Super 8s

[Owenmoresider]

A lot if not most Counties have group stages in their Championships
BUT they have them at the start not 3 Quarters way through.
As I've said before then new system is voted in by the Congress, is there for 3 years so it's up to those opposed to it to
1 - devise and agree a better alternative
2- sell it to the GAA membership and County Boards
3- get it to Congress 2019 with a view to introducing it for Championship 2021.

Or we can rant in the media, twitter GAAboard etc etc

Can you name some counties that do? I asked about this a week ago and only Kildare, with a backdoor system, and Roscommon have a round robin sytem. It certainly isnt popular in Ulster. Derry tried it and it was a complete bollocks of a system, same as Duffys will be.

So Roscommon have a round robin and Kildare a back door, any others. I was sure Tyrone and Down had tried round robin in the past....anyone??

By my reckoning it breaks down thus:
Round Robin* - Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo, Donegal, Cavan, Longford, Westmeath, Meath, Louth, Offaly, Carlow, Wexford, Tipperary (& divisional c'ships), Limerick and Waterford.
Back Door - Galway, Monaghan, Armagh, Down, Kildare, Laois, Wicklow, Clare, Cork, Kerry.
Straight KO - Tyrone, Fermanagh, Derry, Antrim, Dublin.

* - you know where you can shove your "Champions League format" bollocks.

[Syferus]

There will be some amount of dead rubber 3rd games. Teams who have won twice and qualified top alreadye putting out reserve sides for their 3rd match

Shite plan, not properly thought through

We could even see 2 teams playing for a draw to  qualify

Thks is championship football ffs

Agree with everything......and theres nothing worse than a dead rubber game at that late stage of a championship.

That's it in a nutshell.

These problems had arisen in various counties that tried round robin previously so didn't require much more than some basic research to identify some pretty significant potential drawbacks. The fact that Duffy is manifestly unable to identify these is atypical of your average GAA adminstrator. Get a bright idea, [usually shamelessly plagiarized from another sport] and get it pushed through without the slightest consideration that there might be some negatives associated with it.

I've been accused of lacking respect for other opinions by labelling them rubbish but this is another example of the nonsense that is coming out of people criticising this.

Keyser do you genuinely believe that Pauric Duffy and numerous other senior GAA administrators never considered that a round robin format could lead to some dead rubber games? If so, then you are simply posting nonsense.

Of course there could, and will, be some dead rubbers but we could also have some tremendous last round games with teams needing to win and maybe win by 3 or 4 points to qualify while their opponents need at least a draw. If there is going to be hammerings and loads of dead rubbers when the best 8 teams meet then that's a clear admission that we have a handful of teams way ahead of everyone else so there isn't any format that will change that. However, I don't agree with the doom and gloom merchants. We could have two groups like this - Mayo, Kerry, Monaghan & Kildare and Dublin, Tyrone, Donegal & Galway. At the moment we probably have 6 competitive teams but there's no reason that one or two more can't close the gap. The above groups would be very competitive and While Dublin may be playing Kildare in a dead rubber Mayo and Kerry will be meeting in a do or die game.

The reason I have no time for the majority of criticism of the super 8's is because it is a decent proposal if you have to keep the provincials and if you want to get more structure and more games between the big teams. This format helps clubs and can help the weaker counties by giving them more money/resources (you know, the thing many on here claim is vital to closing the gap between the big teams and the rest) as a result of the revenue generated by the new games.

It's not, nor has it ever been promoted, as the solution to all problems so why people keep criticising it for what it's not is beyond me.

Or all 4 final round games could just as easily be dead rubbers!

And the premiership is sometimes over with weeks to go, the last round of the six nations is sometimes irrelevant to who will be champions etc. Is the bar being set at perfect?

At least you're finally comparing Dublin with professional teams.

[Keyser soze]

There will be some amount of dead rubber 3rd games. Teams who have won twice and qualified top alreadye putting out reserve sides for their 3rd match

Shite plan, not properly thought through

We could even see 2 teams playing for a draw to  qualify

Thks is championship football ffs

Agree with everything......and theres nothing worse than a dead rubber game at that late stage of a championship.

That's it in a nutshell.

These problems had arisen in various counties that tried round robin previously so didn't require much more than some basic research to identify some pretty significant potential drawbacks. The fact that Duffy is manifestly unable to identify these is atypical of your average GAA adminstrator. Get a bright idea, [usually shamelessly plagiarized from another sport] and get it pushed through without the slightest consideration that there might be some negatives associated with it.

I've been accused of lacking respect for other opinions by labelling them rubbish but this is another example of the nonsense that is coming out of people criticising this.

Keyser do you genuinely believe that Pauric Duffy and numerous other senior GAA administrators never considered that a round robin format could lead to some dead rubber games? If so, then you are simply posting nonsense.

Of course there could, and will, be some dead rubbers but we could also have some tremendous last round games with teams needing to win and maybe win by 3 or 4 points to qualify while their opponents need at least a draw. If there is going to be hammerings and loads of dead rubbers when the best 8 teams meet then that's a clear admission that we have a handful of teams way ahead of everyone else so there isn't any format that will change that. However, I don't agree with the doom and gloom merchants. We could have two groups like this - Mayo, Kerry, Monaghan & Kildare and Dublin, Tyrone, Donegal & Galway. At the moment we probably have 6 competitive teams but there's no reason that one or two more can't close the gap. The above groups would be very competitive and While Dublin may be playing Kildare in a dead rubber Mayo and Kerry will be meeting in a do or die game.

The reason I have no time for the majority of criticism of the super 8's is because it is a decent proposal if you have to keep the provincials and if you want to get more structure and more games between the big teams. This format helps clubs and can help the weaker counties by giving them more money/resources (you know, the thing many on here claim is vital to closing the gap between the big teams and the rest) as a result of the revenue generated by the new games.

It's not, nor has it ever been promoted, as the solution to all problems so why people keep criticising it for what it's not is beyond me.

Or all 4 final round games could just as easily be dead rubbers!

And the premiership is sometimes over with weeks to go, the last round of the six nations is sometimes irrelevant to who will be champions etc. Is the bar being set at perfect?

Now you're getting it. Those are LEAGUE competitions. We are discussing championship!

[Zulu]

No lads, we are discussing competition formats. How do we structure ours so that all teams get a decent season, that's the discussion. We don't have it now and the super 8's won't deliver it but it's a step in the right direction.

[Keyser soze]

Here sure let everybody play away all summer and give everybody a medal and a cup at the end of it. And a kitbag and a bottle of Isotonic when ur at it.

[Zulu]

Yep, because that's what we're saying. Good man keep posting utter nonsense.

[Rossfan]

Keyser needs to get out more methinks.

[Keyser soze]

Keyser needs to get out more methinks.

From a man with over 10,000 posts 

[Rossfan]

In 13 years buck.

[Esmarelda]

Time to drag this up again, no craic without it.

So it seems that only 12% of club players agree with the Super 8 being introduced.

I would question the reasons for asking this question in isolation. I know there is much more to the survey they carried out but what would a club player have against the Super 8 in comparison to what they currently have?

[Rossfan]

The hurley crowd are leaving their "League" the same format again next year so I presume there won't be changes to their Championship for a few more years at least.
As for the "Super 8" they've been approved at Congress.
Only difference for Club only players is that they should be out of their Championships earlier. Should help a lot of Junior soccer clubs mind you.

[Esmarelda]

The hurley crowd are leaving their "League" the same format again next year so I presume there won't be changes to their Championship for a few more years at least.
As for the "Super 8" they've been approved at Congress.
Only difference for Club only players is that they should be out of their Championships earlier. Should help a lot of Junior soccer clubs mind you.

That's what I mean. Surely they're answering a different question. Although it hasn't been disclosed what exactly they were asked.

[Rossfan]

I see the hurley crowd are now talking about the need to revamp their Championship  due to the football revamp.
The Galway question also needs to be addressed.
A few questioning the value of the (gasp!shock!)Munster Championship.
Even Ger Loughnane  on Seó  Spóirt one night.

[Lone Shark]

I see some Meath heads are a bit peeved at the team that Kildare have picked for this weekend's game in Galway. A match that would be very competitive if both sides were at full strength, now sees Paddy Power lay odds of 1/14 Galway and 9/1 Kildare, with an 8 point handicap.

If Meath are annoyed now, imagine if this happened in the championship, at the quarter final stages? I cannot get my head around why no-one is considering the absolute sh1tstorm that will be unleashed when this finally happens.

Moreover, has anybody outlined what will happen in the event of a walkover in a game like that?

Think logically for a moment, and imagine I'm the Dublin manager, in a super eight group featuring the Dubs, Kerry, provincial winners, and we'll say Cavan and Kildare for the sake of argument. The first four results are:

Dublin beat Cavan in Breffni
Kildare and Kerry draw in Newbridge

Kildare beat Cavan in Croke Park
Dublin beat Kerry in Croke Park

Final round is coming up, and Kerry will almost certainly beat Cavan in Killarney- but if Dublin don't beat Kildare, Kerry wwill be knocked out regardless- and with all due respect to Kildare, there's only one of those teams that represents a potential threat to Dublin in an All Ireland final.

Moreover, why in the name of God would I risk injuries in that game? Surely the logical thing to do for both reasons is to either concede a walkover, or else give a full game to the players in my squad that are effectively numbers 21-35. Are we ready for the riots that would ensue when that happens?

[joemamas]

Fair and good point.
You just hope that managers have some integrity, on the other hand if you don't control your own destiny a la Meath tomorrow then can you really blame somebody else