New format for 2014 football championship

[Bingo]

Reported on the radio there that losers from the preliminary rounds in Leinster/Ulster would go into the Connacht/Munster championships, presumably eliminating one round of qualifers??

A bit unexpected, not sure how it would work.

See this is breaking from the FRC.

The first round of qualifiers will have 16 teams - has this changed? Must have as they say that some teams could now lose two games and still win All Ireland eg lose match in ulster, lose match in Connacht and win through qualifiers.

[Sidney]

There's a college American football match scheduled for Croke Park on Saturday August 30th.

Where does that leave the All-Ireland football semi-final that would normally be played on that weekend, given that the pitch will be a mess from the previous day?

What are the dates for the 2014 All-Irelands- the 7th/21st or 14th/28th?

Important that people know this if they're trying to get the hotels booked, otherwise you could have people booking the wrong weekend, and we wouldn't want that.

[joemamas]

There's a college American football match scheduled for Croke Park on Saturday August 30th.

Where does that leave the All-Ireland football semi-final that would normally be played on that weekend, given that the pitch will be a mess from the previous day?

What are the dates for the 2014 All-Irelands- the 7th/21st or 14th/28th?

Important that people know this if they're trying to get the hotels booked, otherwise you could have people booking the wrong weekend, and we wouldn't want that.

Semi-finals are last two Sundays in August,
August 24th Connacht champions (or whoever beats them) V Munster champions(or whoever beats them).
August 31st Ulster champions (or whoever beats them) V Leinster champions (or whoever beats them)

Q/finals which used to be held on August Bank Holiday are now played over two weekends. Sunday Aug 3rd and Saturday August 9th. Hurling semi-final is scheduled for Sunday August 10th.

[neilthemac]

Why not just put 2 more counties into Connacht and call it a West division,
Roscommon
Leitrim
London
Sligo
Galway
Mayo
Longford
Westmeath

two more into Munster and call it the South division,
Clare
Cork
Kerry
Waterford
Tipperary
Limerick
Laois
Offaly

Ulster (North) would be
Donegal
Derry
Antrim
Down
Armagh
Tyrone
Fermanagh
Monaghan

Leinster (East)
Louth
Dublin
Wicklow
Wexford
Meath
Cavan
Carlow
Kildare

(kilkenny left out)
New York would play preliminary game in Connacht

[Zulu]

Because the feeling seems to be that nobody is willing to permanently move province. I think this proposal is deemed to be more palatable because counties aren't being asked to move permanently, though I'm not sure there'll be much support either way.

[sammymaguire]

Why not just put 2 more counties into Connacht and call it a West division,
Roscommon
Leitrim
London
Sligo
Galway
Mayo
Longford
Westmeath

two more into Munster and call it the South division,
Clare
Cork
Kerry
Waterford
Tipperary
Limerick
Laois
Offaly

Ulster (North) would be
Donegal
Derry
Antrim
Down
Armagh
Tyrone
Fermanagh
Monaghan

Leinster (East)
Louth
Dublin
Wicklow
Wexford
Meath
Cavan
Carlow
Kildare

(kilkenny left out)
New York would play preliminary game in Connacht

kind of like this idea but dunno how happy Cavan would be playing in Leinster and not Ulster any longer ...

[armaghniac]

It is also proposed that the All-Ireland Club Football final be moved from the now traditional date of St Patrick's Day to a date in December, meaning the club championships would be run off in the calendar year.

As I said before this sounds good, but has some problems. You need 5 rounds minimum and 6 rounds in some provinces to get to the AI final. Replays can happen e.g. Cross v Kilcoo, so you need 10-12 weeks, so you need all county championships finished in September. This might have implications for the date of the intercounty AI final, it might also mean that many clubs would be out of the championship long before that, which might be relevant given the comments in the other thread that teams stop training after they are knocked out of the championship.

[Rossfan]

Reported on the radio there that losers from the preliminary rounds in Leinster/Ulster would go into the Connacht/Munster championships, presumably eliminating one round of qualifers??

A bit unexpected, not sure how it would work.

So New York getting the boot from Connacht.
As for lumping the dross of Ulster/Leinster on top of us........ How in the name of God can it then be called a "Connacht" championship.
All we need is a Tyrone v Kildare "Connacht" Final ... What will Prenty do then?

[JBM on the 21]

Did someone mention a college football game on August 30th? Oh lord, I love college football but I can picture the hurling final a week later with number and hash markers all over the field.

[From the Bunker]

Reported on the radio there that losers from the preliminary rounds in Leinster/Ulster would go into the Connacht/Munster championships, presumably eliminating one round of qualifers??

A bit unexpected, not sure how it would work.

So New York getting the boot from Connacht.
As for lumping the dross of Ulster/Leinster on top of us........ How in the name of God can it then be called a "Connacht" championship.
All we need is a Tyrone v Kildare "Connacht" Final ... What will Prenty do then?

Have a bumper final in McHale Park! Jez, this would solve loads of problems?

[Rossfan]

I've been reading the report and cannot see why they need to do this inter Province transfer of the 4 prel round losers.
All their other less than radical proposals can still apply without the need for this nonsense.
The (real) Provincial Qtr Finals can still be played over two successive weekends while the prel losers can get on with their club competitions as they await their Qualifier game.
Getting County Senior/Inter championships advanced to Semi final stage by August weekend is an excellent idea ( but what about the Semi Pro Yankee stuff?).
For all you traditionalists out there they propose keeping the Railway Cup and just to balance that for ye they also propose keeping the Intl Rules.

[armaghniac]

I've been reading the report and cannot see why they need to do this inter Province transfer of the 4 prel round losers.

It makes the Munster and Connacht championships less of a joke.

[Sidney]

Semi-finals are last two Sundays in August,
August 24th Connacht champions (or whoever beats them) V Munster champions(or whoever beats them).
August 31st Ulster champions (or whoever beats them) V Leinster champions (or whoever beats them)

Q/finals which used to be held on August Bank Holiday are now played over two weekends. Sunday Aug 3rd and Saturday August 9th. Hurling semi-final is scheduled for Sunday August 10th.

Presumably that means that there will be massive "Penn State" and "University of Central Florida" logos on the 21 at each end for the football semi-final on the 31st?

[Shamrock Shore]

Fantastic

Could this mean I could look forward to three summer defeats 

[SHEEDY]

Why not just put 2 more counties into Connacht and call it a West division,
Roscommon
Leitrim
London
Sligo
Galway
Mayo
Longford
Westmeath

two more into Munster and call it the South division,
Clare
Cork
Kerry
Waterford
Tipperary
Limerick
Laois
Offaly

Ulster (North) would be
Donegal
Derry
Antrim
Down
Armagh
Tyrone
Fermanagh
Monaghan

Leinster (East)
Louth
Dublin
Wicklow
Wexford
Meath
Cavan
Carlow
Kildare

(kilkenny left out)
New York would play preliminary game in Connacht

this is a lot fairer than the unbalanced set up we currently have. something along these lines should be examined.