Surely, there has to be a tiered competition, with a Div 1A and B, and a Div 2A and B format like the league in 2007 my preferred option. Tiers would be the only way for weaker counties to improve so they should just accept it and hope for long term progression. There's always the potential for big counties to get relegated to the Div 2 champ anyway, so the weaker counties can still hope for games against counties of a decent standard in the medium term.

eoghan6688 (Galway) - Posts: 154 - 10/06/2016 22:44:02    1865052

Nearly all, if not all, counties and the players involved want to be in the All-Ireland championship. I thought it was a reasonable suggestion that the 8 lowest league counties who did not make a provincial final would enter a second tier championship with the winner guaranteed a place in the qualifiers in the following year. The idea was floated to be brought to congress and it did not even get that far. It is where we are. The appetite is not there for a tiered championship in any form.

Group stages are not all they are made out to be. In groups of 4 where the top 2 advance, if you lose your first 2 games you are more than likely out of the tournament. In the current championship if you lose your first 2 games, you are out of the championship. Not a whole lot is going to change. Your 3rd group game after losing the first 2 is effectively a dead rubber for you. The GAA could offer all teams a 3rd game if Q1 and Q2 losers entered some form of shield tournament but there is no appetite for that and players want to return to their clubs when their All-Ireland championship involvement is over.

The unfairness in the championship obviously stems from the imbalance of the number of counties in each province. There is also a different level of competitiveness within the provinces. Some have more higher league teams than others. There are some solutions for that if the appetite for change was there. Early qualifier rounds could take place within provinces to guarantee 50% representation from each province in the final 16. Another option could be to seed the qualifiers based on league placing.

At the end of the day congress is there for motions of change. If the appetite is there for change, it will get through as we have often seen down through the years with many previous motions.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7871 - 11/06/2016 08:28:18    1865078

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4237 - 11/06/2016 12:14:38    1865106