Make the NHL meaningful by merging it with Championship
NO MATTER how hurling appetites are whetted by last year’s Championship, the Allianz Hurling League which starts this weekend takes some selling.
Hurling in the month of January does not have the right feel to it anyhow, but with the spring League now playing second fiddle to the allconsuming provincial summer leagues, there is a sense that it is very aware of its place in the game’s food chain.
Worse still, because the League format is being revamped next year, relegation will not be in play this term. Avoiding the drop seemed to be the only thing that truly exercised the top-tier teams, so it makes you wonder what is the point.
On the basis that there is no future for two different league competitions – one of which only really matters – played off within a couple of months of each other, the argument for merging League and Championship grows every stronger.
Instead of Munster and Leinster playing a four-round league, expand it to eight rounds – home and away – which would provide every county with a minimum of four home Championship games.
It is doable, although not under the current schedule. However, if the GAA deliver, as director general Tom Ryan has suggested, on a ‘blank canvas’ review of its schedule, it could work.
If that review is to work, it has to take a holistic approach, looking at competition structures as well as dates.
And an all-in-one leaguechampionship would make for fewer games, but a lot more of them would actually matter than they do at present.