Would you be in favour of a second tier?

[APM]

If there is a top 16 tier is there a guarantee that Dublin won't bate somebody out the gate. Croke Park better have a wee word in Jim Gavin's ear!!!!

This!!
There are not two tiers.  There are multiple tiers and there is a far greater range between 1-16 as there is from 9-24. 

Question again!! Whose agenda is a tiered championship? The media!! Some useful idiots in the GAA are buying into it. Must be nice to get your name in the Irish Independent for supporting a tiered championship. 

[trailer]

The format of this makes replying to you point difficult but I will do my best.

I know tiering will not do away with bad games. And anyone who says it will is telling lies. What it will do is minimise them.
Attendances - 5000 at Tyrone Antrim. Something similar at the Munster Championship semi finals. Tickets still available for the Dublin games.
Ok yes Dublin is a monster. You're stretching with 5 or 6 teams in Leinster.  What's the excuse in Munster. What did Kerry beat Cork by last year??
Yes it could be. If only we'd accept that the current setup isn't helping anyone. Radical change is what is needed.
Tiering helps everyone. If you want to invest in weaker counties then you need to raise money. That can only be done by offering a better product.

Easy for you to say when your own county won't be at the receiving end.

Fully agree FivePoints! Although you mightn't like what I have said above about seeding.  But at least seeding isn't the same as saying "f**k off and die" which is effectively what tiering is about - out of sight - out of mind.  How much coverage has the media given to the McDonagh Cup, the Ring Cup, Rackard Cup etc?  This isn't about an agenda for weaker counties, its about a media agenda. 

Trailer, you need to be careful in what they wish for.  Before 1986 Tyrone had never been in an AIF and only won 4 Ulsters - it is not impossible that when Mickey goes, there could be a serious readjustment that the county will struggle with.  As we have seen with Derry, Armagh, Down, Meath, Cork and Offaly, once strong counties can suffer from a serious fall from grace and in a province like Ulster, its all the more possible.

I am well aware of the success and indeed lack thereof of Tyrone football.

[BennyCake]

How old is the FA cup? You don't hear any calls for it to be scrapped. There's no way that Woking will be able to compete with Man City, yet the format never changes.

The great thing about the FA Cup is that Man Utd can draw Man City in Round 3. And the winners draw Liverpool in Round 4 (as what happened in 2012). That's two big teams gone long before the final. That's the same as Dublin and Kerry going out before the QF stage of an open draw AI championship.

THat would make for a more open competition. Granted, big teams won't always be drawn together in early rounds but it can happen. A good run to a semi or final for a Wicklow or Sligo would do more for football in those counties than any win in a B championship.

[APM]

How old is the FA cup? You don't hear any calls for it to be scrapped. There's no way that Woking will be able to compete with Man City, yet the format never changes.

The great thing about the FA Cup is that Man Utd can draw Man City in Round 3. And the winners draw Liverpool in Round 4 (as what happened in 2012). That's two big teams gone long before the final. That's the same as Dublin and Kerry going out before the QF stage of an open draw AI championship.

THat would make for a more open competition. Granted, big teams won't always be drawn together in early rounds but it can happen. A good run to a semi or final for a Wicklow or Sligo would do more for football in those counties than any win in a B championship.

In fairness, I don't think that would be acceptable if the FA Cup was the premiere competition.  It's because it is of less importance that such a situation is tolerated. 

[dublin7]

The format of this makes replying to you point difficult but I will do my best.

I know tiering will not do away with bad games. And anyone who says it will is telling lies. What it will do is minimise them.
Attendances - 5000 at Tyrone Antrim. Something similar at the Munster Championship semi finals. Tickets still available for the Dublin games.
Ok yes Dublin is a monster. You're stretching with 5 or 6 teams in Leinster.  What's the excuse in Munster. What did Kerry beat Cork by last year??
Yes it could be. If only we'd accept that the current setup isn't helping anyone. Radical change is what is needed.
Tiering helps everyone. If you want to invest in weaker counties then you need to raise money. That can only be done by offering a better product.

Easy for you to say when your own county won't be at the receiving end.

Fully agree FivePoints! Although you mightn't like what I have said above about seeding.  But at least seeding isn't the same as saying "f**k off and die" which is effectively what tiering is about - out of sight - out of mind.  How much coverage has the media given to the McDonagh Cup, the Ring Cup, Rackard Cup etc?  This isn't about an agenda for weaker counties, its about a media agenda. 

Trailer, you need to be careful in what they wish for.  Before 1986 Tyrone had never been in an AIF and only won 4 Ulsters - it is not impossible that when Mickey goes, there could be a serious readjustment that the county will struggle with.  As we have seen with Derry, Armagh, Down, Meath, Cork and Offaly, once strong counties can suffer from a serious fall from grace and in a province like Ulster, its all the more possible.

How much coverage have wicklow, carlow, waterford, wexford received in the football championship this year? Wexford will get beat by Derry next Sat and be finished with football in June for the year. They will have played more games in January than in the best months of the year June, July & August. How are counties expected to improve based on this.

The picture in the paper last weekend of the Longford footballer working as a Garda rather than play championship football is an indictment of the farcical fixtures format. He played in the league, but won't play in the championship as he has no prospect of winning a trophy and would be prevented from playing football in the US for the summer even though the county will be knocked out of the championship before the end of June.

At this stage I don't care what the GAA try, but to leave the fixtures format the way it is is the worst thing they could do.

[trailer]

How old is the FA cup? You don't hear any calls for it to be scrapped. There's no way that Woking will be able to compete with Man City, yet the format never changes.

The great thing about the FA Cup is that Man Utd can draw Man City in Round 3. And the winners draw Liverpool in Round 4 (as what happened in 2012). That's two big teams gone long before the final. That's the same as Dublin and Kerry going out before the QF stage of an open draw AI championship.

THat would make for a more open competition. Granted, big teams won't always be drawn together in early rounds but it can happen. A good run to a semi or final for a Wicklow or Sligo would do more for football in those counties than any win in a B championship.

The FA cup is on life support for fucks sake. You're supposed to be making the argument for retaining the current championship.

[dublin7]

How old is the FA cup? You don't hear any calls for it to be scrapped. There's no way that Woking will be able to compete with Man City, yet the format never changes.

The great thing about the FA Cup is that Man Utd can draw Man City in Round 3. And the winners draw Liverpool in Round 4 (as what happened in 2012). That's two big teams gone long before the final. That's the same as Dublin and Kerry going out before the QF stage of an open draw AI championship.

THat would make for a more open competition. Granted, big teams won't always be drawn together in early rounds but it can happen. A good run to a semi or final for a Wicklow or Sligo would do more for football in those counties than any win in a B championship.

You don't hear any complaints because the main competition for all the clubs is the league they play in every week against teams of similar standard. Also the top sides now only put out their second string/youngsters in the FA Cup as it's not their main interest.

It's not a coincidence that the GAA national leagues are so competitive/entertaining when you have teams of similar standards playing against each other

[BennyCake]

How old is the FA cup? You don't hear any calls for it to be scrapped. There's no way that Woking will be able to compete with Man City, yet the format never changes.

The great thing about the FA Cup is that Man Utd can draw Man City in Round 3. And the winners draw Liverpool in Round 4 (as what happened in 2012). That's two big teams gone long before the final. That's the same as Dublin and Kerry going out before the QF stage of an open draw AI championship.

THat would make for a more open competition. Granted, big teams won't always be drawn together in early rounds but it can happen. A good run to a semi or final for a Wicklow or Sligo would do more for football in those counties than any win in a B championship.

The FA cup is on life support for f**ks sake. You're supposed to be making the argument for retaining the current championship.

Yes, some teams don't take it as seriously these last few years, but that's because money is more important ie staying in the PL.

But you seen the teams that got to semi or finals over the years. If an FA cup style format was the main Gaelic Competition, everyone would take it seriously. Straight knockout, winner takes all. I'm not saying every county has the potential to win it, but they could all get good runs together.

[trailer]

How old is the FA cup? You don't hear any calls for it to be scrapped. There's no way that Woking will be able to compete with Man City, yet the format never changes.

The great thing about the FA Cup is that Man Utd can draw Man City in Round 3. And the winners draw Liverpool in Round 4 (as what happened in 2012). That's two big teams gone long before the final. That's the same as Dublin and Kerry going out before the QF stage of an open draw AI championship.

THat would make for a more open competition. Granted, big teams won't always be drawn together in early rounds but it can happen. A good run to a semi or final for a Wicklow or Sligo would do more for football in those counties than any win in a B championship.

The FA cup is on life support for f**ks sake. You're supposed to be making the argument for retaining the current championship.

Yes, some teams don't take it as seriously these last few years, but that's because money is more important ie staying in the PL.

But you seen the teams that got to semi or finals over the years. If an FA cup style format was the main Gaelic Competition, everyone would take it seriously. Straight knockout, winner takes all. I'm not saying every county has the potential to win it, but they could all get good runs together.

Go and take a lie down.

[dublin7]

How old is the FA cup? You don't hear any calls for it to be scrapped. There's no way that Woking will be able to compete with Man City, yet the format never changes.

The great thing about the FA Cup is that Man Utd can draw Man City in Round 3. And the winners draw Liverpool in Round 4 (as what happened in 2012). That's two big teams gone long before the final. That's the same as Dublin and Kerry going out before the QF stage of an open draw AI championship.

THat would make for a more open competition. Granted, big teams won't always be drawn together in early rounds but it can happen. A good run to a semi or final for a Wicklow or Sligo would do more for football in those counties than any win in a B championship.

The FA cup is on life support for f**ks sake. You're supposed to be making the argument for retaining the current championship.

Yes, some teams don't take it as seriously these last few years, but that's because money is more important ie staying in the PL.

But you seen the teams that got to semi or finals over the years. If an FA cup style format was the main Gaelic Competition, everyone would take it seriously. Straight knockout, winner takes all. I'm not saying every county has the potential to win it, but they could all get good runs together.

Players are spending more time training now than ever before and you suggest that their summer should be over after 1 game?

Players want more games in the summer not less. Good luck expecting players to train for 6/7 months for that! 

[Rossfan]

Soccer Cups are only secondary competitions.
Their Leagues are the Championships.

Now what if the GAA at an Autumn go with one of the Tier 2 Proposals currently on the table and then the Fixtures Review Committee comes up with a totally new format for the inter County Senior Football Championships?
They've been asked to come up with 3 proposals. As they've been told there are no sacred cows I expect one proposal will be to abolish the Provincials.

[trailer]

If there were more games there'd be less time for training. Everyone hates training and everyone loves games. Panel drop offs, burnout, players becoming disenfranchised could all be addressed. But some people on here want to flog players for 10 months for 2 games in the Championship. Go figure. 

One way to possibly make everyone happy is to flip the championship and the league. The league becomes the big one - Sam Maguire. Provincials a pre-season warm up. It's a quick easy fix.

[BennyCake]

How old is the FA cup? You don't hear any calls for it to be scrapped. There's no way that Woking will be able to compete with Man City, yet the format never changes.

The great thing about the FA Cup is that Man Utd can draw Man City in Round 3. And the winners draw Liverpool in Round 4 (as what happened in 2012). That's two big teams gone long before the final. That's the same as Dublin and Kerry going out before the QF stage of an open draw AI championship.

THat would make for a more open competition. Granted, big teams won't always be drawn together in early rounds but it can happen. A good run to a semi or final for a Wicklow or Sligo would do more for football in those counties than any win in a B championship.

The FA cup is on life support for f**ks sake. You're supposed to be making the argument for retaining the current championship.

Yes, some teams don't take it as seriously these last few years, but that's because money is more important ie staying in the PL.

But you seen the teams that got to semi or finals over the years. If an FA cup style format was the main Gaelic Competition, everyone would take it seriously. Straight knockout, winner takes all. I'm not saying every county has the potential to win it, but they could all get good runs together.

Players are spending more time training now than ever before and you suggest that their summer should be over after 1 game?

Players want more games in the summer not less. Good luck expecting players to train for 6/7 months for that!

Your summer being over after 1 game. Is that much worse than it being over after 2 games?

[irish345]

people would moan if it was fa cup style 1 loss and out it would be very exciting tho every game in the tournament should be as big as the final if tyrone played dublin in 1st game the tension would be great as one team knows there summer is over if they get beat.

The only other way to ensure each team gets at least two games is make the 1st round best of 3 would people not be intrested in a tyrone v dublin best of 3 series

[irish345]

Would it not also make playing for the county more of achievement if you went to  open ai draw because you could potentially be knock out in the 1st round.


Also would it boost the club game