Nearly everything you said there has applied for years. You think people in cork, Wicklow, Carlow, Antrim etc gave a shite under the old system? The football championship is a dead duck outside the top 5 or 6 counties and the games only get good at semis and final. Possibly the odd quarter. At least now theres a tiny bit of drama about whether teams will make sam. Itâs creating a bit of jeopardy where before there was none. The second tier competition either takes off or the sport is finished at inter county level in about 20 counties.
Heâs comparing Laois Wexford to Arsenal Liverpool?
Ah Shtop âŚ
When I was growing up Cork football was something to be feared and respected, they regularly reached All-Ireland finals and won them. They donât seem to give a damn these days. Most of the blame for that lies with Cork but the traditional reference point of Cork football, the big summer clash with Kerry, has been taken away, and that has killed any interest among the Cork public.
Within the last 10-15 years, Cork v Kerry was box office and would always fill Killarney, Wicklow were beating Down, Antrim were reaching an Ulster final. Wexford were in an All-Ireland semi-final. Tipp were in two All-Ireland semi-finals over the last seven years because they were able to go at it in particular years, the draw fell nicely for them and they took advantage. Theyâll be a perennial basement team under this new system.
I go back to the NFL system. Thatâs the root of the problem. If you silo the strong away from the weak, the weak will never, ever improve and just drift away completely.
Far from being good for hurling, the Joe McDonagh Cup has been a patronising pat on the head for weaker counties. The same is true of the new system in football.
The truth is, there is no football that is properly worth looking at until the last 12. And all that filler between now and then will take away from the knockout rounds themselves.
The football championship now lasts for four weekends weeks, itâs a blitz. The rest is shite. If you want to kill off your showpiece competition, this is the way to do it.
Dublin v Kildare drew a capacity crowd of 78k for the 2002 Leinster final and 82k for the 2009 Leinster final. It attracted two full houses of circa 55k in 2000 and two virtually full houses of 60-65k in 1998.
Dublin v Meath was attracting crowds of 82k in 2005 and 78k and 82k in 2007. It drew 74k in 2009 and 60k as late as 2013.
35k attended last yearâs Leinster final and Dublin v Kildare this year will do well to draw 25k, as would Dublin v Meath.
Cork v Kerry filled or went close to filling Killarney on virtually every occasion the two teams played up to 2015.
Now you canât even fill Pairc Ui Rinn for it.
Leinster championship matches involving other counties would always draw a half decent crowd. Now they draw two men a dog. Same with Munster and increasingly Ulster.
The only matches which are any sort of a draw these days are ones involving Galway v Mayo v Roscommon or when two of the big Ulster counties clash. Down have long since fallen out of that bracket, Cavan have too in terms of attracting support, Donegal look like theyâre falling away, Monaghan are falling away too, which leaves only Tyrone, Armagh and Derry, and Derryâs support is traditionally small.
Anybody who doesnât see the problem is living in cloud cuckoo land. Average attendances this year will plummet.
That is due to the fact that Meath and Kildare are absolute crap these days.
But all these new formats are an attempt to fix the problems youâre talking about. They arenât the problem.
Football is shite now. Not a spectacle worth travelling for. You may as well snooze at home on your couch and open an eye now and again than develop piles sitting thru the current drivel on offer. Hurling is going the same way. Itâs not the scheduling itâs the product.
These new formats do not attempt to fix the problem. They say âthereâs a problem, and we donât care actually, letâs make the problem worseâ.
These formats favour big squads and money. The championship is supposed to be about jeopardy, the hope of an upset, an ambush in the heat of June. It has ceased to be that and turned into a rationalised, sterile pig largely played off in the cold of spring.
Not true. Weâve had some of the best ever football matches over last decade.
The Dublin Mayo Kerry games were as good as anything in history of the game.
Add in Tyrone and Galway and youâve 5 teams whoâd feel they can win it. Thatâs more than most sporting competitions anywhere
I think you are agreeing with me if you can only count âsomeâ over the course of a decade.
The actual game of Gaelic football as it is played has rarely been better than it is now. Yet the perception is of a terrible product. Thatâs down to competition formats, scheduling and marketing.
Hurling as a game isnât as good as it was. Most games these days are just point after point after point. The piss poor scheduling will catch up with hurling too.
Clare v Limerick in the Munster final mattered for the simple reason it was Clare v Limerick in a Munster final in Thurles.
These are the occasions the GAA is intent on pissing away.
Different point.
Football is dreadful.
Yesterday the âhurlingâ was shocking.
Well weâll have to agree to disagree
If you think it is thatâs your opinion.
The business end games of football are generally compelling.
Lots of hurling men deflect their annoyance with hurling to football. Truth is football is more competitive and more watchable now with five teams who could win it any year.
Derry this year have come from nowhere relatively and could have a big summer. That doesnât happen in hurling. Blaming football for that isnât correct.
The business end of football is generally its saviour of course. And donât worry, my ire with hurling will be at hurling alone. Itâs worrying at the moment.
The point was earlier that comparing the Laois game at weekend to the Liverpool game was literally apples and oranges. The counter argument was GAA schedule in comparison to pre split season epics of the past.
My argument is the GAA product has deteriorated on the pitch and this is reflected on the turnstiles.
Football has completely blown hurling out of the water for compelling drama for a few years now. You can refer back to loads of really really great Football games whereas hurling has been thin on the ground since the halcyon days of 2009-2014.
But football is such a bigger sport too it would want to.
Like All Ireland Football weekend in Dublin dwarfs hurling final weekend in terms of âbignessâ. The nordies bring a great chippiness to proceedings.
Neither seems bothered that theyâre crap. The general sense I get from these counties is one of almost total apathy, though they will care if theyâre relegated to the Terry Wogan Cup in the same way a child who doesnât study at English is angered if theyâre dropped down to the remedial class.
The current format or close to it is the only hope in my opinion. Link league to championship and two tiers. Whatâs your suggestion?