HoganStand GAA Football and Hurling

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A Better Super 8S ?

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How about playing only 2 rds in lieu of 3 ? Teams with 2 wins to SFs; 0 wins are out; 1 win to KO QFs. Drawn games play to a winner. No dead rubbers ! Ultimately, I'd prefer a Super 12s - 4 Champs and 8 Qualifiers !! I know - another post - but you have to concede - something works !!! League to KO - Div 1 with 11; Div 2 with 11; and Div 3 with 5 North/5 South !!!! C'mon !!!!! omahant (USA) - Posts: 2584 - 20/07/2019 03:02:19 2213398 Link
Replying To omahant: "How about playing only 2 rds in lieu of 3 ? Teams with 2 wins to SFs; 0 wins are out; 1 win to KO QFs. Drawn games play to a winner. No dead rubbers ! Ultimately, I'd prefer a Super 12s - 4 Champs and 8 Qualifiers !! I know - another post - but you have to concede - something works !!! League to KO - Div 1 with 11; Div 2 with 11; and Div 3 with 5 North/5 South !!!! C'mon !!!!!" 4 groups of 3 would be better No dead rubbers Provincial champions, runner ups and 4 qualifiers in each group. Only top team each group makes semis. Depending on results tonight quite possible u have 3 dead rubbers next week. OhtobeARossie (Roscommon) - Posts: 1764 - 20/07/2019 12:07:04 2213471 Link
Replying To OhtobeARossie: "4 groups of 3 would be better No dead rubbers Provincial champions, runner ups and 4 qualifiers in each group. Only top team each group makes semis. Depending on results tonight quite possible u have 3 dead rubbers next week." You say that the provincial champions and runners up should qualify for a Super 12. That means Connacht with 5 teams ( no disrespect intended to New York and London) and Munster with 6 teams would get 2 representatives whilst Ulster and Leinster with 9 and 11 counties would get the same . The provincial system is skewed enough as it is without making it worse . If you were going to go to a Super 12 and I don't think you should then it would have to be the provincial winners and 8 qualifiers . Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6031 - 20/07/2019 13:12:17 2213502 Link
To Greengrass - To address Prov imbalance, one prior idea I had (2 plus 6) was 2 teams thru Front Door (after Champs Playoff) and 6 from 12 in last Back Door rd (incl 2 beaten Champs). For 4 groups of 3 - I'd have 4 Champs and 8 winners from last qualifier rd. omahant (USA) - Posts: 2584 - 20/07/2019 15:32:46 2213547 Link
I mean why not just play a quarter final and get it over with. Everyone was complaining about the standard of Leinster but an awful Meath performance was closer than Roscommon, the Connaught champions. I don't see how letting Galway, Westmeath, Laois and Cavan in is going to make things more competitive. skirge7 (UK) - Posts: 248 - 21/07/2019 00:38:22 2213808 Link
Replying To OhtobeARossie: "4 groups of 3 would be better No dead rubbers Provincial champions, runner ups and 4 qualifiers in each group. Only top team each group makes semis. Depending on results tonight quite possible u have 3 dead rubbers next week." 4 groups of 3 still can have dead rubbers. If one team wins the first two games the last game is a dead rubber if only top makes semifinals. All sports that involve a league system have this issue. The premier league has multiple dead rubbers every week from April on, the champions league, world cup etc etc. Club GAA leagues have dead rubbers all the time. As long as the provincial system exists it will be impossible to balance out the football championship. catchturnscore (Longford) - Posts: 149 - 21/07/2019 10:06:36 2213854 Link
How about just playing 4 straight knockout quarter finals rather than this contraption which was solely cynically aimed at (and failed) trying to eek as much money as possible from the Gaa public. This is a farce, no ones interested even in the 2nd round games and in 2 weeks we will have a complete set of dead rubber fixtures. Quarter finals games before this farce used to serve up some cracking games as there was genuinely something on the line in those game, proper knockout football. tearintom (Wexford) - Posts: 1336 - 21/07/2019 10:16:23 2213859 Link
This was always just another hack! And the next idea will be another hack. Dancing and jumping around Provincial Councils. Current Competitions based on geographical locations in a very small Country. The league is the best bang for buck as a spectator. Tailor it to produce All-Ireland semi-finals and finals and then you have a season. Ban (Westmeath) - Posts: 1415 - 21/07/2019 10:34:51 2213868 Link
"The GAA have done it arseways with the super 8s. Most tournaments in world sport do their round robin at the START of the competition (Champions League, Heineken Cup, World Cups, all the Yank sports, even the hurling championship), then get into the knock out rounds which is where the real excitement usually happens. Everyone knows the group stages may have the odd exciting game, but their main purpose is to separate the strong teams from the weak teams before the knock out rounds. The mistake the GAA have made with this super 8s malarkey is that they've hyped it up as this major accomplishment for teams to aspire to, (even the name, "super" 8s), so when the group stages often peter out to their inevitable conclusion, fans are left with an acute sense of anti-climax. So while most sports (practically all, actually) design competitions to ESCAPE the group stages, the GAA have contrived to design a competition whereby the big "prize" is to QUALIFY for the group stages! Like I said earlier, completely arseways! I would say you couldn't make it up but the GAA obviously have!" ballydalane (Kilkenny) - Posts: 1246 - 21/07/2019 10:42:58 2213872 Link
Since 2001 when was the peak average attendance of the football championship from provincial preliminary rounds throgh qualifiers through quarter finals/ Super 8s to the final? Have attendances dipped because there are more games live/recordings and highlights online or on TV and increasing options of how to view them? GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7344 - 21/07/2019 10:43:59 2213874 Link
Replying To ballydalane: ""The GAA have done it arseways with the super 8s. Most tournaments in world sport do their round robin at the START of the competition (Champions League, Heineken Cup, World Cups, all the Yank sports, even the hurling championship), then get into the knock out rounds which is where the real excitement usually happens. Everyone knows the group stages may have the odd exciting game, but their main purpose is to separate the strong teams from the weak teams before the knock out rounds. The mistake the GAA have made with this super 8s malarkey is that they've hyped it up as this major accomplishment for teams to aspire to, (even the name, "super" 8s), so when the group stages often peter out to their inevitable conclusion, fans are left with an acute sense of anti-climax. So while most sports (practically all, actually) design competitions to ESCAPE the group stages, the GAA have contrived to design a competition whereby the big "prize" is to QUALIFY for the group stages! Like I said earlier, completely arseways! I would say you couldn't make it up but the GAA obviously have!"" I think we should have a group stage at the start. Divide the teams into two pools of 16 or 4 pools of 8 based on their performance in the League. Seed the teams from each pool into 8 groups of 4. Example for 2 pools of 8 Group A Roscommon Westmeath Waterford Leitrim Group B Dublin Donegal Offaly Down And so on. Hawkeye9212 (Donegal) - Posts: 266 - 21/07/2019 12:29:13 2213907 Link
Replying To catchturnscore: "4 groups of 3 still can have dead rubbers. If one team wins the first two games the last game is a dead rubber if only top makes semifinals. All sports that involve a league system have this issue. The premier league has multiple dead rubbers every week from April on, the champions league, world cup etc etc. Club GAA leagues have dead rubbers all the time. As long as the provincial system exists it will be impossible to balance out the football championship." To avoid Super 12 dead rubbers - Loser game 1 plays the bye team next (if 4 to SFs). Winner game 1 plays bye next (if 8 to KO QFs). If Drawn game 1, there are no dead rubbers. Dead rubbers are more likely in GAA due to lower drawn match frequency - v e.g. soccer World Cup. omahant (USA) - Posts: 2584 - 21/07/2019 14:15:46 2213946 Link
No Super 8s or 12s. The group stage should be held at the start of the Championship so all teams are guaranteed at least 3 games. Seed the teams based on their performance in the League. Hawkeye9212 (Donegal) - Posts: 266 - 21/07/2019 15:12:22 2213969 Link
Replying To GreenandRed: "Since 2001 when was the peak average attendance of the football championship from provincial preliminary rounds throgh qualifiers through quarter finals/ Super 8s to the final? Have attendances dipped because there are more games live/recordings and highlights online or on TV and increasing options of how to view them?" TV coverage, period of Austerity, some dire football. Its slowly picking up and getting back to mid 00's levels. arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4896 - 21/07/2019 16:07:11 2214015 Link