Are the provincial Championships totally meaningless now?

[GaillimhIarthair]

Here are the winners in connacht the past 7 years  4 different counties have won it and leitrim have put up good performanances as well so  you could say that its fairly competetive

2000: Galway 
2001: Roscommon
2002: Galway
2003: Galway
2004: Mayo
2005: Galway
2006: Mayo
2007: Sligo

Just fixed that there for you Deel; you were missing one 

[the Deel Rover]

Here are the winners in connacht the past 7 years  4 different counties have won it and leitrim have put up good performanances as well so  you could say that its fairly competetive

2000: Galway 
2001: Roscommon
2002: Galway
2003: Galway
2004: Mayo
2005: Galway
2006: Mayo
2007: Sligo

Just fixed that there for you Deel; you were missing one 

thanks for that Gi there really was no need 

[Maguire01]

I've pasted a section of my reply to the 'Division 1' thread here as i think it's appropriate:

Munster - Yes, admittedly a disaster
Connacht - All 5 teams have won the provincial championship in the past 15 years, 4 of them in the last 10 years.
Leinster - 6 different winners since 2007
Ulster - Yes, 2 team in the last 9 years, but 7 of the 9 counties have won in the last 20 years - these things come in cycles and Tyrone and Armagh won't stay at the top forever

Interestingly, i've seen some of the calls to abandon the provincial championships coming from Armagh people. Give it 10 years and the people of Armagh might be very content with an Ulster title. People have very short memories once they get a bit of success.

[AZOffaly]

I presume thats 6 different winners since 1997 or something Maguire? (For Leinster)

2007 Dublin
2006 Dublin
2005 Dublin
2004 Westmeath
2003 Laois
2002 Dublin
2001 Meath
2000 Kildare
1999 Meath
1998 Kildare
1997 Offaly

[Maguire01]

That would be correct.  Good spot.

[thehulk!!]

they are a complete waste of time especially when you think the dubs get all games at home for the whole year, guarnteed- its a joke

[Zulu]

I've pasted a section of my reply to the 'Division 1' thread here as i think it's appropriate:


Quote
Munster - Yes, admittedly a disaster
Connacht - All 5 teams have won the provincial championship in the past 15 years, 4 of them in the last 10 years.
Leinster - 6 different winners since 2007
Ulster - Yes, 2 team in the last 9 years, but 7 of the 9 counties have won in the last 20 years - these things come in cycles and Tyrone and Armagh won't stay at the top forever
Interestingly, i've seen some of the calls to abandon the provincial championships coming from Armagh people. Give it 10 years and the people of Armagh might be very content with an Ulster title. People have very short memories once they get a bit of success.

Yes there has been a few different provincial winners in the past 10 years but is that reason enough for maintaining the provincial championships? As they say statistics can prove anything, if you look at it over a 30 year period then most counties have had little to shout about through the provincial format. As i've already said it isn't that the current system has nothing to recommend it but is it the best, most exciting and fairest format? In my opinion it is not.

[screenexile]

Have 2 leagues... a provincial league and an All Ireland Championships!

Provincial League is run off at the start of the year over 6/7 weeks. 2 games a week in each province (most Counties have lights now). Ulster each team plays eachother once, Leinster each team plays eachother once and in Connaught/Munster teams play twice. BOOM!

Provincial League gains you entry into the All Ireland league... 3 from Munster, 5 From Ulster, 5 From Leinster and 3 from Connaught.

The rest go into an All Ireland B League! Run both All Ireland competitions off at same time, all games on every weekend up to the Q/F, 2 weeks between Q/F and S/F, 3 weeks between S/F and Final. 9 Weeks! There's a max of 18 Weeks to run off all competitions. Plenty of time for club and plenty of time for an off season!

Of course it's never going to work and it might not even be manageable but really with the introduction of floodlights into most County Grounds now there is no reason why you couldn't have a match within a province on during a weeknight!!! It still maintains the Provincial Championship (league) and gives every team a decent season and something meaningful to play for at the end of it. Maybe work an incentive in where the team who wins the All Ireland B one year has automatic entry into the A the following year or something. Just something to think about I guess. Anyone got any other wacky ideas?

[screenexile]

Oh also meant to mention that for the Provincial league the provinces where teams play eachother twice should be home and away. Where teams play once all games should be at a neutral venue between the two teams within the same province.

For the All Ireland series games should be fixed for neutral venues for all games!

This will annoy the Dubs who will have to travel but fcuk them... it's not like Croker has done them many favours this last 25 odd years!

[Rossfan]

My suggestion -

Shorten the NFL by dividing the Divisions into 2 groups of 4. Play 3 group games early Feb to mid March and play finals last sunday in March. There are at present 124 games in the NFL and would the total attendances reach 300,000? My proposal would have only 56 games  which is enough of low crowd games.
April to late May play the Provincials - extra time where games finish level.
4 Provincial Champions head 4 groups in Tier one Championship, 4 Provincial Finalists as "second seeds"and then 8 next best teams drawn among the groups. Teams status decided by stage reached in last years Championship( so many points to All Irl Champions,finalists Semi Finalists etc.)
After year 1 the winners of Tier 2 play in the following years Tier one by right.
Four groups of 4 also in Tier 2.
Games played 3 weeks apart to allow for Club games to run also with one free Sunday in three for the County players. ( e.g in 2008 1/6;22/6;13/7) Then 3 weeks to Qtr Finals(4 top teams v 4 second teams) - 3/4 Aug; 3 weeks to Semi Finals (both same weekend 1 Sat/1 Sun - 24/25 Aug. 3 weeks to Final 14 Sept.
In addition to avoid burn out - change  Minor to  U17 and U21 to U20. A player can only be on one County team, Under 17s cannot play Adult club. Play Minor U20 and Junior Inter Co Championships during Summer - same weekends as the Senior. Co Boards tell Co Managers that players have to share Summer months with clubs.

And we all live happily ever after 

[Maguire01]

Have 2 leagues... a provincial league and an All Ireland Championships!

Provincial League is run off at the start of the year over 6/7 weeks. 2 games a week in each province (most Counties have lights now). Ulster each team plays eachother once, Leinster each team plays eachother once and in Connaught/Munster teams play twice. BOOM!

Of course it's never going to work and it might not even be manageable but really with the introduction of floodlights into most County Grounds now there is no reason why you couldn't have a match within a province on during a weeknight!!! It still maintains the Provincial Championship (league) and gives every team a decent season and something meaningful to play for at the end of it. Maybe work an incentive in where the team who wins the All Ireland B one year has automatic entry into the A the following year or something. Just something to think about I guess. Anyone got any other wacky ideas?

No reason other than the fact that the players have jobs.  And that people complain enought about the hassle of Saturday night matches - midweek would rule out many who work and children, who should be in bed for school.

Oh also meant to mention that for the Provincial league the provinces where teams play eachother twice should be home and away. Where teams play once all games should be at a neutral venue between the two teams within the same province.

For the All Ireland series games should be fixed for neutral venues for all games!

This will annoy the Dubs who will have to travel but fcuk them... it's not like Croker has done them many favours this last 25 odd years!

And there goes the attendances through the floor.