[quote=“Watch The Break, post: 557249”]
There’s fuck all benefit to the current system and it seems to be doing way more harm than good. The logic behind is that Laois, Carlow, and Antrim couldn’t compete consistently at the highest level and for more balance you needed a different split in the system. This was supposed to benefit the likes of those teams but after three years where’s the evidence that they have. The irony is the typically arrogant argument from the Cork lads is undemined by the very points that they are making. [/quote]
3 years is a relatively short time in which to judge an experiment of this nature.
The divisions were changed for precisely the purpose of helping these teams, that’s the reason they are the way they are now. And yet the two gimps are arguing that the structural changes have nothing to do with it and if you want to improve then you just have to do the groundwork. In that case there’s no justification for this system as it’s entire purpose is flawed to begin with.
strawman argument. just because underage work is far more important to senior success doesn’t mean you can come up with any league format you choose. again, it’s a bit early to be deciding that the current structure has failed.
As it happens they are wrong on both fronts. Lack of exposure to top level games does massively impact upon a team’s ability to prepare. As I’ve said, Clare and Limerick won’t meet a team that has the remotest chance of winning the Munster or Leinster championship until the championship itself. The three sides I’ve referred to don’t appear to be much better off than they were three years ago either, and Laois appear to be in complete turmoil, so again you have to explain what the benefit is that justifies the system. Where is it?
laois had their best year last year in quite a while. it would seem rigney had more to do with it than anything else, mbb could i’m sure fill us in on the details. div 2 looks like it’s about the place for them for now. hammerings aren’t going to improve the situation.
Turenne talks about nobody wanting to see certain matches, and that the current system provides more attractive fixtures on that front. Well nobody’s going to watch them so that doesn’t hold up either. In fact, even in the fairly dull inter-county scene of the early noughties you were getting much higher average attendances under the old 1A and 1B system.
that also holds true for championship matches now vs the nineties / early noughties. absolutely no evidence to suggest that the league format is the sole cause (or even a contributing factor) of falling attendances.
Another point that seems to escape ye is that even if Clare and Limerick ‘step up’ as Kev so helpfully points out, you’re always condemning some teams to this nightmare situation. Maybe in five years it’ll be Waterford and Dublin. But maybe not, maybe it’ll still be Clare and Limerick or Wexford. Regardless of how much work they do, some teams are going to have to be there. And the likes of Laois can go on with 12 people showing up for training. Maybe Christy Cooney can drop by and explain to them how much benefit they system is providing them. Because the evidence doesn’t seem to exist anywhere outside of his head.
Laois haven’t been relegated since the new format was adopted, so relegation has no bearing on how many senior hurlers decide to tog out at training. as you say, someone will always be relegated, that’s the whole point of playing a league competition. the worst team goes down, the best of the rest takes their place, for at least one season.
there’s no evidence to suggest that the “weaker” counties are suffering under the current format.
there’s certainly some evidence to suggest that for the counties who were relegated, relegation was a symptom rather than a cause of their woes. being cosseted in an expanded league structure would mask these deficiencies to some extent, surfacing only on championship days. deficiencies that are then harder to spot, and easier to dismiss as an aberration or a dodgy refereeing decision.
your basic argument is that clare (and limerick, presumably) are at a disadvantage going into the championship due to div 2 status. your remedy for this is to expand the league structure to a 14 team top division, in a sport where barely that many counties take the game seriously.
if ye beat us in the div 2 final, presumably the presence of offaly next year in div 1 to preserve clare’s top flight status would serve equally well for your purposes? 7 top flight games, few mismatches, a better chance of playing at close to championship pace and no weekend wasted on meaningless inter-county matches at the expense of club games.
carlow, laois and down get to see if they’re better than wexford.
all your objectives are then met under the current format. the only problem is the onus on ye not to get relegated again.
the cynic in me is considering the possibility that the problem with the current format is the winner takes all game at the end of the year. although there are advantages to a game resembling championship intensity and status at that time of year. would you protest so vociferously had ye won that game?