Super 8s

[BennyHarp]

I'm not a big fan of how this super 8 has come about and it by no means addresses or even attempts to address the big issues within the structure of the fixtures.  But now that its definitely happening and theres not much we can do about it, I for one am looking forward to the group stages to how it all pans out. The first year at least will be exciting.

[From the Bunker]

I've read here people say that the League is good? No more than that!  It's ok for a bit of tippey tappey in the Spring! Jez, Mayo have not broke a sweat in the League since 2010. Kerry don't give a sh1t until the last couple of games. Donegal and Tyrone have been relegated and promoted. And then there is the Dubs who with the biggest squad and all home games at the knock out stage have just waltzed to title after title. The League finals have been shambolic the last couple of years.

All the rest bar Cork and maybe Monaghan are temporary residents of division One.

The GAA have created a monster in DUBLIN GAA. This will not go away! The SUPER 8 will only make Dublin bigger and bigger. Until they get so big they will be like Celtic in the Scottish league (If they are not already?).

You can dress it up anyway you like!


It is said there are no other solutions to the problems. So what do the GAA do? Introduce Super 8 meaning there are more games in a smaller time frame and give teams another chance to lose and we call this a solution?

The GAA want it both ways they want the professional prices they charge for their Corporate Boxes, their Sky deals and their ticket prices. While asking more and more from Amateur players. 'Butter on both sides'

The expectation on Amateur players is so high, that many players are opting out. This will only add to it.

No Dublin games in the Championship will be played outside Croker in the Super 8 unless its a dead rubber game.

The fans will soon start voting with there feet. They have started already.

[Main Street]

Calling any part of a competition super this or super that, is sick bucket territory, akin to rugby hype (both codes). iIhope this does not mean pre game hype, nausea educing fireworks etc, ear bashing decibel level music, just because some market survey indicated that its good for the game.

"The humble little round robin series."
"The League of Counties"
"The All-Ireland Merry-go-round"
"The G(AA)8
"The 8 Balls"
"The Octagon"
"The Dead Rubber Series"
"The 8 wonder"
"Who 8 all the pies?"

The AI final        -   The Super Croke

when Mayo lose  -  The Super Choke  (sorry for that)

[vallankumous]

Why can't they play the 2 groups the same weekend - 2 games Saturday, 2 Sunday.

Everything about this points to revenue. That's the answer to almost all the questions.

[Redhand Santa]

I've read here people say that the League is good? No more than that!  It's ok for a bit of tippey tappey in the Spring! Jez, Mayo have not broke a sweat in the League since 2010. Kerry don't give a sh1t until the last couple of games. Donegal and Tyrone have been relegated and promoted. And then there is the Dubs who with the biggest squad and all home games at the knock out stage have just waltzed to title after title. The League finals have been shambolic the last couple of years.

All the rest bar Cork and maybe Monaghan are temporary residents of division One.

The GAA have created a monster in DUBLIN GAA. This will not go away! The SUPER 8 will only make Dublin bigger and bigger. Until they get so big they will be like Celtic in the Scottish league (If they are not already?).

You can dress it up anyway you like!


It is said there are no other solutions to the problems. So what do the GAA do? Introduce Super 8 meaning there are more games in a smaller time frame and give teams another chance to lose and we call this a solution?

The GAA want it both ways they want the professional prices they charge for their Corporate Boxes, their Sky deals and their ticket prices. While asking more and more from Amateur players. 'Butter on both sides'

The expectation on Amateur players is so high, that many players are opting out. This will only add to it.

No Dublin games in the Championship will be played outside Croker in the Super 8 unless its a dead rubber game.

The fans will soon start voting with there feet. They have started already.

I'm not convinced by the change particularly on club football in the counties who make the All Ireland final. For most counties there season will be over by June/July and plenty of time to play club games.

But a lot of what you are saying is very over the top. I don't see how this will make Dublin much stronger. They currently are walking Leinster and then have one game to get to the semis. The new system should in theory make it tougher for them to get through (though I'm sure they still will). I've do doubt they will play one game outside croke park and no idea why you would be so confident that they won't.

Are the Dubs any more dominant now than Kerry were in the 80's? I predict they will actually slip back a little over the next few years. They will still pick up more all Irelands but wont be dominant.

In relation to the number of games a few more actually wont do any harm. Currently county players train from December to July (8 months) and ignoring pre season comps used for experimentation only play 7 league games and 4 to 5 championship games max. Very few for the training done.

[From the Bunker]

You don't see how Dublin will get stronger from Super 8? Really?

More home games?

No disruption in relation to traveling for games.

More sponsorship?

Opportunity to have a bad game after Provincial win?

Keeps bigger squad happy with games?

[Redhand Santa]

You don't see how Dublin will get stronger from Super 8? Really?

More home games?

They currently play 100% of games on from leinster semi at home. Not sure how this will make a big difference and will actually bring them out of croke park at the business end of the season.

No disruption in relation to traveling for games.

They don't have any disruption currently and haven't for the last 100 years (bar one or two exceptions) at the business end of the season. So again not sure how super 8 will change that.


More sponsorship?

Maybe slightly more but would imagine it wont be a massive factor given its only 2 extra games.

Opportunity to have a bad game after Provincial win?

Wont this be the same for all provincial champions? Currently many people think the system is unfair the fact they don't get a second chance. Maybe it'll add more meaning to the provincial championships.

Keeps bigger squad happy with games?

It's hard to tell how strong the squad is until actually tested and I don't think there'll be much rotation for the sake of it at that stage of the year.

[Redhand Santa]

Unless they split Dublin or introduce a handicap I'm not sure there is any system that will reduce their chances of winning the All Ireland. They are strong enough that no matter what system is used they'll get to the semi's most years. After that they may be beaten by one of the top teams. I'm not sure what people want but at the end of the day the best team on average will win and should win the all Ireland.

[seafoid]

Where did the Super 8 slogan come from? Media? I assumed it wasn't an official title.

Should be Elite Eight anyway. Like March Madness

More like Dublin + the Severely Substandard Seven.

Snow blue and the 7 dwarfs

[Fuzzman]

If we apply the teams from this year's last 8 to the new set up for next season I think we come with these groups and fixtures.
Group 1   Group 2
Tyrone      Kerry
Dub          Galway
Tipp          Donegal
Clare         Mayo   

Round 1
Dub v Tyrone in Croker
Tipp v Clare in Croker

Round 2
Tyrone v Tipp in Tyrone
Dub v Clare in Croker

Round 3
Clare v Tyrone in Clare
Tipp v Dublin in Tipp

Possible Final table
Dublin
Tyrone
Tipp
Clare

Round 1
Kerry v Galway in Croker
Donegal v Mayo in Croker

Round 2
Kerry v Donegal in Kerry
Galway v Mayo in Galway

Round 3
Kerry v Mayo in Mayo
Galway v Donegal in Donegal

Possible Final table
Kerry
Mayo
Donegal
Galway

So the semis would be Kerry v Tyrone and Mayo v Dublin.

With Dublin being so dominant lately you would imagine with the new system that even if they were to lose to a provincial winner in Croker or they were to lose away from home to a big gun in the qualifiers like Mayo, Kerry or Tyrone who lost their provincial final, it would still be very likely they will come 2nd in their group and so always be making the semi final. It will only be in years where they have a Kerry, Mayo and Tyrone/Donegal in their group that they will struggle to come out of their group.
Saying that it is probably easier for teams like Tyrone, Kerry and Mayo to play the Dubs in Croker and beat them than it is for other teams to win away from home in Kerry, Mayo or Ulster.

[yellowcard]

Some proposals that Aidan O'Rourke has put up on QUB page. As a former player and manager at club and county level and as sports development officer at third level, someone like O'Rourke is in a good position to provide an input. The CPA need to produce some sort of framework that can prove workable. The perfect solution does not exist but I think most people would like to see a split club and county season. The problem will be in trying to convince the bean counters in Croke Park that the GAA needs to become a more participation focussed organisation than a spectator and commercial one. I think this is possible if the county calendar runs in the first half of the year with a greater focus on TV exposure in this period. The club championship has massive potential to be grown as well with a dedicated weekly programme for the second half of the year that keep the games going all year round. 

http://queens.gaa.ie/2017/03/01/proposed-alternative-gaa-calendar/

http://queens.gaa.ie/2017/03/01/proposed-gaa-calendar-continued/

[Captain Scarlet]

The CPA are sending an email regarding what they want their members to do and one of the things is to get involved at their clubs and go to meetings.
Now all this BS about the disconnect but if we drill into it, why is the group claiming to be all about club men not acknowledging the fact that they can't influence club delegates?
The GPA also are making noises in support of the GPA but they don't ever make any cases for their members being more available for their clubs as that would upset the county managers.

Here are two player groups who, in the case of the GPA represent 1.5% of the overall playing population, and the other only starting out who also represent the minority of the club men who think they speak for everyone.

The mechanism was there to stop Super 8 by giving the club delegate a mandate to bring it up and make noise when it was being voted on at county board level, and then in turn all the way to congress.
If a county man walked into their club meeting and lay it out their voice would be heard and some counties could have been swayed. But sure with all this disconnect the GPA members couldn't make their club meeting...

[Jinxy]

I'd love to see someone do the GAA equivalent of a TED Talk on championship structures & fixtures.
These are the issues for the club and county player, and here's how we're going to fix them.
It's a confusing mess at the moment.

[Avondhu star]

Where did the Super 8 slogan come from? Media? I assumed it wasn't an official title.

It gels in with Sky Sport Super Sunday. Ideally the All Irelands will be over by the end of August and wont interfere with the Sky Transfer Window Super Countdown.
God forbid that aDublin Kerry final would interfere with the news of Daryl Murphy transferring to Accrington Stanley or Mick McCarthys Ipswich signing Carlos Kickaball from Deportivo

[From the Bunker]

You don't see how Dublin will get stronger from Super 8? Really?

More home games?

They currently play 100% of games on from leinster semi at home. Not sure how this will make a big difference and will actually bring them out of croke park at the business end of the season.

Yes, more home games with less pressure in a league type environment!

No disruption in relation to traveling for games.

They don't have any disruption currently and haven't for the last 100 years (bar one or two exceptions) at the business end of the season. So again not sure how super 8 will change that.

While the rest of the teams are trapsing around the country week in week out. The Dubs are playing home games, sleeping in their own beds with little worry of travel itenary and so on.


More sponsorship?

Maybe slightly more but would imagine it wont be a massive factor given its only 2 extra games.

Opportunity to have a bad game after Provincial win?

Wont this be the same for all provincial champions? Currently many people think the system is unfair the fact they don't get a second chance. Maybe it'll add more meaning to the provincial championships.

Of course it will be the same for provincial Champions! But do you realise Dublin may now be beaten twice at home and still win an AI!

Keeps bigger squad happy with games?

It's hard to tell how strong the squad is until actually tested and I don't think there'll be much rotation for the sake of it at that stage of the year.

You don't have to be Einstein to realise how strong Dublins squad is. They won the O'Byrne Cup with their 'C' team!