Down Club Hurling & Football

[DownFanatic]

County's Latest Proposals to be voted on at the next County Board meeting.



Proposal for re-structuring of Division 3 and the doing away of Division 4

3A                       3B
Ballymartin          Drumgath
Tullylish           Kilclief
Carryduff           Darragh Cross
St John Bosco    Glasdrumman
Glenn            Atticall
Ardglass          St John's
Dundrum           Mitchel's
Saul            Drumaness
Bredagh            Dromara
St Paul's               Bright
Teconnaught       St Michaels
Aghaderg             Aughlisnafin
Ballykinlar   
   

In 2012 there would be no Division 4 but rather a Division 3a and 3B this would be an honest attempt to assist those smaller Clubs with more regional based fixtures which would have hopefully the two fold purpose of cutting down travel costs but in turn maximising home gates. These leagues include Kilclief, Carryduff and Tullylish but in 2012 only one of these teams will be still in Division 3 and thus there will need to be adjustment once the final permutations are known, we are asking that you support this in principle.

The two top teams in 3A and 3B would meet in Semi Finals with the top two teams then gaining promotion to Division 2.
There would be no relegation and as such would stop the yo yo effect of some teams between Division 3 and 4, we need to open the opportunity to people to play in Division 2, this gives Clubs the opportunity to grasp that chance to play in Division 2 and a high level of senior football for a season as opposed to getting one game in a Senior Championship as an amalgamation.
Here there is a real opportunity for Clubs to play in Division 2 if they are good enough.




2012 Senior Championship Proposal:

Preliminary Rd
An initial open draw will take place including the 16 teams currently eligible for the 2012 Senior Football Championship at the conclusion of the 2011 playing season

Sample draw: (winners marked in red)
A v B
C v D
E v F
G v H
I v J
K v L
M v N
O v P

2012 Senior Football Championship Round 1:
Following the preliminary Rd – the 8 WINNERS (marked in red) will be entered into a pot where they will be drawn to play each other (SECTION A).

The 8 LOSERS (marked in black) will also be entered into a pot where they will be drawn to play each other (SECTION B)

Sample draw:
SECTION A 
(Winning teams in Preliminary Round)
A v C
E v G
I v K
M v O
(The winner of each tie is marked in Blue. These clubs will progress automatically to the Senior Championship Quarter Finals.
The losers will be entered into a pot with the winning teams in SECTION B)

SECTION B
(Losing teams in the Preliminary Round
B v D
F v H
J v L
N v P
(The winner of each tie is marked in Green. These clubs will be entered into a pot with the losing teams from SECTION A.
The losers of these ties will be entered into a pot to fight for Senior Championship status in 2013)


2012 Senior Football Championship Round 2:
The 4 losing from SECTION A will be drawn out against the four winning teams from SECTION B.

Sample draw:
A v B
G v F
I v L
O v N
(The winner of each tie is marked in Purple. These teams will progress to the Senior Championship Quarter Finals.
The 4 losing teams will be entered into the pot to fight for Senior Championship Status in 2013




2012 Senior Football Championship Quarter Finals:
C
E
K
M
B
G
L
O
(These 8 Teams will be entered into an open draw, with the 4 winners progressing to the Senior Championship Semi Finals)



Pot for Championship Status in 2013
B
H
J
P
A
F
I
N
(These clubs will be entered into an open draw. The first 4 winners will be guaranteed Senior Championship Status in 2013.

The 4 losing teams will be drawn out against each other, with the 2 winners of these games being guaranteed Senior Championship Status in 2013.

The 2 losing teams will be entered into a playoff match, with the winners securing Senior Championship Status in 2013.

The losing team will drop to the Intermediate Championship in 2013, being replaced by the Intermediate winners from 2012.


In the event of an amalgamated team(s) entering the Senior Football Championship then there would be the provision to have a round of game(s) before the preliminary Round.

The base principle with these proposals is that in 2012 Clubs would have to win two games to make the Quarter Finals of the Championship and every Club is in fact guaranteed at least 3 games in the Championship. It will take a team 5 games to win the Championship and for a team to stay in the senior Championship for 2013 they may have to play 5 games also.

[outinfront]

Doing away with 4 would result in more competitive matches throughout the season.  This can only be a good thing. 

[dundrumite]

Doing away with 4 would result in more competitive matches throughout the season.  This can only be a good thing.

It would just mean greater margins between those at top and bottom in each division. Can't see it going through

[45]

How do you sort who your teams are for the junior championship with that divisional structure.

[DownFanatic]

Doing away with 4 would result in more competitive matches throughout the season.  This can only be a good thing.

It will infact do the opposite. The proposed re-structuring only serves to provide the opportunity for current Division 4 teams to take the brunt of heavier and more sustained hammerings.

This proposal is a nonsense and Id hope that all clubs see sense and vote against it.

[Out in Front]

County's Latest Proposals to be voted on at the next County Board meeting.


When is the next County Board meeting when this will be up for discussion?

[DownFanatic]

County's Latest Proposals to be voted on at the next County Board meeting.


When is the next County Board meeting when this will be up for discussion?

Vote being taken on it on the 24th of November.

[Brick Tamlin]

Doing away with 4 would result in more competitive matches throughout the season.  This can only be a good thing.

It will infact do the opposite. The proposed re-structuring only serves to provide the opportunity for current Division 4 teams to take the brunt of heavier and more sustained hammerings.

This proposal is a nonsense and Id hope that all clubs see sense and vote against it.

Dont count on it.
This is the same crowd who thought it appropriate to approve the new County Clubs Draw after all.
Really wonder what some of club reps are thhinkin half the time they go to these county board meetings.

[ardtole]

3b in particular looks particulary lob-sided, the bottom 7 teams would get murdered by by the top 4 or 5. When there is no relegation, teams have nothing to play for, this will lead to players losing interest, teams not fielding etc. I think since the leagues restructured, no club can feel agrieved at what league they are in. The leagues all seem to be quite competitive, yet there are distinct differences in quality between 1&2, 2&3 and 3&4, and this is the way it should be.

Teams that come up from div 4 generally struggle in div 3, and the same goes for newly promoted teams in other divisions. I dont think there is much wrong with our structures, they are very good actually. I think at this time of year we get proposals just for proposals sake, I dont expect to see this new system in action.

[thewobbler]

Daft proposal for the SFC. For the next few years there's only 3-4 clubs in Down have any chance of winning a SFC, and all this does is take three times as long to reach that conclusion. I hope it's not only defeated, but all proposals like this could somehow be banned for 5 years. Whichever club dreamt it up needs a good shoeing.

The league proposal does make sense to me. Yep there's going to be a few slappings handed out, but the greatest challenge to the likes of the Fin is getting commitment from players. Shorter trips, more derbies, and a better standard can only have a positive effect on them in the medium term.

[Minus15]

Current structures aren't a problem - it is the scheduling of the fixtures that is the problem. That proposal could only make things worse! 2 championsip games that you lose then a further 3 games to survive in the senior championship. Throw in league relegation playoffs and prelimiary rounds for amalgamations and a decent All Ireland run for the county and there will be madness. The rescheduling of a few years ago has only just had its first year as a settled system. Give it time to settle down before messing with it again.

Majority of Div 3 clubs will vote against the 3a and 3b proposal I would think. I don't see how it gives clubs a better chance of reaching Div 2. still 2 teams go up and some teams are never going to challenge to go up no matter how much restructuring takes place.

[maldini]

County's Latest Proposals to be voted on at the next County Board meeting.



Proposal for re-structuring of Division 3 and the doing away of Division 4

3A                       3B
Ballymartin          Drumgath
Tullylish           Kilclief
Carryduff           Darragh Cross
St John Bosco    Glasdrumman
Glenn            Atticall
Ardglass          St John's
Dundrum           Mitchel's
Saul            Drumaness
Bredagh            Dromara
St Paul's               Bright
Teconnaught       St Michaels
Aghaderg             Aughlisnafin
Ballykinlar   
   

In 2012 there would be no Division 4 but rather a Division 3a and 3B this would be an honest attempt to assist those smaller Clubs with more regional based fixtures which would have hopefully the two fold purpose of cutting down travel costs but in turn maximising home gates.

thats a farce of a proposal

Carryduff and Bredagh would be travelling to Bosco and Ballymartin, Darragh would be travelling to Drumgath, Mitchels and Atticall - if regionalising is their aim they could have made a better proposal than that.

Division 4 is there for a reason, half the games each week would be cricket scores in those two leagues

[PAULD123]

I appluad teh county board for considering radical prposals to improve the condition of teams in the lower divisions. I think we should support them in their desire. I do however agree that this proposal is not the best solution. In fact probably simply a split division 4 would be better, giving a divsion 4A & 4B with each team playing each other 4 timeds instead of two. The split mini-leagues could allow sensible regionalisation and would allow a play off for promotion.

As for the senior championship proposal it si a bit like the Dublin championship method which I think is a much better one than our current straight knock-out. My own club play one game each year in the championship and then that is it over. We are not good enough to compete in the Senior but just sneak in each year. So anything that allows players at least a few games is a good proposal.

Does anyone object to the proposal to change the championship?

[outinfront]

Down Fanatic I see your point.  I think having just played a season in 4 and unfortunately missing out on promotion, means the prospect of another year in 4 is depressing me!

[kumquat]

Proposal for re-structuring of Division 3 and the doing away of Division 4

3A                       3B
Ballymartin          Drumgath
Tullylish           Kilclief
Carryduff           Darragh Cross
St John Bosco    Glasdrumman
Glenn            Atticall
Ardglass          St John's
Dundrum           Mitchel's
Saul            Drumaness
Bredagh            Dromara
St Paul's               Bright
Teconnaught       St Michaels
Aghaderg             Aughlisnafin
Ballykinlar   
   

In 2012 there would be no Division 4 but rather a Division 3a and 3B this would be an honest attempt to assist those smaller Clubs with more regional based fixtures which would have hopefully the two fold purpose of cutting down travel costs but in turn maximising home gates. [/quote]

how would Aghaderg & Ballykinler benefit by playing Ballymartin & Tullylish? and St Michaels & Aughlisnafin by playing Kilclief & Drumgath?

A split Div 4 as PAULD123 says would be a better proposal, but i would leave the championship alone, straight knock out is what makes it so good.