Quote from: galwayman on May 04, 2024, 09:49:10 PMI love Gaelic football - I have since I can remember.
I'm in my forties now and this is the first year ever that I just can't get excited about the championship whatsoever.
The format has completely fucked it up. I honestly believe the only way forward is to get rid of the provincial championships. It won't happen because the Ulster championship is so strong & competitive. The elephant in the room is that the other three are a complete and utter pile of horse shit.
When a team would be better off losing a provincial semi final (if they were to go on and lose the final) so that they could potentially get a pot two opponent of Louth, Clare or Sligo it says it all.
Dublin & Kerry can sleepwalk into a top seed spot in a group.
It's a completely uneven playing field.
It has to change so that teams of a similar standard are playing against each other and teams such as Dublin & Kerry can't just proceed through to the business end in first gear every year.
I get that they are quality teams and would do well anyway but there's no real peril for them at the moment unlike any of the Ulster teams for example.
Even ourselves last year - once we beat Roscommon we had a handy game against Sligo to get into pot one.
A lot of the games now don't mean a huge pile.
It's killing the football championship
Agree with what you've said ... Championship only kicks in when there is real jeopardy, what we're seeing so far is only shadow boxing. However, really looking forward to next weekend's Ulster Final and what it would mean to win it from an Armagh perspective. I think the provincials need to be played first in the season, then into the league and straight into the All Ireland Championship. Would the Ulster mean any less if detached from the All Ireland, with the correct marketing and stage management, probably not, but the earlier time of year with say an Ulster Final in March doesn't exactly sound glamorous. However, agreed, change is needed, the current structures don't work ... in Jarlath we trust.