Super 8s

[seafoid]

The hurling has the right system. Round robin at the beginning followed by straight knock out games.

The football has this bolted on round robin system at the latter end of the championship.

Hurling has 6-8 teams who could win and a fresh set of semi finalists
every year. Football has one Paris St Germain with a few maybes and the rest straggling
It does not have 8 teams who can compete

[Hound]

funny that when asked to change the Croke Park round to a Neutral round for Year 2, they said: Can't do that, it's a 3 year trial and can't make any changes before then.

When asked to change the first round of Super 8 from the Croke Park round to the Provincial Winners at home round they said: Yep, no problem.

Not sure whether there's any hope of changing the Croke Park round to a neutral round next year, but they should also make the change that if 2 teams from the same group win in Week 1, then they should play each other in Week 2. Will mean that the group will definitely be alive for Week 3.

[Rossfan]

if 2 teams from the same group win in Week 1, then they should play each other in Week 2. Will mean that the group will definitely be alive for Week 3.

That makes sense.

[Redhand Santa]

Time to scrap this league format in the middle of a championship. Was never a fan to begin with but it's even worse than I thought no matter how hard the media tries to hype the games up.

I think people want to give out about these games no matter what. There has been a lot of good football played over the last few weeks and more entertainment than the quarter finals provided in a lot of the years previously. Yes there will be some dead rubber games in the last round under the format but there is more good games than previously to make up for it. Kerry Donegal yesterday was a brilliant match and although Cork and Meath haven't caused any upsets they have competed a lot better than was expected of them. Set up nicely for a great finish in Castlebar in two weeks time.

[Tubberman]

Super 8s need to be restructured or scrapped. The scheduling is terrible - teams coming through qualifiers playing up to 5 weeks in a row (not allowing for replays), then the semi-final is the weekend following the last round. There should be at least a week off before the semi-final.
It's also unfair and demeaning that provincial champions like Roscommon, who had to beat two Div 1 sides away from home to win their province, can end their season having to play out a meaningless game in Pairc Ui Rinn.
At this stage, I'd favour the knock-out QFs in a provincial ground.

[RedHand88]

Move the QFs to Clones, portlaoise, Salthill, Killarney etc. I am sick to the back teeth of double headers infront of a quarter full croke park with zero atmosphere. It makes the sport look so bad.

[Redhand Santa]

Super 8s need to be restructured or scrapped. The scheduling is terrible - teams coming through qualifiers playing up to 5 weeks in a row (not allowing for replays), then the semi-final is the weekend following the last round. There should be at least a week off before the semi-final.
It's also unfair and demeaning that provincial champions like Roscommon, who had to beat two Div 1 sides away from home to win their province, can end their season having to play out a meaningless game in Pairc Ui Rinn.
At this stage, I'd favour the knock-out QFs in a provincial ground.

The format this year actually probably gave Roscommon a better chance of making a semi final than the old format. The key game in the group for them was against Tyrone and they got it as a home match as opposed to Croke Park. They then got a second chance that they wouldn't previously have gotten. Unfortunately it was against the Dubs but their dominance is more of an issue than the format.

Dublin should not be getting two games in Croke Park though, that bit is a farce. Croke Park was the right venue for yesterdays double header but there was a poor crowd in on Saturday. Though no matter where Tyrone Cork was played it would have been a poor crowd (Portlaois was empty for the second half of the game last year with no atmosphere) and Croke Park was fairly neutral distance wise.

I think people are forgetting that there was regularly quarter final double headers with poor crowds depending on the pairings and there was regular hammerings. There have been big winning margins in this years super 8s but most games have been very competitive right up until the last 10 minutes. And the football on offer has been much more attacking than a few years back.

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/dublin-flex-muscle-to-guide-roscommon-towards-exit-door-1.3963065
"Has the GAA spawned a monster? It's a question will become more pressing as Dublin's unbeaten streak continues.

Just over a decade ago, Dublin and Tyrone drew a crowd of 81,000 for a league game which marked the first game under floodlights at Croke Park. Both counties featured here in an All-Ireland quarter final series which attracted just 36,000. Those figures aren't encouraging and deepen the conviction that if this Super 8s concept is to become permanent, the games need to be held in more compact grounds"

Revenues will kill Dub funding

[BennyCake]

Tyrone have played 5 weeks in a row. Fans would have had to travel to Longford, Kildare, Clones, Roscommon and then Dublin. That's a lot of expense to put on fans. Plus ticket prices are too high.

Expecting fans to travel 5 weeks in a row (plus 2 more in the next 2 weeks) is taking the piss.

[Rudi]

Agree with the above, Tyrone supporters can't just jump on the 46a to make a game. Dublin  need to be taken out of Croke Park, they also need to be split in 4.

[Rossfan]

Agree with you Benny
These new tighter schedules (and expanded Quarter  Finals) were bound to impact on people's pockets and attendances.
Mind you if  the proposed Tier 2 comes in Tyrone will only have 2 Qualifier Rounds to play next year......

[TheGreatest]

Agree. I was there on Saturday and it was a poor attendence, at half time of the Dublin match a lot of the neutrals left, big gaps in the stands.

The concept of the Super 8s is good, We we need to introduce back the QF Knockouts.

Provional winners straight to QF, Qualifier route put into groups, top 2 each group plays the quarters against the provional winners.

There wont be 500 people at Cork V Roscommon.

[From the Bunker]

Why is this game being played?

[Rudi]

Why is this game being played?

Valid Question.

[RedHand88]

Why is this game being played?

I really pity the two squads for having to delay holidays for another two weeks for a nothing game. Are the two club leagues going to be back in operation now or are they delayed?