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More jeopardy needed in the group stages
Id love to see a format as follows
12 teams - Group A 6 teams / Group B 6 teams
Group A seeded as previous years semi finalists plus next 2 highest seeded teams
Group B next 6 best ranked teams
This needed to set up teams in group a and b for first year
Knockouts
Group A 1st & 2nd - through to semi final
Group A 3rd & 4th - through to 1/4 final
Group A 5th - knocked out but safe
Group A 6th - relegated to Group B for following year
Group B 1st & 2nd through to 1/4 final with 1st promoted to Group A for following year
Group B 3rd / 4th / 5th - out of championship but safe
Group B 6th - relegated to intermediate
Hurltheball (Wicklow) - Posts: 29 - 05/09/2026 07:18:56
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Replying To Pikeman96: "Clubs are always encouraged to consult with their players before deciding how to vote at the meetings on championship structures. I know however that unfortunately, many clubs don't actually do this. But it doesn't have to involve players actually going to a meeting.
Every club is supposed to have a Players' Representative on their committee, and this must be somebody who played championship in the previous year. This is in the overall Rule Book and is not just something either I or Wexford GAA are making up. My club has quite a good one and he consults with the other players via a WhatsApp group and some phone calls every year when it comes time to make those decisions. If you don't mind me suggesting, that could be your first step if you really feel you don't have a voice in it.
But to put your head on the block (!), as a player yourself, which of these would you choose? -
a) groups of four so there are less matches and more chances of a weekend off.
b) groups of six so there are more chances of going through to the knockout stages, but less chances of a weekend off.
"Groups of six but with more weekends off" isn't an option for all the reasons outlined already and several times before." 100% groups of 4. It's not that as players we are looking for weekends off either to contradict myself a bit. It is time to train/prepare properly, put game plans in place, maybe even get a practise match outside the county to improve ourselves and the overall standard. But at the same time if a lad has a knock or a niggle, he has time to recover or a lad getting back fitness has the time for a few blowout sessions without worrying about being bet for the weekend if he gets a chance to play.
hownow1 (Wexford) - Posts: 9 - 05/09/2026 08:29:40
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Replying To tearintom: "Was talking to a club manager over the weekend.
2 players went to EP, a couple of others took the week for their own holidays not EP.
But 4 players now are informing him they've tickets for Katie Taylor fight next Saturday and not sure of availability!
Maybe we should get another weekend off?" Could just go watch The Alley hurl instead of Katie Taylor. Same thing.
countyman2022 (Wexford) - Posts: 1089 - 05/09/2026 10:34:26
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Replying To Viking66: " Replying To Pikeman96: "@Formertownie - I'm all in favour of a free weekend if the calendar allows it, for all the reasons you mention. I'm just not sure I'll ever be convinced that the best way of using the free weekend is to arrange it around when a minority of players would like to go to a music festival.
I'd suggest a more "natural" break this year would have been to play Round 5 football on the weekend just gone by, and then use next weekend as the free one after the groups were completed in both codes and before moving into the knockout stages." It is a minority of players, but a pretty significant minority at the same time. It would affect alot of clubs ability to field second teams after it."
countyman2022 (Wexford) - Posts: 1089 - 05/09/2026 10:35:23
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Replying To Viking66: "The difference between going through and getting relegated would be less though. There would be fewer opportunities to get yourself out of a hole if you weren't at full tilt from the off." Fair point. You could view it as more jeopardy from that point of view all right. But one could still argue that other point of view too!
Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3993 - 05/09/2026 11:13:53
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Replying To hownow1: "100% groups of 4. It's not that as players we are looking for weekends off either to contradict myself a bit. It is time to train/prepare properly, put game plans in place, maybe even get a practise match outside the county to improve ourselves and the overall standard. But at the same time if a lad has a knock or a niggle, he has time to recover or a lad getting back fitness has the time for a few blowout sessions without worrying about being bet for the weekend if he gets a chance to play." There you go then, and thanks for the straight answer.
If the majority of your team-mates feel the same, I'd suggest to be sure to have your voices heard before structure of next year's championship is up for decision. Those decisions are always made at the January meeting of the County Board.
I'd have some of the players attend the AGM, make sure that a players' representative is appointed to the committee (as the Rule Book says should happen anyway), and make it clear that you expect the players to be canvassed through that representative ahead of the championship structures meeting.
Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3993 - 05/09/2026 11:16:17
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Replying To countyman2022: " Replying To Viking66: "[quote=Pikeman96: "@Formertownie - I'm all in favour of a free weekend if the calendar allows it, for all the reasons you mention. I'm just not sure I'll ever be convinced that the best way of using the free weekend is to arrange it around when a minority of players would like to go to a music festival.
I'd suggest a more "natural" break this year would have been to play Round 5 football on the weekend just gone by, and then use next weekend as the free one after the groups were completed in both codes and before moving into the knockout stages." It is a minority of players, but a pretty significant minority at the same time. It would affect alot of clubs ability to field second teams after it."
Unless the answer is "yes", then 13 is a minority.
Thirteen would obviously be a significant number to be down for a weekend all right, but unless you've no more than 25 players total, it's still a minority.
For what it's worth, in my own club, just four players went. Nobody from the first team in either hurling or football.
Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3993 - 05/09/2026 11:19:11
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Possible suggestion. For both codes
4 groups of 3 a, b, c, and d.
Everyone plays their 2 group games giving a table 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Then then one final group game where 1st from group a plays 3rd in group b, 1st from group b plays 3rd in group a and 2nd from group a plays 2nd in group b.
The same thing happens in groups c and groups d.
After that then you combine groups a and b into one 6 team division and groups c and d the same. Tot up the points total of each team in the 6 team divisions giving you a 1 to 6 ranking with teams separated on scoring difference etc etc
From there its top 4 in each side in to quarter finals and bottom 2 from each into relegation.
Reduces group games from 5 to 3, across both codes that frees up 4 weeks to use for breaks, EP etc etc and scope to better structure the championship. Could start with 3 weeks hurling, finish group stage then break and 3 weeks football and finish group stage etc etc. It would also add a bit of novelty, from round 2 on you dont know for definite who your playing until finals etc.
Now tear the concept apart at your will!
tearintom (Wexford) - Posts: 1692 - 05/09/2026 12:46:27
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Replying To tearintom: "Possible suggestion. For both codes
4 groups of 3 a, b, c, and d.
Everyone plays their 2 group games giving a table 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Then then one final group game where 1st from group a plays 3rd in group b, 1st from group b plays 3rd in group a and 2nd from group a plays 2nd in group b.
The same thing happens in groups c and groups d.
After that then you combine groups a and b into one 6 team division and groups c and d the same. Tot up the points total of each team in the 6 team divisions giving you a 1 to 6 ranking with teams separated on scoring difference etc etc
From there its top 4 in each side in to quarter finals and bottom 2 from each into relegation.
Reduces group games from 5 to 3, across both codes that frees up 4 weeks to use for breaks, EP etc etc and scope to better structure the championship. Could start with 3 weeks hurling, finish group stage then break and 3 weeks football and finish group stage etc etc. It would also add a bit of novelty, from round 2 on you dont know for definite who your playing until finals etc.
Now tear the concept apart at your will!" Here's a really, really technical point, not intended to tear it apart (!), but just to show a possible difficulty:
When you combine the tables from Group A and B (for example), you end up with two teams on six points. They obviously haven't played each other so you use overall score difference to decide first and second.
Further down the combined table, the teams vying for 4th and 5th place are both on two points. They have played each other. The team that won that match obviously has the head-to-head advantage, but has a worse overall score difference.
Do you use the head-to-head rule to put that team through, or do you use the "overall score difference" rule like you're already having to do elsewhere in the same group?
i.e. can you use two different rules to separate two teams on the same points in the same group? And bear in mind that the decision would decide who goes through to quarter-finals, and who goes out of the championship. Potentially a real can of worms either way.
Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3993 - 05/09/2026 21:20:38
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Replying To Pikeman96: "Here's a really, really technical point, not intended to tear it apart (!), but just to show a possible difficulty:
When you combine the tables from Group A and B (for example), you end up with two teams on six points. They obviously haven't played each other so you use overall score difference to decide first and second.
Further down the combined table, the teams vying for 4th and 5th place are both on two points. They have played each other. The team that won that match obviously has the head-to-head advantage, but has a worse overall score difference.
Do you use the head-to-head rule to put that team through, or do you use the "overall score difference" rule like you're already having to do elsewhere in the same group?
i.e. can you use two different rules to separate two teams on the same points in the same group? And bear in mind that the decision would decide who goes through to quarter-finals, and who goes out of the championship. Potentially a real can of worms either way." No, the head to head rule is actually a bug bear of mine when it comes to all things GAA.
I wouldn't use it at all personally, I find it lessens jeopardy.
tearintom (Wexford) - Posts: 1692 - 06/09/2026 10:00:01
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Replying To tearintom: " Replying To Pikeman96: "Here's a really, really technical point, not intended to tear it apart (!), but just to show a possible difficulty:
When you combine the tables from Group A and B (for example), you end up with two teams on six points. They obviously haven't played each other so you use overall score difference to decide first and second.
Further down the combined table, the teams vying for 4th and 5th place are both on two points. They have played each other. The team that won that match obviously has the head-to-head advantage, but has a worse overall score difference.
Do you use the head-to-head rule to put that team through, or do you use the "overall score difference" rule like you're already having to do elsewhere in the same group?
i.e. can you use two different rules to separate two teams on the same points in the same group? And bear in mind that the decision would decide who goes through to quarter-finals, and who goes out of the championship. Potentially a real can of worms either way." No, the head to head rule is actually a bug bear of mine when it comes to all things GAA. I wouldn't use it at all personally, I find it lessens jeopardy."
And there's good reason. Say your team has beaten mine by 10 points and there's another team in our group who gets progressively weaker as the weeks go by.
You've played them in Round 1 when they still had as much to play for as everybody else, and beat them by 6 points. You lose your other three games by 6 points, 5 points, and 5 points so you end up on 4 points in the table and a score difference of zero.
I lose my first game by a point, lose to you by 10, lose another by 4 points, and then I win a game by four. I then play that weak team in Round 5. By then, they're already destined for the relegation final, they barely raise a gallop, and I beat them by 15. Now I've ended up on four points the table and a score difference of +4.
Under your way of doing things, I'd go through, and you'd be out, despite the fact you'd beaten me by 10 points. Main reason I'd be through would simply have been down to the order the fixtures came in. You had to play that weak team in Round 1 before they knew they'd go so badly. I got to play them in Round 5 when they were already in Relegation and so they had no reason to even make an effort.
How would you feel then?
Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 3993 - 06/09/2026 19:42:34
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