First steps towards a two-tier football structure
IN signalling Galway’s support for the football championship reform motions at Congress on Saturday, delegate Michael Larkin added the obvious caveat that the hurling structures needed to be looked at too.
By the end there was general agreement that this would and should happen, director general Paraic Duffy saying at a subsequent press conference that they were “very open” to that happening.
We can take it that change in hurling will happen, sooner rather than later. There are already some suggestions in the public domain but more games to strike a balance with the predominance of football in July and August under the experimental format over the next three years looks an obvious starting point. That’s right, more games. When the GPA motion last year did not make the cut for Congress Duffy explained the rationale, how it hadn’t aligned with the three principles established at a meeting of Central Council the previous November.
PROTECT
“Clearly you cannot have a principle that says we want to protect the club game and then turn around and recommend a proposal that increases the number of Championship games,” he stated at the launch of his annual report in January.
Admittedly the addition of eight is very modest by comparison to the GPA’s offering produced in October 2015 that retained provincial championships and then added 48 round-robin games to dispense with just eight counties before adding two more qualifier rounds to pare down to eight quarter-finalists.
But on top of the expected increase in hurling games to repair the imbalance of 19 football versus five hurling games in the months of July and August – an All-Ireland quarter-final round-robin involving four teams would add four games, for instance – it goes against that principle of less to create more time for clubs.
The more successful dual counties with bigger club populations will really feel that difference, if it materialises.
Effectively the condensing of the inter-county season from January to the end of August hardens the prospect of different seasons for county and club. The opportunity to co-exist has been vastly reduced by these latest changes.
But whatever about your like or dislike for the concept of an All-Ireland quarter-final round-robin series, the suite of changes between this year’s Congress and last will have some lasting benefits for the club player.
Moving inter-county minor to U-17 in 2018 and retaining the prevention U-17s from playing adult football will make a real impact before the addition of extra-time to limit replays and an August end to the championships kick in.
The ‘super eights’ will have a certain curiosity value but they have the feel of a transient measure.
In the absence of any realistic alternative proposal and with a mood for change prevalent, introducing an extended All-Ireland quarter-final series was akin to nudging a tyre from a rut it had been stuck in for too long.
Several inter-county managers were canvassed for their opinions on Sunday evening and Armagh’s Kieran McGeeney probably summed it up best in tentatively welcoming “a start”.
“How much club championship is played between the middle of July and the beginning of August?” he asked. “It’s not perfect by any means but it does give the clubs more time. I think the organisation has a duty to listen to the players but they also have a duty to make sure our championship is something people want to watch.”
That some have started to vote with their feet should concern everyone.
Getting consensus from all stakeholders will be close to impossible but despite their success in getting their reform motions through, it’s something the GAA are keen to explore still.
The Club Players Association are broadly working towards a plan that involves gaps in the season to allow inter-county and club games to co-exist, the GPA’s last position guaranteed at least four games in a championship season for every county, five for all bar eight. Right now, the two bodies couldn’t be further apart.
PRECURSOR
An All-Ireland quarter-final series feels like the precursor to a two-tier championship. That idea was knocked back by players when the GPA deliberated in 2015 and again when an eight-team second tier competition was mooted at last year’s Congress.
But you only have to look at the league results and the competitive games and tight finishes involved last weekend in all divisions to appreciate that it has to be the most practical solution further down the road.
Structures alone can never bridge the gap between top and bottom counties. But the standardising of the league divisions surely points to a better system that’s there now and will be in place from 2018. That penny has to drop soon.