anyone getting promoted out of division 2 is very unlikely to make championship knockout stages. Anyone who got relegated will benefit from being in division 2 rather than hanging on by their fingertips in division 1. Those counties who yo yo like roscommon will be in one year out the next.

Its a slightly better option than we have now but its the most GAA solution to a problem I've ever seen. I can think of at least 2 better alternatives straight off the top of my head.

Divide the league into 3 divisions rather than 4. Play the league and have your relegation and promotion as usual. Any team in division one and two will play in a straight knockout championship whilst the teams in division 3 and just relegated to division 3 play in the Tailteann Cup. The winners of tailteann Cup get automatic access to the Sam Maguire comp the following year.

Every team has a chance to make the Sam maguire every year and the secondary comp has a real reason to give it a right go.

If you really wanted to give an extra incentive for the Tailteann Cup winners then they would get to go play New York at the end of the Season to keep their county board happy and it would be a competitive game too.

Which chairmen have come out and backed it? Offaly is the only one i have heard of