Changes in the GAA - super thread

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

Provincial championships are really only working in two provinces,

Leinster was strong enough for a few years but historically for a championship with so many teams, the roll of honour is very lobsided

Agreed. I'd love to keep the provincial championships. I was born and raised in London but some of my fondest memories are attending games in Ulster with my family from Donegal. Ulster is still viable but the others aren't.

A lot of discussion recently about the masters fixtures calendar, and the demands been put on players, in particular U20 players by management of teams like clubs, U20 and senior inter-county, 2nd and 3rd level college teams etc. This has got me thinking, what will an alternative fixtures calendar that would have the backing of club, inter-county players alike. Starting from January 1st 2021 this is what my own Gaa fixture calendar should look like

January - Inter-county training commences for all inter-county teams, both senior, U20 teams. For inter-county that break this rule then penalties ranging from concession of home venues in the championship to fines for county boards are on the agenda.

February - Start the inter-county pre-season competitions no earlier than the first weekend of February. Complete them by the end of the month, if not then the rest of the competitions shall be null and void.

March - club month, where clubs get first choice on inter-county players from March 1st to March 29th inclusive. Play the respective club leagues rather than county championship as the number one priority.

April - Start the inter-county All-Ireland senior hurling and football championships on the 3rd weekend of April. Scrap the leagues for the following formats. So for hurling you have the Munster and Leinster Championships with both having 5 teams in it. The rest of the tiered hurling championships will remain the same like in 2020. In other words the status quo remains like in GAA hurling championship 2020

In football I would replace the provincials with this format. The 4 provincial champions in 2020 along with the All-Ireland winner, if not exempt already will be part of the the main All-Ireland football championship 5 team "group of death". If the All-Ireland winner was a provincial champion, then that place will be taken up by the leading team in the 2020 Division one League. I would have 4 groups of 5 teams in the All-Ireland senior football championship from 2021 onwards. The 2 relegated teams from Division 2 and the bottom 3 teams in Div. 3 along with 7 teams in Division 4 of the 2020 league except for the winner of the Division 4 league who would qualify for the All-Ireland senior championship, will make up the tier 2 championship.

May to August bank holiday weekend - Senior Championship continues in May. For the minor (U17 grade) I would make it a developmental championship, a bit like what's in situ with the likes of the Tony Forrestial, Arrabawn tournaments etc. I don't like the idea of "win at all costs" attitude I've seen with managers and coaches involved in the U17 inter-county management teams, since the inter-county minor grade was changed to U17. These young lads have enough to be worried about re leaving cert exams etc. In mid June once the Leaving Cert is complete I would commence both the U20 provincial inter-county hurling and football championships.

Eligibility for U20 grade would be for players who turned 18 on the 1st of January of this year or later. The championship itself will be run on a knock-out basis, like what's currently in place. While all U20 players will only be allowed to chose one code for the duration of the championship. U20 players cannot play both senior and U20 inter-county championship in their preferred code while a county still involved in both senior and U20 championships. One code, one competition will be the rule there.

July - The top 3 teams in Div 1 of the All-Ireland senior football championship would qualify for the 1/4 finals, along with the winners of Div 2, 3 and 4. The winner of the tier 2 championship (which will be a knock-out championship) will take on the 4th place team in Div 1 to see who will be the final quarter-finalist. These 1/4 finals will be played on the first week of July, with semi-finals a week later with the Sam Maguire winner to be confirmed on the Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. No replays in any knock-out championship games in both hurling and football. The Liam McCarthy winner will be confirmed on the Saturday of the August bank holiday weekend. I would also play the U20 championship finals to be held as curtain raisers to the respective All-Ireland senior hurling and football finals respectively.

2nd weekend of August to the end of November - Club championships commence in all counties. Any county that sees its inter-county championship end before the August bank holiday extravaganza can certainly begin all club activities before that date. Complete the club championships, both county, provincial and All-Ireland chamionships by the last weekend of November with the finals in Croke Park, in all grades and codes. I would also begin the Sigerson, Fitzgibbon and other third level GAA championships like freshers etc, in the last weekend of September and ending on the October bank holiday weekend, with all third level college GAA competitions finals to be held in Croke Park by that time. I would also dissolve the respective 3rd level GAA league competitions as I believe that is also something that players can do without for player welfare reasons.

December - No GAA activity of any kind. No collective training, no meaningless GAA matches. December should be "free month" for all Gaa players from any GAA activity. Any team that violates this rule, would face explusion from their respective championship or other GAA competition for the following year, 2022

I look forward to what other posters think about this schedule. It would be of huge benefit to club players in particular and I feel that this calendar can form a basis to solve the huge crisis that I mentioned in the above in relation to our great GAA sports.

Intercounty season is too long. Limit the intercounty season to 5 months (March to August). January should be designated a rest month. That leaves us with 6 months exclusively for the clubs.

The League should adopt a format similar to the one which will be used UEFA's Nations League this year. Each division has 8 teams split into 2 groups of 4. Double round-robin so each team gets an equal number of home and away games. The top teams in each group in Division 1 go into the NFL finals. The 1st placed teams in each group in Divisions 2, 3, and 4 are promoted. The 4th placed teams in each group are relegated.

Min no. of games = 6
Max no. of games = 6 (7 for NFL finalists)

The League is then followed by a two tier championship. Each tier has 16 teams split into 4 groups of 4. Each team get a home game and an away game. The other game is played in a neutral venue.

Min no. of games = 3
Max no. of games = 6

Every county gets 9-12 games in the season.

Or retain the current league structure. That would give every team a minimum of 10 games and a max of 13 or 14 games.

The Provincials should be scrapped at senior level but retained for club and underage competitions. The provincial councils should focus solely on development of Gaelic games. Let the GAA worry about running senior intercounty competitions.

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

why does nearly every format proposal have league completed before championship starts? Why not do like other sports and have the various competitions intertwine through the season? I dont see why provincial competitions should be scrapped just dont have replays and finish them on day so they take at max 3/4 weeks.

Both formats are fine. Provincials can be played in the preseason but they shouldn't form a part of the All-Ireland Championship anymore. Every team should start in the same position.

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

why play them in pre season?
Pre season dorsnt need to have competitions in it. Play provincial competitions in breaks between league or all Ireland whatever format that's chosen.

That would be fine as well.

https://twitter.com/mcenteejohn/status/1219739793996816384

https://twitter.com/mcenteejohn/status/1219739796349779968

https://twitter.com/mcenteejohn/status/1219739798392516610

The last tweet in the above 3 links relates to the McRory Cup final, which is due to take place the same day (Paddy's Day) as the All-Ireland U20 Football semi-finals!!!

This blatant disregard for player welfare, regarding the scheduling of the 2020 Provincial and All-Ireland U20 Football Championship, is there for all to see. John Horan is officially the worst GAA president ever IMO. Out of touch he is indeed with the grassroots and disconnected with the GAA club and inter-county player. He seems like a provocative figure too, in other words, its his way and that's it. No compromise it seems! It's only the well being of Dublin GAA, rather than what's best for the rest of the 31 counties, that matters to the Na Fianna clubman.

Finally why is it that only the Irish Examiner, are the only national media outlet that are calling out for what is re Horan? Fair play to them but it's utter shame on the other national print and broadcast media, for their failings in holding the GAA top brass to account re Tommy Murphy Cup 2.0 the prime example.

Banner2theend wrote: »

https://twitter.com/mcenteejohn/status/1219739793996816384

https://twitter.com/mcenteejohn/status/1219739796349779968

https://twitter.com/mcenteejohn/status/1219739798392516610

The last tweet in the above 3 links relates to the McRory Cup final, which is due to take place the same day (Paddy's Day) as the All-Ireland U20 Football semi-finals!!!

This blatant disregard for player welfare, regarding the scheduling of the 2020 Provincial and All-Ireland U20 Football Championship, is there for all to see. John Horan is officially the worst GAA president ever IMO. Out of touch he is indeed with the grassroots and disconnected with the GAA club and inter-county player. He seems like a provocative figure too, in other words, its his way and that's it. No compromise it seems! It's only the well being of Dublin GAA, rather than what's best for the rest of the 31 counties, that matters to the Na Fianna clubman.

Finally why is it that only the Irish Examiner, are the only national media outlet that are calling out for what is re Horan? Fair play to them but it's utter shame on the other national print and broadcast media, for their failings in holding the GAA top brass to account re Tommy Murphy Cup 2.0 the prime example.

Seems like the U20s should be played in the summer when players have time off school/college. Horan says the situation can't be solved. An useless president backed up by a bunch of yes men. The GAA's governing body is no longer fit for purpose.

Girly Gal wrote: »

Meath and Kildare really have no excuse, they are footballing counties with decent size populations and very little hurling. Neither of them have won a Leinster title in almost 20 years (not counting Meath's 2010 Leinster as Louth were absolutely robbed of that title). It's really only in the last 10 years that Dublin have become a force and counties outside of Leinster have at least been more competitive in that time than Meath and Kildare. Neither of them have even closed the gap, if anything the gap is getting bigger, in the last decade both counties have struggled to stay in division 1 for any length of time and have even struggled to stay in division 2 at times. They both really should be playing at a higher level.

Absolute nonsense. The gap is getting bigger because it's getting more difficult to get players to commit to receive a hiding in Croke Park. Dublin winning is a result of funding and population. Dublin's success has coincided with a major decline in Leinster GAA.

The new Dublin fans are deluded if they think Dublin are just better than everyone else because they try harder.

It is a complete failure if Dublin don't win the AI every year because they have much more resources than anyone else. Great achievement, huh?

It won't matter anyway as football is being brought to its death thanks to attitudes like yours.

breezy1985 wrote: »

Is it Dublin or anyone elses fault the Kildare's stadium was a kip?

And your own county boards are happy to take the big gates from CP. If this all really was a big issue ye should all just pull out of Leinster in protest

Maybe our stadium is a kip because we weren't handed Croke Park free of charge like the Dubs were? But I guess "DuBs HoMe StAdIuM iS pArNeLl PaRk".

Navan is a kip too. As is Drogheda, Aughrim, Mullingar? Guess why. Those counties have to fund stadiums themselves.

You are utterly deluded or misinformed, probably both.