New format for 2014 football championship

[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.

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

Don't be so bloody cheeky
Having the dross of other Provinces will make them a proper joke FFS 

[Armaghtothebone]

Well let them go and raise the money so. If supporters care they'll dig deep.

I'm not 100% but I'm pretty sure club Tyrone thing is an example of supporters putting their money where their mouth is and seeing the rewards for it.

I mean what are ya looking at in lay man terms, 10k supporters to cough up a ton a piece towards training fund. One man job give him 50k, easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Larry,
Don't know where you are from but I love your innocence/ optimism!
10000 supporters at £100 a pop. Wonder how many counties could do that?
If accounts are true that amount would not get anywhere near what Morgan pumped into Armagh coffers, and that was in the good times!
I'd say that the number of supporters you could get to throw £100 into a county pot could be measured in hundreds at best, and odds on most are already throwing that sort of money at their own club as well, if not more.

[Jinxy]

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.

The North-South-East-West idea has merit because it maintains geographical links which are vital for maintaining interest in the early stages of the championship in particular.
With 4 trophies still up for grabs this gives a lot of teams realistic ambitions of winning some silverware.
An open draw with one trophy for the outright winner is not a model I would be in favour of.

[rodney trotter]

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 ...

A change is always good. The Cavan juniors have been playing Leinster Junior for the last 5 years.

[From the Bunker]

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

Image the effect of Antrim and Carlow transferring into Connacht after losing in their perspective provinces.  Do you think they would improve the Connacht championship?

Another dilemma would be, say Tyrone got beat in the first round of the  Ulster Championship. Not (really) caring about the Connacht Championship they experiment with a few games, resting players and lose in the Connacht final. So they are into the last 12 rested with 2 games lost in the Championship(?).

[Zulu]

This is a typical GAA solution. The real solutions wouldn't get passed so this halfway house type of thing comes before us. It simply doesn't address a lot of the issues we have and probably creates a few new ones.

[thewobbler]

This is a typical GAA solution. The real solutions wouldn't get passed so this halfway house type of thing comes before us. It simply doesn't address a lot of the issues we have and probably creates a few new ones.

Was listening to McGee on the radio on my way home thinking exactly the same thing.

I am on my arse ever going up to to Castlebar to watch Down play a Connacht QF.

Why any team would want 3 opportunities to reinforce it's not their year is simply beyond me.

[Aaron Boone]

You are transferred on league positions. Good idea but could be same teams every year in each province.

Overall positive IMO.
32 county Ireland, 4 provinces, we end up with 9, 5, 12, 6.

[fearglasmor]

Nth, Sth, East and West Divisions or conferences seem the most sensible way.
Keeps broad geographical connections and you still have 4 divisional/conference councils running their own competitions so no loss of power or esteem.

Only problem would be with the counties moving home. At least one of them would refuse to go along with it.

[Cold tea]

It is called the All-Ireland Championship - put it back the way it was.  Oh that's right think of the money the GAA would lose. 

[Rossfan]

It is called the All-Ireland Championship - put it back the way it was. 

Only 4 teams got to compete in the All Ireland Championship "the way it was". Now 32 teams do.
I see Liam O'Neill calling for the proposals raised by the FRC to be debated and they won't be going to Congress 2014.
Is that code for " This is not a runner ladeens"?

[moysider]

Is the current system so bad?

Some good local skirmishes early on and usually, more or less, the top teams are there for the quarter finals. Is this not what a competition needs?

[Zulu]

I think it's pretty poor on a number of grounds -

1. It's unfair due to uneven numbers in the provinces

2. Too many pointless games and not enough important ones, way more McKenna cup type games and league games than championship.

3. All teams don't have to play the same number of games to win an AI

4. Lacks structure, so club players haven't a clue when they're playing

There's a few more but the above is reason enough to change it.

[Armaghtothebone]

Never got the shite about the championship 'beginning in August'. The heart of the championship lays far away from Dublin.

The schedule just adds some certainty to the qualifiers and that's an excellent change, the trade-off is very much worth it.

Right or wrong, a lot of players, managers and supporters view that weekend as the beginning of the real championship.
In Connacht last year, Mayo played Galway in May, after that it was pretty obvious who the winner was going to be. Munster annual two horse race, Leinster, Dublin have won 8 out of 10. Ulster is competitive no doubt.

While there was great excitement in Clones when Monaghan won the Ulster it ( no more than Limerick hurlers) was only a sideshow once the Quarter Finals came round and is probably well forgotten by everyone outside Monaghan ....and Donegal

And in Roscommon apparently.

There's only a select few counties with enough arrogance and success to think the championship begins in August.

Would you call it arrogance?

For the  serious contenders that's when it starts.

[The Boy Wonder]

Leinster & Ulster preliminary round losers to Connacht and Munster - a very innovative idea from the FRC.

On a given year you might have Louth/Meath, Kildare/Wexford, Laois/Offaly going to Connacht (1 of the 3) or Munster (2 of the 3)
and prelim-Ulster losers,  e.g. Cavan/Fermanagh, going to Connacht too.

It would add some spice to Connacht and Munster championships. Kerry/Cork Vs Meath in Munster - bring it on !

Four provincial championships each having 8 teams - good proposal from Eugene McGee and colleagues.