Lads,

Sorry for bringing this topic up again, but I was reading an article on-line today. If I remember correctly it was Colm O Rourke saying that he felt the league and championship should be swapped with league the far more important competition. I didn't agree but I wanted to propose a complete restructure that I think would work for most counties. Please critique and give observations but I feel this could work well for clubs also. It involves 3 distinct competitions : League, provincial and AI Championship (open draw 32 teams).. I will follow this years calendar and leave it as clear as possible!

Jan 31: League game1...
Feb 7: League game2...
Feb 14: League game3...
Feb 21: League game4...

A bit radical here but after 4 league games we jump into Provincial Championship (week off for prep)

Mar 6: Provincial Champ Round 1...
Mar 13: Provincial Champ QF...
Mar 20: Provincial SF...
Mar 27: Provincial Final 1...

Provincial championship done and dusted in 4 weeks with 4 good games prep. Week off and finish out leagues.

April 17: League 5 game...
April 24: League 6 game...
May 1: No game - Bank Holiday Weekend - Usual County Gaeltacht Comp finals
May 8: League 7 game...

At this stage , league and provincial are sorted with All Ireland Championship (open draw - FA cup style).

Gaa club leagues (or possible champ) could start and play on April 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th, skip May bank holiday (county Gaeltacht Champ), May 8th, May 15th, May 22nd, may 29th, skip June bank holiday (all Ireland Gaeltacht), June 12th + June 19th... ( 10 games easy and regular with 3 games where club and county play at same time. An effort to ensure teams of equal county panel involvement would be necessary here, some maybe most have a system in place.)

2 week break until each county plays championship. Open draw anyone can play anyone, 16 games over the weekend. I believe this style draw will ensure some good games at each stage, some uneven draws, some easy passages to All Ireland final or later stages (great chance for some perceived weaker teams to make quarters at least) and some one sided games (that you get in provincial and qualifiers anyway)... Run off in a relative quick fashion..

Jul 3: Champ Round 1 (16 games - 4 Friday evening, 6 Saturday and 6 on Sunday) ...
Jul 17: Champ Round 2 (8 games - 1 Friday evening, 3 Saturday and 4 on Sunday) ...
Jul 31: Champ QF (4 games - kept on bank holiday weekend as usual)
Aug 21st & 28th: Semi Finals
3rd weekend Sept: All Ireland Final as usual..

I have left QF and later stages as per usual dates but no reason why this couldn't be tightened up.

24 out of the 32 teams would be done with by the 17th July (barring replays) therefore allowing the 2 weeks prep and 2 weeks of these rounds, these 24 clubs are disrupted for only a consistent month, but very importantly these dates are known in advance. Better than the current system whereby 1 or 2 intercounty championship games a week, and not knowing how to plan fixtures because qualifying system is completely different schedule!!

What I have tried to do is cut down on the fixture chaos at county level that disrupts club fixtures.

There is no reason why the intercounty league games (last 3) cannot be stretched further into the summer season (2 week intervals).

I believe the provincial championship after 4 league games is a great focal point. Teams knocked out early get to regroup to focus on league while others continue momentum .

No reason why O Byrne, FBD league, etc competitions cannot be run as is at present.

League starts on same date it did also.

Any queries, I will try to answer.......

81DLSAM (Donegal) - Posts: 281 - 03/02/2016 16:00:52    1821983

For me I think the format is not that important.

What needs to happen is for intercounty competitions to be designated a specified number of weekends, fixtures cannot be played outside of those weekends.

Club leagues can get played on inter-county weekends.

Club championships then get designated weekends.

What I think would be ideal would be for the GAA to have a 41 week season. Effectively starts on St Patrick's day and ends with the All Ireland club finals on the Sunday before Christmas.

20 of the next 30 weeks after St Patrick's day go to intercounty.

10 weeks get set aside for club championship.

11 weeks then in a row in October to December are set aside for Provincial and All Ireland club.

Schools and Universities are not part of this window. They can keep their current schedule.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4223 - 03/02/2016 17:11:37    1822008