This is spot on.
However itâs almost inevitable that there will be a motion brought to next years Congress to get the Club Provincial and All Ireland competitions finished by December. This would take back any space given to the clubs by switching All Ireland Finals to August
And so it should be.
but whats the issue with that? Club games have no space now, with peak games on in October/November. Iâd rather see peak club games with the same little space but played in August/September.
That will (should) never, ever happen.
Clubs would disintegrate if they didnât have their county players and it would totally distort a championship. Clubs shouldnât be punished for producing good players.
The issues with the current structures are lack of games and lopsided provincial championships, this does nothing to address that, bar extra games for the better teams who were already getting more games, it also removes the chance of middle tier sides upsetting the odds on any given day. The extra time for club championships is welcome but doesnât really address the major issues club players face, which is a championship starting in April/May & ending in October and you only getting a handful of games. You have to start training in Feb (earlier for some) for the April games
and keep going till October.
Itâs easy solve the problem if the appetite was there.
8 groups of 4, pots seeded by league. Top 2 through to AI proper bottom two through to Tommy Murphy equivalent.
Knockout from the last 16 on then.
Everyone guaranteed 4 games.
Something for the weaker teams to aim for without excluding them from the championship.
7 games to the final for all teams. No-one playing more or less than others bar replays. Every football game is on the same weekend so no advantage/disadvantage from varying length of breaks.
Every second week hurling and football with extra time for every game. If after extra time itâs still a replay itâs played the following Friday/Saturday evening (on hurling weekend). This might mean players out three weeks in a row (which isnât ideal), but fuck it. You could also factor in a week off break in the middle of the ko stages if so required as well as a 2 week break before the AI final. There is no threat of replays in the first 3 games as they can be draws so the chances of a team being out 3 weeks in a row after a draw are slim.
Arguments against are historic & commercial largely, historic ones not much you can do about but I think everyone just needs to move on. Commercially the GAA prefer staggered rounds as they can show more matches, but they could still show 4 matches a weekend if they wanted and it might address the falling attendances issue. Theyâd also have Tommy Murphy matches to show later in the year to offset this somewhat. Theyâd be able to show 26 games for the football alone which is about the same? And they could sell Sky a package of two cast offs a weekend if they so wanted.
Everything played out in May, June, July & August which would leave most counties start their championship in August. So theyâd have August, September & October for club championships. The key point to this is it would allow counties to not start championship in April/May, but instead wait until August. The club leagues could be run off without county players throughout the intercounty championship, so starting in April until July. So lads wouldnât have to start training until Late March/April. The majority of matches are then played in the summer at least.
Iâd also be in favour of a ban on club gaa matches for two weeks at say the end of July, so lads can plan holidays and be 100% guaranteed they wonât have a match.
I donât think club players mind playing the championship in October as such, the issue is the ridiculous breaks between championship games and the unpredictability of when theyâll be played.
A summer of say 8 league games in april/may/june/july and (hurling the opposite weekend for the dualers) as well as a guaranteed 4 championship games in each code taking you up to September, would satisfy most club players. Matches, reliability of fixtures and a season that doesnât take all year is all we want really.
#championsleagueformat
5 Likes
Iâd rather clubs have more space while still being able to play in Aug/September
its mental
My club has a player in the davis cup recently, did the club championships stop because of this?
No DB, No they didnt
1 Like
Never going to happen given the dinosaurs that will be voting on it at Congress.
In order for it to get passed now you need a proposal that will marry commercial concerns and traditional biases while taking into account the plight of the club player and giving the weaker countries more games to allow them to develop more.
Should be a doddle.
+1
Lads not good enough to play astro or tennis end up playing club GGA
space for what though? All that will happen is that the space created will push out games and have big breaks in them again. I honestly dont see the issue with playing games week after week for a couple of months. It ensures a stability as to when games are on and gets a good flow to things. And regardless of it, there will still be weeks off anyway even if the club AI series does get brought forward to be finished off earlier.
Jim McGuinness solved the intercounty piece of this two years ago.
Would need to put a timeline on it and see how club fits in.
Donât agree clubs would disintegrate. Anyway most top clubs would be affected by loss of a player or two.
Might reinvigorate club game playing a summer championship and not in muck, rain and cold of winter. In fact you may see defections of panel players from IC to club.
Other sports get on with it. Athletics clubs compete in nationals without international athletes all the time. GAA club game needs to grow up and play without IC players or if insist on them being available then understand the Compromise they are insisting on.
It could mean the differnce between junior and senior.
This whole conversation around this is ridiculous. Itâs not brain surgery.
There are 52 weeks a year.
Someone needs to get a spreadsheet and sort it out with radical change. Traditionalists need to fuck off. Players need to get onto county board and not twitter.
But itâs not rugby or soccer so clubs shouldnât be forced to give up their best players.
Accountants love their spreadsheets.
1 Like
Very good article covering the points debated on TFK today.
He wouldnât fit in around here with that logic.
Quirke column is normally very good.
He is making the point I made the other night. Donât fight the GAA process it gets you nowhere. Just accept that to make change you need to follow their process and go through your club and make sure your views are heard. Lot of work in that though. People like the short cut though like telling the GPA you donât want it and hoping thatâs enough.
Mike Quirkes column is always worth a read, a very smart reader of the game with a lovely way about him
1 Like
The examiner GAA coverage is top notch. Sports coverage in general is v good.
Iâd hope the mooted takeover by INM comes to nowt
I havenât read one iota on this or any of the posts above so forgive me for repeating something another poster has probably already stated.
Itâs abundantly clear that the league and championship needs to be amalgamated into a shorter season⌠The GAA also want more of an event/product when it comes to games.
The answer lies with our good friends in America - follow the NFL division format - 8 groups of 4 based on region - you play your three divisional rivals (which builds a nice bit of rivalry such as current provincial championships) and then you play a select amount of games from teams from the other divisions - say 7- these teams change every year so you add the variety of playing different teams that you wouldnât normally play in the current provincial game. Play the 10 games off over 12 weeks giving each county 2 bye weeks between April to mid June and then play off your knockout/playoffs of the top 16 from mid June to mid August. Done and dusted⌠The clubs have August/September (best of the weather) and we all get a viable product with a league structure that means something and lends to a straight knockout competition.
1 Like