I know they are hurling games and football should not come into it. However after watching two absorbing games with fitness, will to win and sheer competivness it made me think. These 4 teams were playing in an All Ireland final at their level. Is it not time to use this example to show if organised professionally the weaker football counties could be given this chance. Surely this is better than two hammerings a year and no chance of ever playing in an All Ireland final.

sam1884 (UK) - Posts: 999 - 04/06/2016 17:39:09    1861510

Yep.

Too many football counties in denial

manfromdelmonte (UK) - Posts: 541 - 04/06/2016 18:25:19    1861518

Pretty simple competition structure here, gets teams playing competitive football at their level and retaining a chance to win Sam. All teams guaranteed 4 championship matches without dead rubbers.

One big down side to this going through is it doesn't use the provincials as a path to the All Ireland.

I still think it would be a better tournament though and I think the provincials are tournaments worthy of winning in their own right.

3 tiers

A 12 teams
B 12 teams
C 8 teams

Tier C 2 groups of 4 top 2 in each group into semi-finals. Where possible teams who play away in their provincial first round should get 2 home group games. Tournament winner progresses to All Ireland playoff round. Both finalists promoted.

Tier B 4 groups of 3. Top 2 in each group into quarter finals. Each team plays 1 home and 1 away group game. Group winners get home advantage in quarter-finals. Bottom placed teams play in the relegation playoff. Tournament winner qualifies for All Ireland quarter finals. Runner-up qualifies for AI playoff round. Both finalists promoted.

Tier A 4 groups of 3. Top in each group qualifies for All Ireland quarter-finals. 2nd place in each group qualifies for Al playoff round. 3rd place in each group play in the relegation playoff.

AI playoff of 6 teams: 4 from Tier A, 1 from Tier B 1 from Tier C. 3 winners into quarter-finals.
AI quarter-finals: 4 from Tier A, 1 from Tier B plus 3 playoff round winners.

A downside could be that teams get automatically relegated to get an easier draw the following year. I think the tournament is set up though that the draws aren't any easier. For instance in Tier 2 it isn't particularly easy with only 2 teams getting a place in the AI knockout rounds.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4210 - 05/06/2016 12:01:17    1861702

A lot of teams think they have no chance of reaching an All Ireland Final. Doesn't mean they should have to play in a B or C championship, condemned to Division 3 or 4 standards in a league that passed it's sell-by date years ago. The GAA have zero interest in improving standards of so-called weaker counties. How will they improve playing counties of a similar poor counties? The condescending atitude of RTE and many in the media to lesser counties is apalling. We were sold the pup of a backdoor championship that would guarantee two games for weaker counties. In reality it kept stronger counties strong, giving them a second chance and giving us less high intensity games, outside Ulster, until August. Sligo, Wexford, Limerick had some good runs in the backdoor but could never maintain that for a few championships. Fermanagh also did it, standards slipped and are back on the rise again. But the current league and championshiop structure helped none of those counties in the long run.

They need to give lower division counties some competition against stronger counties. Inevitably, at first there'll be hidings but for ambitious counties they'll learn from them. Scrap the provincial leagues. Split the league into 4 divisions with two counties from each current division. Run provincials from mid April to early June. Open draw All Ireland from June to September. No back doors. It's far-fetched I know but I neither like the current structure or the way lower division counties are treated.

I was listening to Radio 1 yesterday afternoon. They say Down are the worst team in Ulster, that maybe a B championship might suit them??? All Ireland Finalists just 6 years ago. Relegated from the top division a few weeks ago, they were poor yesterday and in the league, but Division 1! A county with a great history and tradition. Try selling them the B championship.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7337 - 06/06/2016 13:40:06    1862209

Look at those competitions a bit closer, and you'll see they aren't applicable to football. These competitions receive little or no media coverage(until the latter stages) and are poorly attended. Next Sunday Louth will play Meath in a packed Parnell Park. We have no hope of winning anything, but I will take that over playing in some secondary competition.

PK57 (Louth) - Posts: 1653 - 06/06/2016 16:05:12    1862303

I hate the term "all Ireland" being used to describe inter county competitions. No such thing exists

DoireCityFC (Derry) - Posts: 1580 - 06/06/2016 21:30:46    1862490