10 changes, all across the board form rules, to fixtures, to structures, to age groups, to training, to administrative, etc etc etc.

i'll start:

1) Trial run scrap provincal championships.
2) Stadium clock.
3) Sponsorship aloud to be displayed on other parts of kit, not just front of jersey.
4) All panels can tog out and all panel members can be considered for the 5 subs, or else name 26 and all replacements can be used.
5) More emphasis and coverage put on college & school championships.
6) U12 go games scrapped and a return to championships.
7) The mark in football from a kickout which passes the 45 and a more physical game.
8) As well as Hawkeye a black booth (like NFL) where ref can view any incident threw all available cameras and reverse, uphold or change his decision.
9) Three stadiums developed, One for Munster, Connacht and Ulster with 60,000+ capacity to move big games around the place.
10)A master plan for all club championships to follow nationwide so ALL co. championships finish on time and not dragging on.

crossfieldball (Galway) - Posts: 650 - 31/05/2013 15:42:23    1396040

1. a more physical and free flowing game in both codes, ( that doesnt condone players or officials getting assaulted either)
2. the scrapping of all championships under the age of 14 and the focusing on skills
3. a tier system of funding, with the weaker counties getting the most funding and vice versa, this is particularly crucial as thi would make games more competitive, therefore increasing interest in the games, therefore getting a higher attendance, therefore more revenue for the gaa,
4. at a push, the limiting of tv coverage, in order to create a better atmosphere at the games, but that is not as important as the other 3

apart from that the game is fine

Ballyboy95 (Offaly) - Posts: 20 - 31/05/2013 16:06:34    1396065

1. Every club in the Country should play both hurling and football.
2. Bring in a Champions League type championship format.
3. Play Christy Ring / Lower Tournament games as curtain raisers to big games.
4. Let weaker teams have a max of 5 players from stronger Counties (but only allowed start 3 in any game)
5. Two referees, one in each half.
6. More training for refs and their team.
7. Punishment for refs / umpires who makes game defining errors.
8. Seperate Football and Hurling Presidents who report to one top person.
9. Match ticket discounts and first refusal on tickets for genunie supporters.
10. Payment for players. (I think a club transfer system would be interesting but you could still only play for your County of birth)

Faithfull (Offaly) - Posts: 573 - 31/05/2013 16:13:40    1396072

Cheerleader's at all big games and Comogie Skirts introduced in Ladies Football.

kikfada (Louth) - Posts: 2091 - 31/05/2013 16:21:41    1396077

31/05/2013 15:42:23
crossfieldball
10 changes, all across the board form rules, to fixtures, to structures, to age groups, to training, to administrative, etc etc etc.

i'll start:
1) Trial run scrap provincal championships.
2) Stadium clock.
3) Sponsorship aloud to be displayed on other parts of kit, not just front of jersey.
4) All panels can tog out and all panel members can be considered for the 5 subs, or else name 26 and all replacements can be used.
5) More emphasis and coverage put on college & school championships.
6) U12 go games scrapped and a return to championships.
7) The mark in football from a kickout which passes the 45 and a more physical game.
8) As well as Hawkeye a black booth (like NFL) where ref can view any incident threw all available cameras and reverse, uphold or change his decision.
9) Three stadiums developed, One for Munster, Connacht and Ulster with 60,000+ capacity to move big games around the place.
10)A master plan for all club championships to follow nationwide so ALL co. championships finish on time and not dragging on.

Why scrap provincial championships? Doing that means only the biggest and strongest counties have chance of silverware
Why allow full squads of 30+ players tog out. Waste of time when many will never get shot of coming on field.
Limit the number of subs and allow all on but not to 26 that is way too high. if limiting number of subs and allowing all onto field drop number of 23/24.
How would you increase coverage of school/college games??? Fitzgibbon/Sigerson get very good coverage and secondary schools games in harty etc get good coverage as well. What more needs to be done to cover them?

Why scrap go games? Scrapping the 1 game a week championship was a super idea and will not be changed back. More kids get to play more on the field under go games.
How would your video ref idea be funded? See how Hawkeye go's before looking at other video ref ideas
Why create loads of white elephants? Munster has enough big stadiums? Why build or do up anymore? What big games would you move around?

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 31/05/2013 16:23:56    1396080

1. scrap the provincial championships.
2. young referees as umpires who can assist referees in penalty decisions,etc.
3. senior inter county hurling and football be reduced to 13 a side.give creative players more space.
4. increase the weight of a hurling ball.make midfield vital again as the puck out should land there.
5. limit football handpasses to 3 before the ball must be kicked.
6. ban handpassed points,and fisted goals.
7. verbal backchat to a referee = free in front of the posts on 21 yard line.that'd cut it out.without a referee we've no game and they should be encouraged,not abused,if were to get better ones.
8. timekeeping to be "time-on,time off" like rugby.
9. all-ireland finalists cannot use back-door for 3 years after winning it.(robbed from pinkie,to be fair)
10. make a goal in football worth 4 points.encourage teams to go for the jugular.

perfect10 (Wexford) - Posts: 3929 - 31/05/2013 16:29:48    1396082

1. A fair SFC with a north, south, east, and west divisions of 4 teams in each instead of the provincials.
2. The toe-up rule abolished. What purpose does it serve?
3. The end to mangers naming dummy teams. You think you know a team only to go to a game and be confused as to who's playing and who isnt.
4. A stadium clock. As it stands, the ball is only in play for roughly half the game time.
5. Umpires who can make proper calls.
6. Professional referees. Far too many mistakes being made, inconsistency also an issue, and no accountability.
7. Dublin playing outside Croke Park a bit more often.

Sergeant_Slash (Cavan) - Posts: 2182 - 31/05/2013 16:36:34    1396092

31/05/2013 16:29:48
perfect10
1. scrap the provincial championships.
2. young referees as umpires who can assist referees in penalty decisions,etc.
3. senior inter county hurling and football be reduced to 13 a side.give creative players more space.
4. increase the weight of a hurling ball.make midfield vital again as the puck out should land there.
5. limit football handpasses to 3 before the ball must be kicked.
6. ban handpassed points,and fisted goals.
7. verbal backchat to a referee = free in front of the posts on 21 yard line.that'd cut it out.without a referee we've no game and they should be encouraged,not abused,if were to get better ones.
8. timekeeping to be "time-on,time off" like rugby.
9. all-ireland finalists cannot use back-door for 3 years after winning it.(robbed from pinkie,to be fair)
10. make a goal in football worth 4 points.encourage teams to go for the jugular.
Why scrap provincial championships. Is only chance of winning something for most countys. Why take that away?
Why change inter county to 13 a side and leaving club at 15? Change both to 13 a side or leave it as it is
Why ban fisted goals?
For backchat to ref why not just award free where backchat happens and if there's more backchat move the free up 10 metres
why should all Ireland finalists be penalised for beng successful?
31/05/2013 16:36:34
Sergeant_Slash
1. A fair SFC with a north, south, east, and west divisions of 4 teams in each instead of the provincials.
2. The toe-up rule abolished. What purpose does it serve?
3. The end to mangers naming dummy teams. You think you know a team only to go to a game and be confused as to who's playing and who isnt.
4. A stadium clock. As it stands, the ball is only in play for roughly half the game time.
5. Umpires who can make proper calls.
6. Professional referees. Far too many mistakes being made, inconsistency also an issue, and no accountability.
7. Dublin playing outside Croke Park a bit more often.
Presume you mean north south, east, west divisions of 8?
Toe up rule is fine and is additional skill. why remove it?
Only way to stop managers from naming dummy teams is to financially penalise county boards for managers naming phony teams.

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 31/05/2013 16:46:42    1396099

ormondbannerman
County: Clare
9. Match ticket discounts and first refusal on tickets for genunie supporters.
How do you define who "genuine supportera" are? Who the f**k can tell anyone else that theyre not a "genuine supporter"???
What criteria must be met before somebody can be regarded as a "genuine supporter"

Language Timothy. Maybe a system could be trialled whereby those who have attended League, qualifier, or other championship games throughout the year could be given preference for All Ireland final tickets. Not sure how this might be done, it might involve someone getting some kind of coupon, token, endorsement everytime they went through the stiles for a match, that they could then present when they went looking for AI tickets. There's probably a more sophisticated way of doing it.

Marlon_JD (Tipperary) - Posts: 1823 - 31/05/2013 17:10:12    1396113

1. Make North, South, East and West conferences for the football provincial championships with 8 teams in each.
2. Divisional sides to compete in the liam mccarthy cup on a trial basis at least.
3. Standardized inter county calender with the league being played earlier in the year and possibly scrapping the o'byrne cup etc. Inter county pitches would be much better suited to playing in feb/march rather than club pitches. This would allow club games be played in april/may.
4. Finish all provincial championships in june/july and finish the all irelands in august leaving time for the club football to continue in september, this would allow the all ireland club championships to finish before christmas and stop the ridiculous practice of playing the all ireland club final in march sometimes a year after their championship campaign began, which also deprives intercounty sides of some of their best players in the league.
5. More hurling for weaker counties during the summer. The best months of the summer little hurling goes on in the weaker counties.
6. Separate hurling and football county boards in each county and in the gaa itself, its the only way to guarantee equality in weaker counties.
7. Stricter rules for underage players playing for a club in a different parish to which they are living, which is destroying rural clubs.

patmcgee (Longford) - Posts: 520 - 31/05/2013 17:12:52    1396116

Let's attempt to have a discussion by responding to each others posts with an aletrrnative to their suggestions or a reason why you disagree withthem rather than reject them out of hand. A bit of positivity !

A rugby style points system for the league where bonus points can be awarded to losing teams who score a minimum number of points and keep the deficit to a set number of points. Similar bonus points to be awarded to teams who score more than 3 goals in a game.

In the event of teams tied at the end of the league goals from play, points from play points from play kicked outside the 40 to be weighted in the decision. All kind of vague but might help to encourage more attacking games.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8008 - 31/05/2013 17:30:18    1396124

Ormondbannerman,

Why dont you grace us with 10 changes you would like to see?

As for some of my suggestions you have a problem with, firstly an open draw football championship does not give the stronger teams the advantage, weaker counties have every chance of drawing counties of the same quality and getting a nice draw right through and ding dong there in the big time. Stronger counties could also knock each other out very early too. With the provinical championships weaker counties always will encounter the stronger heavyweight, not so in the open draw.

As regards 2nd and 3rd level games, give them a higher profile, there a super standard. I think there should be one competition at each grade A,B,C with all teams form every county in them, not provinical competitions.

crossfieldball (Galway) - Posts: 650 - 31/05/2013 17:59:07    1396145

1/ Managers and at least two players to have a mandatory media night Q&A before a match to help garner interest in the media, and promote the upcoming game.
2/ A rejigged championship that provides at least four games every summer in both codes.
3/ The provincial championships to be part of a separate straight knockout, finish on the day, cup competition.
4/ A fixed calendar for the inter-county scene to enable better planning for the club scene.
5/ A 10 minute sin bin in both codes to be provided for:
- deliberately fouling a player through on goal
- four personal fouls
- foul abuse to a referee or official
6/ Squad numbers for the year. Positions mean so little these days it should have been brought in years ago and it can help fans recognize players better, especially in hurling. Good from a marketing point of view too.
7/ The finals of the lower tiers in hurling to be played and televised prior to the AISF's to promote interest in the game and for those counties to have better exposure.
8/ The SF's of each of the lower tiers in hurling to be played on different Saturday's, with the GAA insisting on coverage for these games to give better exposure for the weaker counties.
9/ The club championships start after the new year in February rather than playing into November to allow teams to get a decent rest over the winter. The club finals are no longer played on St. Patricks Day. Instead play the Junior, Intermediate and Senior finals of hurling in Croke Park on the same day which would be the day before the Hurling League Final, and the same with the football. Promote the hell out of that weekend as a festival of hurling, and of football.
10/ A settled league structure for hurling:
- 7 team top tier. 3 home & away games each. Top 2 to League Final. Bottom team automatically relegated. 2nd and 3rd team from bottom in relegation playoff.
- 8 team division 2. Top team automatically promoted. 2nd & 3rd team in promotion playoff. Bottom team automatically relegated. 2nd and 3rd team from bottom in relegation playoff.
- 8 team division 3. Top team automatically promoted. 2nd & 3rd team in promotion playoff. Bottom team automatically relegated. 2nd and 3rd team from bottom in relegation playoff.
- Remainder of counties in division 4. Top team automatically promoted. 2nd & 3rd team in promotion playoff.

dblackandamber (Kilkenny) - Posts: 92 - 31/05/2013 18:01:34    1396148

ormondbannerman
County: Clare
Posts: 4666

Presume you mean north south, east, west divisions of 8? Yes, forgiveness, that should have read 8.

Toe up rule is fine and is additional skill. why remove it? Don't really see how its a skill. Skill is entertaining for fans, there ain't much entertainment watching a lad toe up a ball. In addition it leads to much more fouling as you have to break momentum to pick the ball up and the slightest touch will mean you go over. We have enough fouling going on. We don;t have it in the womens game, I really dont see a place for it in the mens either, it will speed up the game. Of course, I don't mean that the toe up should be banned, just a player should have discretion as to how he picks it up, sometimes a toe up is the best option. It was brought in when Gaelic football started to differentiate the game from rugby, I think we can all tell the difference now.

Only way to stop managers from naming dummy teams is to financially penalise county boards for managers naming phony teams. Perhaps.

Sergeant_Slash (Cavan) - Posts: 2182 - 31/05/2013 18:24:28    1396166

1.stadium clock
2.video ref
3.refs/ref chief to answer questions on controversial bookings/non-bookings
4.have christy ring live on tv, even tnag4
5.more coverage for lower leagues in hurling
6.current players to be involved in votes/discussions at congress( county and club players)
7.provisional winners to meet each other, winners into semi final and losers play team from qualifiers
8.more tickets made available to teams that are in the all ireland finals,
9.no funding to county boards that don't treat both codes right
10.gaa to stop turning into a profit organization( why else do dublin play in dublin the whole time=gaa is turning into a profit organization)

10.

kerryluck (Kerry) - Posts: 2517 - 31/05/2013 18:24:58    1396168

1. Scrap provincials, retain trophies, have Western, Eastern, Northern and Southern Divisions of 8 teams each, 2 groups of 4. Group games played on Saturday nights

2. To introduce proper seeding for teams based on league performance to make the league a more important and respected competition.

3. Introduction of a proper second tier championship for teams who finish 3rd and 4th in the group system as stated above. This should be taken seriously by the GAA and the winners should be rewarded with 2nd seed in their division for the following year despite their league position.

4. Failing a new format, Quarter Finals to be played at the home of provincial champions. This would be nice from an economic point of view also, lets share the load a bit.

5. Consistent refereeing, and a serious look at how injury time is decided. This nonsense of adding 1 minute onto games where there should clearly be 3 or 4 is getting real old.

6. League semi finals should be held in small, neutral stadia, such as Tullamore, Longford, depending on participants. 22,000 people in Croke Park is ridiculous and only taints the league. A full Tullamore, for example, would create a cracking atmosphere.

7. More games under lights for the league. Honestly think it creates a great atmosphere. Saying that, the atmosphere at Mayo Tyrone (Sunday) this year was one of the best I have ever seen at MacHale Park!

8. Development of another stadium along the lines of Croke Park. Athlone is central, maybe a 30,000 seater here would be ideal. (I actually believe a 30,000 seater all purpose stadium should be built here. Between FAI, GAA and IRFU, along with other organisations and the govt, it wouldn't take a huge amount of effort. Saying that, the FAI are in the poop so it wouldn't work!!)

9. Avoiding kit clashes. Kerry v Tipp last week was a bit daft. Dark green and gold v blue and yellow. Both with white shorts. It's not really ideal. Introduce proper second kits to avoid clashes. Similarly, Laois v Dublin last year in the AI Quarter.

10. A serious look at football in hurling counties and hurling in football counties.

MayoMark (Mayo) - Posts: 332 - 31/05/2013 18:38:55    1396172

Just one from me:-

- No yellow/red cards to be issued for whacking Roscommon players - they should be fair game

Solo_Run (Leitrim) - Posts: 219 - 31/05/2013 19:11:06    1396195

31/05/2013 17:10:12
Marlon_JD
Language Timothy. Maybe a system could be trialled whereby those who have attended League, qualifier, or other championship games throughout the year could be given preference for All Ireland final tickets. Not sure how this might be done, it might involve someone getting some kind of coupon, token, endorsement everytime they went through the stiles for a match, that they could then present when they went looking for AI tickets. There's probably a more sophisticated way of doing it.
Hun,
How would you enforce that?
No reason for anyone to give tickets to those people who attended previous games. Tickets sold are tickets sold.
You really looking for people to get coupons? How likely would people be to keep coupons from every game of year and ensure theyre there. That's just messy

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 31/05/2013 19:21:35    1396202

1 More physicality allowed in the game , whistle happy refs done away with
2 hooter for timekeeping
3 Rugby disciplinary system
4 Players paid
5 red card for professional fouls when a player is through on goal or 1 on 1
6 Mark
7 More creative coaching

Murlo111 (Dublin) - Posts: 192 - 31/05/2013 19:25:30    1396205

31/05/2013 17:12:52
patmcgee
1. Make North, South, East and West conferences for the football provincial championships with 8 teams in each.
2. Divisional sides to compete in the liam mccarthy cup on a trial basis at least.
3. Standardized inter county calender with the league being played earlier in the year and possibly scrapping the o'byrne cup etc. Inter county pitches would be much better suited to playing in feb/march rather than club pitches. This would allow club games be played in april/may.
4. Finish all provincial championships in june/july and finish the all irelands in august leaving time for the club football to continue in september, this would allow the all ireland club championships to finish before christmas and stop the ridiculous practice of playing the all ireland club final in march sometimes a year after their championship campaign began, which also deprives intercounty sides of some of their best players in the league.
5. More hurling for weaker counties during the summer. The best months of the summer little hurling goes on in the weaker counties.
6. Separate hurling and football county boards in each county and in the gaa itself, its the only way to guarantee equality in weaker counties.
7. Stricter rules for underage players playing for a club in a different parish to which they are living, which is destroying rural clubs.
The national league already starts in early February? How much earlier would you start it?
Why scrap competitions like o byrne cup? Inter county sides need competitive games to play prior to the national league. If O Byrne cup is scrapped something else will be played instead
Divisional sides competing in Liam McCarthy is an excellent idea.
Are provincial championships not finished in june/july already?
Playing club finals on paddys day is a great tradition and something perfect for what paddys day is about

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 31/05/2013 19:26:16    1396206