Its an alternative Ulster... eh GAA I mean

[theskull1]

Maybe a side argument but being the devils advocate ...how addicted to the current revenue requirements have the paid staff of the GAA become? 

Is there not a possibility that paid staff are turning into another inefficient public sector workforce whose motives are becoming more and more about self interest than the best interests of the whole organisation? Just throwing that one out there.

[theskull1]

Do most members of this board work for the GAA? 

[Zulu]

Maybe a side argument but being the devils advocate ...how addicted to the current revenue requirements have the paid staff of the GAA become? 

Is there not a possibility that paid staff are turning into another inefficient public sector workforce whose motives are becoming more and more about self interest than the best interests of the whole organisation? Just throwing that one out there.

Not sure about the paid staff but clubs certainly have become dependent on the revenue from the IC game and it should be a GAA priority to maximise this revenue. If we returned to the knockout format of old or didn't always consider how to maximise revenue from the IC game then the GAA wouldn't be long becoming a sporting irrelevance in many parts of Ireland.

[Rossfan]

Do most members of this board work for the GAA? 

We know someone with a one issue agenda when we see one and treat him/her appropriately.

[theskull1]

If only I had a thumb like Tony Blair ...then I'd be taken seriously

[johnneycool]

Maybe a side argument but being the devils advocate ...how addicted to the current revenue requirements have the paid staff of the GAA become? 

Is there not a possibility that paid staff are turning into another inefficient public sector workforce whose motives are becoming more and more about self interest than the best interests of the whole organisation? Just throwing that one out there.

Not sure about the paid staff but clubs certainly have become dependent on the revenue from the IC game and it should be a GAA priority to maximise this revenue. If we returned to the knockout format of old or didn't always consider how to maximise revenue from the IC game then the GAA wouldn't be long becoming a sporting irrelevance in many parts of Ireland.

How does that work?

I'm not sure my club directly benefits from the IC game in a financial sense??

[Zulu]

Grant aid, games development officers, coaching resources, coaching courses etc., if you want to build a pitch the GAA will help pay for that. I think it's 87% of IC revenue that goes back into the game albeit that is probably school, university, club and IC level.

[johnneycool]

Grant aid, games development officers, coaching resources, coaching courses etc., if you want to build a pitch the GAA will help pay for that. I think it's 87% of IC revenue that goes back into the game albeit that is probably school, university, club and IC level.

Coaching courses I'll give you, but grant aid for pitch development and improvement is miniscule in relation to the overall costs from my experience.

Obviously the Dubs are better versed on garnering these resources than us country bumpkins.

[J70]

The last time someone outside of Cork and Kerry to win a Munster football championship final was in 1935.

While it doesn't negate your point, Clare did win in '92.

The last time someone outside of Dublin or Meath to win a Leinster football championship was in Kildare in 2000, before that Offaly in 1997 and you're talking before 1945 since Wexford have managed it.

When one county has more people than the rest put together, it isn't really a fair competition.

Ulster is more equal, Fermanagh could have won in 08 with a freetaker. Monaghan have had their chances, Antrim have given up, but it is there for them.

I would like to remind you that Monaghan are joint second with Armagh having won 14 USFC titles. We have therefore had and taken as many chances as the mighty Armagh in Ulster.. 

Surely he is talking about the recent past? Apart from the three from 79-88, have Monaghan any others since WWII?

Before McGuinness, it was Armagh and Tyrone and no one else for more than a decade. Who knows what the story would be if Big Jim hadn't got the job!

[Zulu]

Grant aid, games development officers, coaching resources, coaching courses etc., if you want to build a pitch the GAA will help pay for that. I think it's 87% of IC revenue that goes back into the game albeit that is probably school, university, club and IC level.

Coaching courses I'll give you, but grant aid for pitch development and improvement is miniscule in relation to the overall costs from my experience.

Obviously the Dubs are better versed on garnering these resources than us country bumpkins.

Not so, grant aid to clubs can reach six figures. I think it used to be they'd match what you raised. All clubs also get a proportion of the money the CB's get from league attendances, I know my home club got money from the CB which came from central funds generated by the IC game. I wouldn't be an expert and I'm not in Ireland now so wouldn't have seen club accounts that I could reference but we all benefit from the IC game, of that there is no doubt.

[fearglasmor]

A question.

I am sure the vast majority of lads playing club football are in the same boat I was.
Plenty of dreams growing up but no realistic prospect of playing intercounty football but half decent enough to play senior club football.

Now the question is which option would you choose ?

A)  Continue as we are with a fairly chaotic fixture structure that depends on if you have any players on the county panel and how far the county goes in the championship. The benefit is that you have your conty player/s when ever you do get fixed for a big game.

or

B)  Have a fully structured fixture list where you know you will have competitive football every week or two weeks over a set number of months  in the year. The price for this is disconnecting county players from clubs.

[Farrandeelin]

In reply I'm sure there are counties who have leagues running off alongside their county games. I'm interested in how Dublin do things. I know they don't have the long distances we all have to travel if we are taken to away games, but it would be a template that the rest of us could follow. In Mayo, only 3 rounds of the league have been played. A f**king farce for club players. And next weekend we'll know the last 8 of the intermediate and senior championships. There wasn't a game between round 1 of the championship and round 2 - in any competition. I think option B will have to be taken into consideration, but then there are always going to be clubs who demand their players play in every game etc.

[Kernan_is_King]

The Big man rows in with McStay's tiered championship concept
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/columnists/joe-kernan/we-must-tier-championship-to-benefit-everyone-29394024.html

[fearglasmor]

You can call it Junior, Intermediate, Tommy Murphy, All Ireland B,  whatever you like. It wont work. No one will be bothered.

The Championship is an Open Cup competition. There is nothing wrong with that. It throws up the possibility however slim of a giant killing run or even one game.

Whats wrong at the minute is that Tyrone end up playing Offaly  for example in the earliest round of the knockout.

Professional Soccer as a sport isn't my favourite, but in the FA/FAI  Cup, European Competions, you have the earliest rounds confined to the non league teams, the best of those progress to face the lower division league teams and finally the top league teams enter the draw. Of course you still get hammerings but now and then you get a giant killing performance or even a heroic defeat of a minnow to one of the big boys. That's the magic of championship/cup football. If you only allow teams play at their own level you take away their opportunity to overachieve.
Its a bit like wrapping your kids up in cotton wool to protect them from the big bad world. They might be safe but they will never develop their potential.

So I say again,  Open Draw, Div 4 & 3, Winners face Div 2 teams in open draw and winners in that face Div 1 teams in open draw from their on to the final.