Replying To IronSleeve: "Ok. So the 8 team championships I think it's safe to say are a success. But the structures need work. The Championships and Leagues not aligned can lead to silly stuff. If Aughavas had an off day they'd be Div1 league and Junior Championship next year. But even teams playing one division lower in the league are not prepared properly for a higher championship.
The current 4 game open draw is a bit of craic alright but not really fit for purpose if you want your championship to be merit based. Most had a good oul laugh at Mary's this year. Truth is though they got a rough draw and if they were relegated they'd have made Intermediate very uncompetitive next year, probably even more so than Allen Gaels this year. Funny perhaps but not good for Leitrim football, especially for the 7 other Intermediate clubs.
So what to do? How about this? Align league and championship asap. Same teams in both in all grades. Play the league and then seed a 2 groups of 4 championship based on league performance. FIrst and second in league seeded one for championship, third and fourth seeded two and so on.
The league thus becomes very competitive because it will have a big bearing on your chances in the championship. You want your team to have as high a seed as possible so the league in effect becomes part of the championship (without being part of the championship!)."
Partly what made the senior championship entertaining this year was the fact Carrick were in such trouble. That is what the luck of the draw is all about. The club with the biggest population in the county and a large management team shouldn't have struggled so much but they did.
If they weren't good enough for the senior championship which they almost weren't this year then they should have been dropped to intermediate...or are you suggesting they get an indefinite stay in senior? That's a bizarre take.
They barely beat last year's intermediate champions in a relegation battle remember...who is to say how they'd do at intermediate in that case.
Replying To IronSleeve: "Ok. So the 8 team championships I think it's safe to say are a success. But the structures need work. The Championships and Leagues not aligned can lead to silly stuff. If Aughavas had an off day they'd be Div1 league and Junior Championship next year. But even teams playing one division lower in the league are not prepared properly for a higher championship.
The current 4 game open draw is a bit of craic alright but not really fit for purpose if you want your championship to be merit based. Most had a good oul laugh at Mary's this year. Truth is though they got a rough draw and if they were relegated they'd have made Intermediate very uncompetitive next year, probably even more so than Allen Gaels this year. Funny perhaps but not good for Leitrim football, especially for the 7 other Intermediate clubs.
So what to do? How about this? Align league and championship asap. Same teams in both in all grades. Play the league and then seed a 2 groups of 4 championship based on league performance. FIrst and second in league seeded one for championship, third and fourth seeded two and so on.
The league thus becomes very competitive because it will have a big bearing on your chances in the championship. You want your team to have as high a seed as possible so the league in effect becomes part of the championship (without being part of the championship!)."
I'd definitely agree with linking the league and the championship. Not sure how seeding would work in terms of rewarding the clubs that perform well in the league? Top two teams get to play all their championship games at home? Bottom two away? Bottom one/two clubs in league are relegated to division 2/intermediate unless they reach the semi finals in the championship? As I say, not claiming to know the best way but the more jeopardy there is for clubs the better. As an aside, St. Mary's woes can't all be attributed to the luck of the draw.
Replying To ThePowerhouse: "I'd definitely agree with linking the league and the championship. Not sure how seeding would work in terms of rewarding the clubs that perform well in the league? Top two teams get to play all their championship games at home? Bottom two away? Bottom one/two clubs in league are relegated to division 2/intermediate unless they reach the semi finals in the championship? As I say, not claiming to know the best way but the more jeopardy there is for clubs the better. As an aside, St. Mary's woes can't all be attributed to the luck of the draw."
Bit of a hairy one alright. Cos if a team to be relegated ends up in the business end of the championship, do you relegate another non-performer in the league?
What if two of the top team don't go for it in the league and then make the championship semis? Do you then relegate the third- and fourth-last teams in the league? What do they do in other counties?
As for a more equitable distribution of opponents, you seed the teams into a top 4 and a bottom 4. Then each team plays a game against two teams (one home, one away) in each group.
Based on league will never happen. Any clubs with players involved with county would be at a disadvantage waiting on their players to come back in. Even if the games were played on weekends outside of county and all players 'released', some players will have knocks and might not play or be allowed play by the county team even if they only had a niggle.
The current system based off championship the previous year is why there is such a buzz around championship. If a team won intermediate this year on an outside chance and had a poor league next year, they would remain in intermediate.. No Way, they have earned their Senior Status for a a year by winning the Intermediate Championship the year before.