The three groups that were finished yesterday would have been practically done and dusted before round 3 if it were top 2 to qualify.
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True, lot of dead rubbers but you get that in Champions League and stuff as well. Maybe they could go into the Tailteann, but the boys themselves might want it wrapped by then
That is why a three team group makes more sense, only one team to qualify.
A v B, loser plays the following week v team C. Then winner of match day 1 plays team C. Regardless of results in the first two games there is something at stake in the last game. Each team gets a home game too.
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Great idea
Ideally, I’d have them forget about the group and go straight knockout once the 16 teams are sorted. Can’t see it ever happening though
Provincial winners ranked 1-4, provincial final losers 5-8 and then the rest on NFL placing.
For example based on this year’s rankings:
Round 1 top section (winners of these ties qualify for the quarter-finals, losers get a second chance):
Dublin v Armagh at Croke Park - Dublin win
Donegal v Clare at Ballybofey - Donegal win
Kerry v Mayo at Killarney - Mayo win
Galway v Louth at Salthill - Galway win
Round 1 bottom section (losers are eliminated, winners progress to face the losers of the top section ties):
Derry v Cork at Celtic Park - Derry win
Tyrone v Westmeath at Omagh - Tyrone win
Monaghan v Cavan at Clones - Cavan win
Roscommon v Meath at Dr. Hyde Park - Roscommon win
Round 2 (losers from top section v winners from bottom section - winners of these ties qualify for the quarter-finals):
Armagh v Roscommon at the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds - Armagh win
Clare v Cavan at Ennis - Cavan win
Kerry v Tyrone at Killarney - Kerry win
Louth v Derry at Drogheda - Derry win
The problem with three teams qualifying in the current round robin format is that in most of the matches, what is technically at stake simply does not engage the public. The public aren’t arsed about attending matches at neutral venues to decide seedings or who tops the group.
The matches which become effective knockout are between teams who are already disillusioned by multiple defeats and supporters won’t attend these games in numbers because they are disillusioned or apathetic after multiple defeats.
Derry v Westmeath, Roscommon v Cavan and Monaghan v Meath all attracted paltry crowds.
Derry were considered live All-Ireland contenders going into this championship but a few defeats knocked the enthusiasm right out of their supporters and most of them stayed away from Newry on Saturday.
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Knock out matches.
We are being starved of them, in both codes.
That’s what gets the crowds.
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It’s what the GAA was built on.
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Without having the whole thing knock out, I dont think we can have any more than we have now ie eleven of them in football not counting the round robin ones that were knock out, and five half decent ones in hurling. There are a finite amount of teams and simple maths dictates the amount of knock out matches you can have.
The big problem with that one is that Clare get two chances and Tyrone only get one by virtue of the province they are in. The big goal of the current system was that every team no matter their province starts the all Ireland SFC in more or less the same position.
That’s a feature, not a bug. You’re incentivising doing well in the provincial championship more than you do now. There should be advantages for reaching a provincial final.
Inequality between the provinces has always been there. If you want to remove that inequality, you abolish the provincial championships entirely.
But why would you abolish the provincial championships, especially Ulster?
If the big goal of the current system is that there’s no advantage to how you do in the provincial championships, then the provincial championships become basically pointless and only function based on tradition and pride. That’s not a basis to keep a competition healthy, it’s a recipe for steady stagnation.
Here’s the thing. Quite a few matches in the provincial championships now are knockout. This year Offaly v Laois, Kildare v Wicklow, Down v Antrim were knockout for both teams.
If you’re in the bottom 16 rankings your provincial championship games are knockout as far as you’re concerned at least, and they can still be potential knockout if you’re in the 12-16 bracket as other teams could overtake you in the rankings.
We had three effective knockout games over the weekend.
But still, the crowds at these games were paltry.
Why? Years of tinkering, tampering, steady downsizing of teams and formats. Poor scheduling. Often poor venue selection.
People end up not caring. People did care, but all this messing has taken its toll.
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That’s 100pc true that people don’t care as much anymore but it’s not all about the format and system and its disingenuous to say it is. There are loads of other factors at play. What’s probably really incredible is how popular a completely indigenous amateur sport is and how it’s remained so relatively popular when soccer in particular has gobbled up so much sport worldwide. There were 2 men and a canine at the recent European athletics for instance.
I’m waiting here for tires on my car so I’m ready to jump in with a pointless answer to everything
People care when they feel they have reason to care. When they have hope, when there is a purpose. Not when their teams have been steadily downsized like a Slough paper merchants.
In 2009 82,300 attended Dublin v Kildare. They did so because there was hope, there was purpose, there was jeopardy, there was local rivalry, there was occasion.
Because the game wasn’t field basketball like it is now.
This was our equivalent of Essendon and Collingwood pulling 90k to the MCG, and we fucked it away.
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People are acting as if it’s a premier league style format with no knockout matches. When it was straight knockout people complained that it’s too harsh on teams.
The knockout games are coming, next week in fact.
The round robin is a complete waste of time though and all but devoid of shocks. Four of the five weakest sides in it were eliminated with Clare, Cavan and Meath taking a couple of lickings.
It doesn’t really serve much of a purpose and people don’t care for it. There has to be a better way.
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All-Ireland SFC Preliminary Quarter-Finals
Saturday June 22
Galway v Monaghan, Pearse Stadium, 4pm, GAAGO
Tyrone v Roscommon, O’Neills Healy Park, 5pm, GAAGO
Mayo v Derry, Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, 6.30pm, GAAGO
Sunday June 23
Louth v Cork, Grattan Park, Inniskeen, 3pm, GAAGO
Inniskeen is some venue for a Preliminary Quarter Final!
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of a June evening
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Is there a drawback to the new proposed 2 pointer rule?