BROD AND NARROW

Carlow star raps small-minded thinking behind two-tier Championship proposals

CARLOW star Paul Broderick feels that those pushing for a second tier competition simply want to usher counties like his out of the way.

Creating a two-tier football Championship system is a hobby horse of GAA president John Horan (inset), while a GPA survey last week revealed that 60 per cent of inter-county footballers polled are now in favour of such a structure.

It was a somewhat surprising outcome, though details on just how many players from counties in Division Three and Division Four are supportive weren’t published.

Although Emlyn Mulligan (Leitrim) and Michael Quinn (Longford) have recently spoken in favour of it, anecdotal evidence suggests most players from lower ranking counties aren’t in favour. Broderick is among them, and he says most of his county teammates feel the same, outlining how they crave more days like their famous win over Kildare this year, which helped Broderick earn an All Star nomination.

He said: “If you asked me would I like to play in a second tier championship, the answer would be no.

“But if you asked me do I think we’re going to win the All-ireland in the ‘A’, the answer is no as well.

“People ask questions: ‘Would you not prefer to be in something that you think you could realistically win?’.

“I know it’s one in 65 years, but what the likes of Carlow beating Kildare has done for Carlow football, we mightn’t reap the rewards of what that has done (if things change).

“I know from talking to a good friend of mine, Sean Gannon, who works for Carlow GAA, the academies are full, the Cul Camps are full.

“No disrespect to the teams who we’d be playing – we’re one of those who would be playing in a second tier – but they’re not going to garner the same respect and enthusiasm from the public in Carlow, I don’t think anyway.

“It’s hard to know without trialling something like this, but it was trialled before and it didn’t work. For what reasons, I’m not really sure.

“At the moment I wouldn’t be in favour of it. Not the way it’s currently put forward anyway.”

Many of the advocates for a two-tier system hail from stronger counties that are never likely to have to partake in a secondary competition and it was put to Broderick that, quite often, they just don’t get it.

He replied: “The best guiding light for anything is probably experience. And having experienced the very bottom rung of Division Four and losing heavily to teams for years, there’s no experience like that to let you know where you are.

“I know most of the lads in our panel would be against a ‘B’ Championship.

“And I think that maybe, yeah, it is a lack of experience of being down there, to know what it feels like.

“It feels like you’re maybe being ushered off to make way for those greater teams on the greater stage.

“It takes away that chance of that day that we had against Kildare. But, yeah, you probably are right on that one.”