We all know there is problems with the championship format, the weak teams get 2 games then over for the rest of the year while the strong teams will at least make August bank holiday weekend in Croke Park, should the National League and Championship run together like it does with club football in most counties. It would mean that the GAA county season is shorter and more compact and would give clubs more of a chance to have their county players available. There is 7 League games then semi or final that's 7-9 weekends added to that the provincial championships and qualifiers which is at least 2 games so the season for weak teams is around 3 months. For most teams its an advantage rather than waiting 6 weeks between champ games. Start the League May bank holiday weekend and have all 7 games played before August bank holiday weekend as well as the provincial championships so by August bank holiday we should know the AllIreland quarter finalists as well as the National League finalists in each of the 4 divisions, what do people think?

riverboys (Mayo) - Posts: 1389 - 25/04/2015 20:31:13    1717439

Don't think it'd work.

You'd have teams taking the league even less seriously and resting players.

how would replays fit in? Would suspensions carry between the two competitions? Pitches would be in poor shape with the constant games. Where would club championships fit in? Some already suffer due to running into winter and terrible weather.

cavanman47 (Cavan) - Posts: 5012 - 25/04/2015 20:47:47    1717445

They tried this before with the hurling, back in 1997 I believe, they played the league through the summer. The idea had promise, but the reality was that come championship, no-one cared about the league. As I recall, it struggled to finish up, the final was eventually played in October.
It would probably be a better idea to combine league and championship into one competition. Play the provincial championships (or some appropriate group format) on a league basis, then knockout from the AI quarter finals on.

Marlon_JD (Tipperary) - Posts: 1823 - 25/04/2015 21:10:08    1717453

Yeh I tend to agree, the league games would become training matches for the Championship ones. In fairness to the league, a competition to which I never gave much credence, seems to taken a little more seriously these days so to retain interest they should be left alone, for now.

The league used to begin in October, break for Xmas and resume in February, it carries a little more momentum regarding the Championship the way it's done now. But I think the league should be a league, and the team with the most points (and the better scoring average in case of level peggings) should be Champs. Everyone should be turning their attention to the Championship at the same time!

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8591 - 25/04/2015 21:33:58    1717465

You could have the compact schedule but keep the championship sepadafe from the league - the is something special about the bite of knockout, even
In a diluted 2-chance format.

omahant (USA) - Posts: 2584 - 26/04/2015 15:26:48    1717565

The national football league semi-finals are a waste of time.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7842 - 26/04/2015 21:52:25    1717756

In 1997 the NHL was run in parallel with the All-Ireland championship.

The all-Ireland final was on September 14th (Clare 0-20 Tipperary 2-13) while the NHL final was on October 5th when Limerick beat Galways 1-12 to 1-9 in Ennis.

It was an interesting venture with some good NHL games (I attended a good number of them) but the GAA chose not to keep that format. Most of the big teams avoided League/championship games clashing or being near each other so it seemed to work well. Maybe my green tinted glasses as because we won the title and managed to beat Kikenny in Nowlan park twice (second game was a play off where we won by double scores), beat Wexford away by 0-18 to 0-16, beat Offaly away 1-16 to 0-16. The only match we lost I think was a hammering in Athenry by 1-24 to 1-10.

slayer (Limerick) - Posts: 6480 - 28/04/2015 15:30:03    1718553

It didn't work in hurling so it wont work in football either.

The league knock out structure should be abolished and replaced with a bonus point system (any team that scores more than 20 points gets a bonus point)

Reduce the leagues to groups of six (div 1 = 7 teams, div 2 = 7 teams, div 3 = 6 teams, div 4 = 6 teams, div 5 = 6 teams). League finished by Mid March.

Start the provincial championship preliminary rounds (seeded draws based on league finish) two weeks after the league and play out the provincial championships in 5 weeks. Provincial championship finals on May Bank Holiday Weekend. Move New York around the provinces so the trip becomes a once in 30+ year event for every county.

Have a world cup style open draw championship (with bonus point system) top 16 for Sam and bottom 16 for Tommy Murphy. Played off in 5 weeks.

Start Tommy Murphy earlier (start two weeks after first 16 teams are out of provincial championship). Final Played on June Bank Holiday if possible. Top two into All Ireland quarters. Bit of attention for the "weaker" counties while the bigger counties are forced to play two rounds of club football.

All Ireland quarters, semis and final (August Bank Holiday weekend) played over 4 weeks while "weaker" counties play club football.

County Club finals played by End of September, Provincial club finals over Halloween Weekend and All Ireland Club finals at end of November.

December on the Beer, January preseason training and back at it again first week in February.

Replays only if a draw after 70 min.

tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1109 - 28/04/2015 17:00:20    1718615

tirawleybaron

interesting ideas.

I'd just swap the formats of the tournaments. No NHL, play the provincial chapmionships Feb - April on a knockout basis and the All-Ireland championship an open draw league format from May - Sept. 4 teams per group.

If you want competetive games you'd need to win the knockout tournaments and you will get 3 games min in the All-Ireland.

slayer (Limerick) - Posts: 6480 - 28/04/2015 17:04:59    1718618