Our summers need a little more spring

League lessons could save the Championship from failure

‘THREE GAMES WILL ENGAGE THE FOOTBALL NATION’

IN the land of John McGahern, they should have no need for the wisdom of Andy Warhol.

And yet they could do worse than to read a pop-up book on the wit of a man who knew that there was value and sometimes truth to be found in a sound bite.

Leitrim footballers may well be living in a Warhol wonderland right now, still basking in the 15 minutes of fame which the American pop culture icon promised everyone.

The good news, though, is that it would appear that they have flipped the page to one of his lesser known slivers of wisdom.

‘They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself,’ wrote Warhol, whose interest in the Connacht Championship was ever only of the passing variety.

Having experienced his 15 minutes, Leitrim centre-back Shane Quinn was adamant in the aftermath of last Saturday’s defeat to Derry in the Division 4 final in Croke Park that he wanted more.

‘It makes you a lot hungrier for more, it really cries out to the GAA to say why isn’t there a better structure for teams like Leitrim and that to have their day in the sun.’

It is fitting that such support in Leitrim for meaningful reform exists because no county has received more patronising headpats from those who seek to maintain the status quo.

How many times has it been thrown out there that protecting the current structure is to ensure that ‘counties like Leitrim’ get a shot at the big time?

‘Remember 1994,’ they keep shouting, in the process turning what was a beacon of joy for the county into a cattle prod which will keep them in their place.

But as Quinn knows that is a dream they gave up chasing a long time ago in the knowledge, especially given the importance of size, science and spondulix in the modern era, it may never happen again.

And if it does, is it really worth sacrificing generation upon generation for chasing a once in a century possibility?

The argument for championship reform extends far beyond Leitrim.

Later this month, when the individual provincial councils launch their championships, they will continue to peddle the line that this is part of what we are. If that is the case, and particularly if you are from Leinster or Munster, the overwhelming desire should be to run to the local butcher and demand that the gangreneinfected limb is hacked off.

This is a point often made but nothing illustrates the impoverishment of the championship quite like the vibrancy of the league.

Between now and the second week in July, the chances are that we will get three games of football that will engage the nation – one of the Ulster semi-finals, almost certain to feature TyroneDonegal, along with the Ulster and Connacht finals. Okay, there will be some tribal battles which may generate heat – Cavan-Monaghan and Down-Armagh – but they are sideshows.

In terms of the contrast between League and Championship, you can actually put a number on the disparity in competition and entertainment.

In last year’s league the winning margin in games across all the four divisions ran at just over four points a game, while up until

the end the qualifiers it ran at over nine points per game in the Championship. And in the provincial Championships that figure was up to 10 points per game.

In last year’s league, three points or less separated teams in 42 per cent of the games, not far off a one in two ratio decided by a single score.

Prior to the beginning of the Super 8s the equivalent figure in the Championship was at 22 per cent – one in every five games – with the provincial Championship’s offering just five one-score games in 29 matches.

That tells us that tradition is no substitute for competition.

What all this means is that reform is on the way, but it has to be meaningful.

The real danger is that a proposal will be passed that would see lower League teams, after competing in their province and the early rounds of the qualifiers,

will make up the second tier competition. That could prove popular but it would not necessarily be good.

It has to be a competition worth winning – for example the winners should be granted a threeyear exemption from relegation in the Sam Maguire – and it has to be one that ensures that both strands of the Championship will stand alone and have competitive integrity.

And the provincial element – a structure that facilitates political power rather than a credible Championship – needs to be dismantled and replaced by a League Championship which will measure teams on their ability rather than where they are located on a map.

This time the promised reform has to work or it will become an excuse to shackle the football Championship to a failing format.

That will not happen, of course, but a format whose terms of reference would be to facilitate the ambition and the potential of every team in the land is not just a fantasy.