How do the ladies do it?

[mylestheslasher]

With all the talk about the proper set up of the GAA, does anyone know who the ladies GAA arrange things? As far as I know the counties are split into Junior, Intermediate and Senior. Obviously one teams in the Senior have a chance to win the big one. They also seem to have provincial finals too. I watched Cavan win the intermediate final 2 years ago and there was great excitement. If the ladies can make it  work maybe there is something to be learned from how they do it?

[From the Bunker]

Yeah, it's the simple solution. You see the problem is attendances. Small crowds go to Ladies football. The biggest gate they get is the All Ireland Finals day in Croke park and there are 6 counties involved that day. If the GAA had level 2 and possibly level 3 competitions the crowds would be poor.


Look all these things are about Marketing. If you have a tier 2 All Ireland, you need to market it as a All Ireland worth winning. There has to be an incentive, like a quarter final place and at least two years in the top tier competition.

The biggest stumbling block is that there is not a hunger for such competition, among players, supporters or the administrators.

There will be a lot of talk about this the next couple of weeks. Once all the driftwood clear from the championship and the bigger teams get to meet each other it will be forgotten about again for another year. All that will be remembered will be the Big games at the end of the year.

[manfromdelmonte]

Definitely the league and championship have to be linked somehow.

[Zulu]

The biggest stumbling block is that there is not a hunger for such competition, among players, supporters or the administrators.

I disagree, there most certainly is hunger for change amongst players, supporters and administrators. It might not be at tipping point yet but disillusionment with the current structure is growing, how can it not? Anyone happy with the current structure is anti-football in my view as it is clearly harming the game.

[From the Bunker]

The biggest stumbling block is that there is not a hunger for such competition, among players, supporters or the administrators.

I disagree, there most certainly is hunger for change amongst players, supporters and administrators. It might not be at tipping point yet but disillusionment with the current structure is growing, how can it not? Anyone happy with the current structure is anti-football in my view as it is clearly harming the game.

Is there a Hunger? I have a lot of inlaws from counties in the Mid-lands (Westmeath, Longford, Cavan) and I've often brought this up with them. They fog it off always! Cavan inlaws see it as an insult to even bring it up! And probably rightly so they are a proud tradition football county. I suppose the big problem with setting up a second tier competition. Is where do you draw the line? Is it initially based on being in Division 3 and 4?

[Zulu]

I wouldn't suggest a second tier competition, I think all counties have to be in the race for Sam but I'd get rid of the provincials and link the league to the championship. That way most of your games are against suitable opposition and you have a realistic and structured path to the top of the game if you're good enough.

[From the Bunker]

I wouldn't suggest a second tier competition, I think all counties have to be in the race for Sam but I'd get rid of the provincials and link the league to the championship. That way most of your games are against suitable opposition and you have a realistic and structured path to the top of the game if you're good enough.

Would you get rid of the Provincials? I know here in Connacht, all five (plus the extra two) would like to win the Nestor Cup. Every County in Ulster wants the Anglo Celt and bar Donegal would see it as a good season. Guess its the same in Leinster bar Dublin. Provincials are not the problem. Are they?

[Zulu]

I think they are the only real problem. I've no doubt many counties would like to win one but most rarely will so why retain something that offers up the same mismatches year on year, usually the same winner(s) year on year, hinders club games year on year, helps make the league meaningless year on year and ensures the first two months of the championship are largely a damp squid?

[armaghniac]

I think they are the only real problem. I've no doubt many counties would like to win one but most rarely will so why retain something that offers up the same mismatches year on year, usually the same winner(s) year on year, hinders club games year on year, helps making the league meaningless year on year and ensures the first two months of the championship are largely a damp squid?

In the last 20 years, 7 Ulster counties have won the Anglo-Celt and Fermanagh were in a final that went to a replay and one kick would have done the trick. I doubt if there has even been a 27 point margin in Ulster. I think other dysfunctional provinces sort out their own affairs rather than trying to trying to wreck the whole thing.

And we are building a big stadium in Belfast that is no use for anything other than Ulster finals.

[Zulu]

The other way of looking at it is why keep a daft system because one element of it isn't working too badly? And even then most Ulster counties rarely win their province so it isn't brilliant there either.

It's nonsense to say other provinces should sort themselves out as there's nothing Leinster can do about the size of Carlow, Longford or Offaly. Likewise the Muster provincial council can do little to get hurling counties like Waterford and Limerick up to the standard of Kerry.

You'd fill it plenty if you had the Dublin, Mayo, Meath etc. going up for serious matches.

[armaghniac]

The other way of looking at it is why keep a daft system because one element of it isn't working too badly? And even then most Ulster counties rarely win their province so it isn't brilliant there either.

Rarely winning their province might not be great, abolish the province and they will win less, as AI wins will be less frequent, although once again Ulster has two thirds of the its counties win Sam.

It's nonsense to say other provinces should sort themselves out as there's nothing Leinster can do about the size of Carlow, Longford or Offaly. Likewise the Muster provincial council can do little to get hurling counties like Waterford and Limerick up to the standard of Kerry.

You could split Dublin.

You'd fill it plenty if you had the Dublin, Mayo, Meath etc. going up for serious matches.

Matches with whom, Antrim? The only crowd you;d get from Antrim would be crowd protesting about the game.

[Zulu]

They won't win less, they'll win more - division titles. They don't mean a whole lot now but with a restructuring there's no reason a divisional title can't mean a lot to teams.

Splitting Dublin will do nothing and is only an option for one province anyway.

There are plenty of options but keeping a daft system so one stadium can be filled once a year isn't much of an argument.

[Teo Lurley]

Small counties do not win provincial championships often, that means when they do win one it's very special. Taking that dream away is not the answer. It lies elsewhere.

[Zulu]

You may be right but no point saying one system is not the answer unless you have an alternative solution. Winning a provincial title is very special but is a system that delivers a special winner once every 50 years or so a system worth keeping. I don't see how you can link the league to the championship while keep the provincial championships and we have to link the league to the championship if we are serious about providing teams with a proper competitive season.

[From the Bunker]

Look it's all about Marketing and setting incentives to promote a 'B' Championship. Holiday for the winners. All-stars for that grade. Double headers with Hurling.  A designated day out in Croke Park with maybe an underage AI final. Winner Qualifies for the AI Quarter Finals. The Key is to make the games important not to lose and to look at losing a few quid initially to get it off the ground. Tommy Murphy sent out the wrong message. It said you were beaten in your Province and beaten in the qualifiers and here's a make shift tournament that offers nothing at the end and just drags out a bad season.