Ormond so what about in 10 years time when a new crop of players are the inter county players and they want something different should we change it again because they will be the ones playing then? Players play and are only there for a small period of time. People are appointed properly to decide structures not players

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 09/01/2015 21:40:29    1681962

There is a need for change and it will happen in the future so the sooner the better. The best solutions are always the easiest so either have 8 groups of 4 (world cup style format) or even out the provinces permanently to 8 teams each (London & New York could playoff each year or something).

I'd prefer the world cup format because it guarantees each team 3 games and it would only take 7 to win the All-Ireland which is very reasonable, plus you could keep the provincials and use them to first to seed the groups and then the league to seed the rest, hence retaining a their importance, at least to a degree anyway.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 10/01/2015 14:36:05    1682003

My suggestion for what it's worth!

Create a 3 tiered championship - senior/intermediate/junior - with 12, 12, 8
Split the 12 teams into 4 groups of 3.
Top 2 teams go into quarter finals, bottom team into relegation playoff. (Simikar to louth club championship)

Pros:
Every team gets 3meaningful games

Teams are graded on merit. The idea that Kerry and Waterford are competing in the same Munster/all ireland championship is crazy.
As a louth man, the worst I ever saw was when Carlow beat us in Leinster a couple of years ago. Carlow (through no fault of their own) were lauded for winning their first Leinster championship in years. You had pat Spillane on the radio saying this is what the gaa was all about - horribly patronising. Put teams in a competition they have a chance of winning. This might help to remove some of the hammering a we will see in every province bar ulster.

Fixtures can be run off smoothly - mayo and Kerry won't be waiting for the ulster championship to finish. This will have huge benefits for the club game.

Cons
No provincial championship - I can understand why ulster people would be disappointed but every other province is a joke.

I'm sure people will have other disadvantages to my suggestion which is fair enough. For me the current provincial system is totally unbalanced and unfair. Let's try something new. I promise I'll write down what counties are in each province in case we forget. We can always go back to what we have now after 2-3 years of anew system.

Cherno_Samba (Louth) - Posts: 632 - 10/01/2015 14:40:40    1682008

Omahant

The biggest problem with your proposal is that it keeps to many uncompetitive teams in the championship for too long and will only increase the number of mismatches.

Championship needs to be two tired with late entry to the all Ireland series for the winner of the b completion.

tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1109 - 10/01/2015 21:01:52    1682110

To Tirawleybaron:

So back to my 24/7 then - 24 competing in the prov structure, with remaining 8 for TMC Cup. Three KO rounds later, 3 unbeaten prov champs (get byes to AI QFs), plus 9 qualifiers (incl one beaten Muns/Conn prov champ)and TMC champ (10-team Qual Rd 4).

Or, if 24 'front door' is also too uncompetitive, go back to my other proposal, starting with 16 prov sfs and 16 starting in Qual Rd 1 (no prov QFs or prelims). In 20-team Rd 3, split between 8-team Rd 1 winners (TMC) and 12-team 'Qualifiers'. Two rounds later, AI QFs as before, with 2 unbeaten prov champs, 2 TMC finalists and 4 Qualifiers.

omahant (USA) - Posts: 2596 - 13/01/2015 20:26:25    1682975

13/01/2015 20:26:25
omahant
To Tirawleybaron:
So back to my 24/7 then - 24 competing in the prov structure, with remaining 8 for TMC Cup. Three KO rounds later, 3 unbeaten prov champs (get byes to AI QFs), plus 9 qualifiers (incl one beaten Muns/Conn prov champ)and TMC champ (10-team Qual Rd 4).
Or, if 24 'front door' is also too uncompetitive, go back to my other proposal, starting with 16 prov sfs and 16 starting in Qual Rd 1 (no prov QFs or prelims). In 20-team Rd 3, split between 8-team Rd 1 winners (TMC) and 12-team 'Qualifiers'. Two rounds later, AI QFs as before, with 2 unbeaten prov champs, 2 TMC finalists and 4 Qualifiers. Your 24/7 idea should never and will never happen. Connacht and Munster champions will never and should never accept being put on a lower pedestal than other provinces simply because they are smaller
You must love creating all these convulated proposals. Why not create something radically different as your 24/7 idea is ridiculous

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 13/01/2015 20:36:35    1682979

More games, more games and more games, and preferably in Summertime.
Better for players, as there would be a reduction in the amount of training, supporters as there would be .well. more games and the GAA as a whole, as the games are the greatest advertisement we have for the GAA.

joncarter (Galway) - Posts: 2692 - 13/01/2015 20:46:50    1682987

Round robin Provincial Championship replacing league. Top 2 playing off in final in each province

Provincial competitions final standings then used to seed teams into division 1, 2 & 3 of the All Ireland

Top 5 in div 1. Top 2 in div 2 and winner div 3 qualify for quarter final.

Knockout phase for the last 8

Beauty of the above is that every match would count, weaker teams would have a realistic chance of getting to croke park in All Ireland &
fixture list could be properly planned for club/county

centerfield (Mayo) - Posts: 360 - 13/01/2015 21:16:50    1683004

The main aims of my proposals are to (1) reduce the amount of uncompetitive games in the football championship and (2) increase the amount of weekends available for county players to be available to their club teams so that club county championships can be run off that bit earlier.

My proposals keep intact all provincial championships, and the back door system. However they do reduce the amount of league games played, which the GAA may not like.

Proposal A: Reform the leagues

1) Reduce the divisions to 6 teams. Division 1, 2, 3 and 4 teams will all have 5 games each. Top 2 go to league final. Winner promoted. Bottom placed team relegated.

Division 5a and 5b will consist of 4 teams each. These are generally the smallest countys with the smallest support. I porpose that we group these divisions geographically to encourage support to travel and reduce travelling expenses for small county boards. Top 2 from each group of 4 gets to league semi, and then final.

Advantages:
A)Very competitive divisions

B)2 less games in league, which i would insist that the free weekends are used to start and play club championship games earlier. I believe every county championship final should be played by the end of august with exception of the 2 counties contesting the all ireland final.

C) Reduced costs to division 5 teams, grouping teams geographically will at least make sure that teams have 3 games close to home.

Disadvantage:
A) 2 less competitive games to prepare for the all ireland series.
B) One less home league game per season per county, resulting in reduced revenue.


Proposal 2:

Seed the provincial championships. People constantly compare the championships to the FA cup in england, however the top teams in england dont have to enter the competition until round three, by which time any minnows in the competition have earned their right to be there.

I would work like this in year 1:

Leinster championship - (11 teams , KK dont enter) Bottom 4 lowest ranked teams play 2 prelim rounds to reach last 8 in leinster. Then open draw.
Ulster championship - the same, one prelim round. Then open draw
Connaught - 7 teams. Bottom 4 ranked teams play 2 prelim rounds to qualify for semi final. Then open draw.
Munster - 6 Teams. 3 lowest ranked teams play 2 prelim rounds to qualify for semis with top 3 teams.

Qualifiers will end up reentering the all ireland series at the quarter final stage. A team knocked out in prelim round 1 would have to play potentially 8 matches to win the AI. However this is highly unlikely. Top ranked teams will have a minimum of 5 games to win AI.
Each team still gets 2 chances.

Advantages:
Theere would be no mismatches like dublin / carlow in the forst round, or mayo / leitrim for example (No offence to either county)
Lowest ranked teams have a highly realistic chance of winning their first round match.
Each team would be tracked through championship, and given a championship ranking. For example if leinster teams started to do better in the all ireland series than ulster teams, the amount of teams entering the prelim round in leinster could be reduced , and increased in ulster.

Disadvantages:
Potentially One less match for the big teams in leinster, connaught and munster. However at the moment this is just luck of the draw with teams sometimes getting a prelim round.


What do ye think?

galwaygael (Galway) - Posts: 61 - 15/01/2015 11:03:08    1683427

from my own playing days, when you are young and fit all you want to do is play football, if there is no Gaelic for a few weeks all you do is go and play Rugby or soccer, you will not spend a Sunday in the house. If there is a long closed Gaelic season players will go to another sport and some of them will never come back to Gaelic football. so a closed season is not the answer

culmore (None) - Posts: 1398 - 15/01/2015 12:31:21    1683457