Hurling qualifier draw

[longrunsthefox]

The layout is terrible.

Have I got this straight or am I wrong.

If Kilkenny beat Dublin they have played two games and are into the S/F.

While Galway have already played two games, their third will be against Clare, and if we win that we must play a 2nd qualifier lets say Cork and if we win that we have to play a Provencial runner up to get to the S/F.  Which means we will have played a total of five games.  Same for the likes of Wexford.  Not a very fair system and makes it easier for the likes of Kilkenny.

Sure if you'd bate Kilkenny it would have saved youse all that bother 

[Galwaybhoy]

The layout is terrible.

Have I got this straight or am I wrong.

If Kilkenny beat Dublin they have played two games and are into the S/F.

While Galway have already played two games, their third will be against Clare, and if we win that we must play a 2nd qualifier lets say Cork and if we win that we have to play a Provencial runner up to get to the S/F.  Which means we will have played a total of five games.  Same for the likes of Wexford.  Not a very fair system and makes it easier for the likes of Kilkenny.

Sure if you'd bate Kilkenny it would have saved youse all that bother 

All part of the plan.  We lost on purpose to give Kilkenny a false sence of security, now they think they are unbeatable, we will catch them in the final.  Just like Ger Lock lost on purpose to Clare in 07.

[EddieMerx]

The system will never be fair until they scrap the pointless provincial championships and open it up. The Camogie championship has proven how good this group format can be. Camogie was dying with only Cork and Tipp but now Wexford, Galway, Dublin and Kilkenny have come on leaps and bounds because they are getting plenty of games.

[awfulynice]

The system will never be fair until they scrap the pointless provincial championships and open it up. The Camogie championship has proven how good this group format can be. Camogie was dying with only Cork and Tipp but now Wexford, Galway, Dublin and Kilkenny have come on leaps and bounds because they are getting plenty of games.

I think the current system is fair. If Kilkenny / Dublin / Tipp / Waterford had lost their first games they would be into the qualifiers, where they get more games. There has been a lot of talk about giving weaker teams more games to help them improve...well what better way to do it than the current system. It ensures that the likes of Antrim / Laois who are probably the two weakest teams in the competition will play at least three games in the competition, First Round Provincials, First Round Qualifiers, then either Second Round Qualifiers or Relegation Semi Final.

They only have to win 1 of the 3 games to stave off relegation and play a vareity of teams from across the country so get experience of teams playing at different levels.

I think scrapping the provincial titles would have good and bad points. The good being some mouthwatering clashes in the groups as it will be luck of the draw and there would be a big possibility of a group of death like in the soccer world cup etc. On the other hand you are losing a tradition that a lot of people would be in uproar over.

I would favour a new format. Run the provincial championships a little earlier in the year in March / April in the current format except it is straight knock out. Then seed the teams as per their performance in the provincial championship. i.e Winners are seed 1,Finalists are seed 2 and semifinalists are seed 3 etc.

Then hold an open draw for say 2 groups of six teams. For example if you took this year the seeding would be (im going to presume KK & Tipp as provincial winners as they are favourites

Seed 1

KK
Tipp

Seed 2

Dublin
Waterford

Seed 3
Wexford
Galway
Clare
Limerick

Unseeded
Offaly
Laois
Antrim
Cork


Now for the sake of completeness I will give you two dummy groups

Group 1
KK
Waterford
Wexford
Clare
Cork
Antrim

Group 2
Tipp
Dublin
Galway
Limerick
Offaly
Laois


Everyone in the group plays each other once, with the top 2 going into a semi final. So every team would have at least 5 matches (plus at least one provincial match) and there would be serious competition among the teams for the top two places whilst also allowing the weaker teams the chance to gain experience at a higher level. Also the bottom two teams of each group go into a relegation semi final for a one up one down situation with the christy ring cup as it is currently.

Would this be a better solution?? There would be more competitive harder games, the season would contain more games so every team would get at least a second or third chance at the AI, whilst also keeping the provincial championships alive with the seeding. None of the big teams like KK etc would like to be unseeded going into the group stages.

[EddieMerx]

Why are all these hard-core traditionalists not going to games then? the attendances are falling badly under the current system. I think a new system with seeding would see better attendances while also giving teams plenty of games

[awfulynice]

Why are all these hard-core traditionalists not going to games then? the attendances are falling badly under the current system. I think a new system with seeding would see better attendances while also giving teams plenty of games

They are going to the games in fairness Eddie. The reason for the attendances falling is because of the recession and also the ridiculous GAA pricing structure.

Even at club level you have to pay a fiver to get into games. My brother trains a junior b team in tipperary. They were playing a championship match two years ago and were short a player. Since I wasnt hurling at all that year i said id go along and play for the craic under a different name. It was the last game and it couldnt have any effect on the championship as the other team had qualified and my brothers team were already knocked out.

I arrived up a little late to the match and there was a lad on the gate charging a fiver...once i got inside there was 5 people watching the game, 3 were selectors of the two teams and the other two were under 18 from the look of them.

Years ago you could get into all these matches free and only had to pay a few quid to watch your senior teams play. Now the GAA is too much after money and people are weighing up whether paying about €50 to get to croker, €50 for food and about €150 for tickets is worth it for a family day out when they could probably get half a week in Lanzarotie for that!!

They are going to have to bring prices down if they want to keep attendances up, saying they wont put prices up is a joke, seeing your county hurl / play football has moved from being a social neccesity to a luxury at the minute

[EddieMerx]

Can't agree with you there, the pricing is high but how many are in their local spending a small fortune watching the game? People just don't want to travel because they all think what's the point in wasting money because they will only lose.

[awfulynice]

Can't agree with you there, the pricing is high but how many are in their local spending a small fortune watching the game? People just don't want to travel because they all think what's the point in wasting money because they will only lose.

No not at all, the gaa games used to be a family day out, not so anymore, it costs hundreds of euro to go and watch one game. I have had people consistently complaining about this to me. If you go and watch the match in your local...and even stayed there for the whole day drinking you wouldnt come close to the cost of actually taking your family to see it.

An Example would be the Offaly Wexford match, I couldnt go as I was working but had been planning to go. Now when I think of the cost it would have been approx €40 for petrol & about what €25 or so for a ticket, add in some food and youre at about €80 for a first round championship match. And that is for a single person. Think of a family say with 3 kids

Transport €40
Food       €60
Tickets    €80


Those figures are approximately and you can probably add on another €50 by the time youre done. No one has this kind of money to spend on 70 minutes entertainment anymore. And when you think that most counties will have 4 - 5 days out in the year you wont be far off spending a grand!! Then you are expected to support your club at all levels aswell, and with county boards charging €15 & €20 into senior club matches it is an unsustainable situation.

I expect attendances to drasticly reduce this year and prove my point 

Its not that people dont want to go to matches as you say, its because they cant afford to go to them all, so they make choices on which match to go to. For example if Offaly were playing KK next weekend there would be a smaller crowd travelling from both counties than Offaly Vs Wexford, because as you say both teams will anticipate an easy victory by KK.

But the underlying problem is the money.

[INDIANA]

I don't agree I think people are bored. The reality is kilkenny will win the next 3 leinsters at least so at this stage their fans couldn't be bothered.
Munster is struggling as well crowd wise.

[Gnevin]

I don't agree I think people are bored. The reality is kilkenny will win the next 3 leinsters at least so at this stage their fans couldn't be bothered.
Munster is struggling as well crowd wise.

Galway have a good case in the next 3 years. I don't think it's a sure fire as you say

[EddieMerx]

Galway won't win with one man