Duffy defends backdoor system
August 05, 2010With all eight provincial finalists exiting the All-Ireland race before the semi-final stage for the first time, there have been calls for a change to the backdoor system with Tyrone manager Mickey Harte making a strong case for provincial champions to be handed a second chance.
But while admitting that there are "inequities" in the current structure, Duffy insists that it would be "wrong" to alter the system on the basis of one summer's results.
"I was involved in the qualifier the time it was brought in (in 2001)," said Duffy.
"They were never devised to give people a second chance. It was devised initially to make sure teams got more than one game in the championship.
"If you go back to the time it came in, the big complaint was that teams trained all winter, they lost one game and they were out of the championship. So, the original focus was to make sure every team got a minimum of two games, and it does that."
Duffy added that the primary concern was to provide the best pathway for the country's top eight teams to reach the quarter-finals and he pointed to modern trends in Connacht and Munster to support his theory that this has largely been the case.
While the Munster champions had reached the All-Ireland semi-final nine years in-a-row prior to 2010, their Connacht counterparts had done so only twice since the advent of the qualifier system.
"This year was unique. This is the first time ever that the four provincial champions have gone out at the quarter-final stage. On the law of averages, it was always going to happen some time. So, to change our structures because of that would probably be a mistake."
Duffy also accused Kerry manager Jack O'Connor, who claimed provincial championships would be no longer worth winning, of "moving the goalposts".
"The point I'd make about Jack O'Connor's comments is that in the last 10 years since the qualifiers began, this is the first time that the Munster champions haven't qualified for the semi-finals. So nine times out of 10, the Munster champions have made the semi-finals.
"I think it would be wrong to make a decision based on one year," he added. Tweet
