If we continue devalue this, it will football forever
Parsons lays it on the line but Ulster dig their heels in over reform proposals
A“The provinces
are really not fit for purpose”
NOTHER Sunday when the battle to shape the future of the All-Ireland football championship took place over the national airwaves.
Not for the first time ahead of next weekend’s Special Congress, Ulster Council CEO Brian McAvoy went out to bat against the format that proposes to flip the National League from spring until summer and give counties a minimum of seven championship games.
Running the provincial championships as standalone competitions in the spring is something he simply can’t countenance, claiming ‘Proposal B’ would leave his own provincial body with an estimated financial shortfall of three quarters of a million euro and cause ‘carnage’ to the provincial championships.
‘It devalues it totally. An Ulster championship in name. Played not in the summer months but in February or March, the height of winter in front of much lower crowds. We’ve done our own figures. We would stand to lose by our calculations, seven to 800,000, maybe more.’
There’s nothing like a potential shortfall of up to a million pounds to focus minds. But all week there have been claims and counter-claims over the financial benefits – or not – of a model that guarantees every county a minimum of seven championship games in high summer.
Former Meath minor manager Conor O’Donoghue claimed it could generate up to 10 million in extra revenue – and he was a member of the GAA’s own task force that drew up the options that are set to be discussed next Saturday. That claim has since been rebutted by Croke Park’s own finance department in a presentation to county treasurers on Thursday night, and the debate on RTE’s Sunday Sport yesterday was like another preview of what is to come on the floor of Congress.
Gaelic Players Association chief executive Tom Parsons issued his own strong rebuttal to McAvoy, painting a very clear and convincing picture of why the players are firmly behind change.
And he said the support went a lot deeper than just the 30 per cent of members who replied to the GPA survey, 80 per cent of whom backed the flip season model.
‘We surveyed the players and over 80 per cent of the players came back overwhelmingly in favour of Proposal B.
‘We’ve had focus groups, workshops with managers, we’ve rang every single rep or captain. So the voice of players has been heard. I’ve talked to hundreds of people who really know Gaelic football and this proposal is the right thing to do.
‘I represent 32 counties. Brian might have a slightly biased view representing Ulster and maybe protecting his province. ‘The reality is the provinces are not working. They’re not fit for purpose. You don’t have to do a deep dive to realise that… Brian mentioned that if we decouple the provinces it will devalue the provinces but if we continue this, this will devalue football forever. ‘We have enough evidence to know that our core competition in the middle of the summer needs to be our leagues.’ Proposal A looks a non-runner, requiring counties to shift provinces just to make four even groups of eight. Proposal B looks the only viable alternative. If neither gets the necessary support, the football championship will revert to a backdoor qualifier format.
As to how the vote will go next Saturday?
The smart money would suggest neither proposal has the necessary 60 per cent support required, the idea of shunting counties into other provinces as per Proposal A to make four even groups of eight being roundly criticised.
‘It’s very, very difficult to tell,’ admitted McAvoy. ‘While there may be different sides to the argument, I think there’s a lot of consensus in relation to people wanting change. I don’t think anybody is saying that the current system is perfect. So I think everyone is on that side of the argument, that there needs to be change. I think the key factor is: is this the correct change?
‘I take the view that if there is to be change, it has to be for the better. I think these changes – both proposals – are worse than the status quo. I heard one manager say yesterday, if a gun was held to my head I would probably go for B.
‘There doesn’t have to be any guns held to the head. If there isn’t consensus for any of the two motions, so be it. Democracy will carry the day.
‘But maybe let’s pause, have another look at it. Come back to next February’s Congress with a motion with cross consensus across the board and move forward from that. Bring in the new changes for 2023.’
The divide in the positions, though, was obvious in Parsons’ own warning about failing to embrace change. ‘We want Gaelic football to thrive in counties.
‘If this doesn’t happen, we will see this steady decline we’ve seen in a lot of counties. And that’s not just inter-county football. That ripples into clubs, into children playing the game.’
Also speaking on the programme was Andy Moran, the long-standing Mayo player only just ratified as the new Leitrim manager.
He acted as a kind of counterweight to both, seeing why McAvoy would defend his own patch and yet calling for a better games-based model.
‘The Ulster championship every year is a good, competitive championship. Cavan winning it last year. Monaghan a point behind Tyrone this year, eventual All-Ireland champions. Armagh coming.
‘It’s a class championship – we need to respect that. Bring them along if we’re going to get this
“The best teams
will always still come to the top”
through. For the likes of Leitrim, it would be just an amazing thing to get through.
‘For a county like Leitrim, seven championship games throughout the course of the summer. And still a provincial championship with the chance of competing in that – it would be huge for these players.
‘Over the course of seven championship matches you’ll get to use your full squad.
‘The best team will always still win. If it’s Kerry, Dublin, Mayo, Tyrone – they’ll still come to the top. But it gives the other guys a chance to rise up and get more competitive and I think that’s the most important thing.’