Football Championship Restructuring Idea

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

don't see teams starting in one competition and finishing in another as being bulls***
You see it regularly in European soccer/rugby.
Most counties want to play the big boys and have a shot at winning sam however unlikely that is. That shot shouldn't be removed but a level needs to be found for these counties to improve and get more games and possibly win silverware...

You can't compare it to professional sports.

In rugby and soccer its their job to compete in whatever competition they find themselves in.

In the GAA it not easy to motivate guys to go back and play in a lesser competition when there are other things to focus on, including their club commitments

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

You can. That's the fault of the GAA that you cant motivate teams to play on if knocked out of one competition to be able to play and win another. Its the same with club competitions.

I agree. Give them something that's worth playing for and they will.
I hate these convoluted competitions people try to come up with hoping that they might pass congress. None will.
Croke Park need to take the bull by the horns and create competitions that people and media can invest in. 3 leagues with 11 games for each team. Anyone in the top two tiers gets to play in the AI series the following year, straight knock out. Club games played through the county season with all players available. Start the season in march and have county wrapped by early September and club by October at worst.
Weaker teams get games to improve, panels get used, everyone gets a calender, Gaa increase revenues and supporters get a team to follow

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

They have tried B championships for decades now, I believe Leitrim own one in the early '90s, and The likes for Clare won the Tommy Murphy cup in the '00s.

But they have never caught on, and I don't think any competition that the losers go into a lesser competition will ever catch on.

Create three or four divisions like they have done in hurling and see how it works.

Well done to Meath for winning the Christy Ring and getting into the Leinster championship.

Well done to Mayo for winning the Nicky Rackard and getting into the Christy Ring.

Something similar may work in football, but a system where a team ends up on a secondary competition after being knocked out of the primary one will not work and has never worked.

I agree. B championships are inherently flawed as is the total obsession with championship in the first place. Raising the status of the league and earning your right to play championship means teams improve and the playing field is a little more level. It will also lead to teams coming out of their shell as they won't base their season round 2 games which deem it a success or failure

Xenophile wrote: »

No need to change anything about the football championship. The qualifiers have just thrown up Clare and Tipperary as two of the last eight in their history.

The structure is fine, up to now the GAA hierarchy seemed to be reacting to GAA writers who were short of copy.

Critics of the current system should have waited until the the current qualifiers games were completed.

Leave the current system in place, every system is bound to throw up some shortcomings.

I totally agree that the back door has been a success because of days like yesterday.

Change to the championship needs to be small not nuclear.

Xenophile wrote: »

No need to change anything about the football championship. The qualifiers have just thrown up Clare and Tipperary as two of the last eight in their history.

The structure is fine, up to now the GAA hierarchy seemed to be reacting to GAA writers who were short of copy.

Critics of the current system should have waited until the the current qualifiers games were completed.

Leave the current system in place, every system is bound to throw up some shortcomings.

As long as the provincials are used as entry points into the AI then it needs to change. And that's it.

To say that Munster and Connacht (and to a lesser extent Leinster) deserve to stay is bordering on madness.

recylingbin wrote: »

Scrap the league. Play provincial championships in it's stead.
Open draw for all Ireland. No seeding. No back door
Simples

That benefits no-one. Why is less games and therefore less media coverage and less money/income good for the GAA?

Hawkeye9212 wrote: »

It's going to be based on League performance. Moving the lowest ranked team in Ulster to Connacht is no improvement. They are just adding another minnow for the big three to give a beating to.

I don't like either format but I'll take a meaningful League over rejigged provinces.

Let's assume the League proposal was held this year.

Derry, Westmeath, Fermanagh, and Kildare would be in the preliminary QFs.

Kerry, Mayo, Tyrone, Dublin, Donegal, and Meath would join the two PQF winners in the QFs.

Yeah, I saw the Examiners summary of the proposals after I posted which made the structure of rejigged provinces a bit clearer. It's a bit wishy washy and based on the league as is you'd be looking at possibly Antrim and Wexford/Carlow joining Connacht which would be a pure mess. A permanent restructure would be politically more toxic in the short term but probably fairer for the Counties likely to be shunted around at the bottom end.


I can't see anything but the tweaked status quo passing to be honest.

PTH2009 wrote: »

They should just get rid of the provincials or run them off as a separate competition (maybe pre season instead of those things there now) and have the leagues/Championships interact

GAA are so farcical sometimes and other big sporting organisations must be laughing there heads off (well not the FAI with there current mess)

This has always been my wish.

Provincials become the pre-league tournaments.
Leave the league as it is because it's the best competition by far.
Have 8 groups of 4 seeded on final league placings.

Draw groups on a seeded basis

Top 2 through to 2nd Round and so on...

Keep it as an open draw from the 2nd round on with the only proviso for the second round being that you can't play someone that was in your group.

It's simple. Done. And unlikely as hell!