Here is the perfect plan to rescue dying Championship
THEY say those who do not heed the warnings do not live to realise they were stupid not to do so. If there is one legacy from this surreal season, it is surely that the GAA finally dismantle the competition structure that is currently imprisoning so many, or we risk seeing the Championship die as a relevant competition.
Indeed, for many it has already reached that point.
Another season of evident progress for Clare under Colm Collins amounted to a pile of nothing last weekend. The same as it ever was.
Donegal torched Down as predicted on a weekend of – with the exception of Offaly and Louth – hopelessly lop-sided games that did little for the victors, less for those of us who watched and nothing for those who lost.
The temptation is to howl at the moon but it would be a lot more useful if those who have the best interests of the game at heart have a quiet word in the ear of their county board officials over the next couple of months because there is a way that the Championship can not only be saved, but enhanced for all.
Three proposals are to be presented before a Special Congress this autumn, but in reality there is only one credible route the GAA can go down.
Sticking with the status quo – which is the first one – is not an option given that Nero has already proved that while you fiddle time torches everything.
The second option is for the four provinces to be broken into equal groups of eight by moving teams out of Leinster and Ulster – likely to be decided on the basis of League status – to Connacht and Munster which is designed to give the impression of equality but little else.
Rest assured that shoehorning Wicklow and Wexford into the Munster championship will not address the chronic imbalance that exists, but my fear is those who refuse to recognise how dysfunctional and unfair the provincial system is will seek to shelter behind it.
That leaves only one credible option on the agenda and it is one that excites me and a lot of other football folk, too.
It would see the seasons flipped with the provincial championships as standalone competitions played on a League basis in early spring, with single groups in Munster and Connacht, Leinster and Ulster would be split into two.
It will in effect become a preparatory competition – putting to bed forever the wearisome pre-season tournaments – but it will keep the tradition of the regional competitions alive, which is no bad thing.
But it will mean that they will no longer impact on the summer; their place taken by a league championship.
In effect, it is the League as it currently applies with the top four teams in Division 1 and the top two teams in Division 2 going straight into the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
The top teams in Division 3 and 4, will be joined by the fifth placed team in Division 1 and third-placed team in Division 2 in two preliminary quarter-finals; in effect making the play-offs a 12-team knock out championship.
And the rest of the Division 2 and 3 teams will go into the Tailteann Cup.
The beauty about this proposal is that it works on every level. The biggest flaw of the Tailteann Cup as it was originally constructed is that it effectively locked out lowertier teams from the All-Ireland series by shackling them to a provincial system in which they were destined to fail.
While only two play-off places are available under this proposal, teams are fighting on a level playing field for those slots getting seven championship games in the process and if the marketing of the second tier championship is serious and incentives are provided it can work.
The one tweak I would make is to guarantee the Tailteann Cup winners a place in the following season’s Sam Maguire, perhaps by getting them to play off against the Division 4 winners for a place in the preliminary quarter-final.
ABOVE all, it should be afforded the exposure and critically the respect – the final should be played on the same double-bill as the Sam Maguire final – to ensure that everyone gets a shot at experiencing the biggest day in Irish sport.
At the top end, it would provide the Championship with the fairness it has been crying out for; it would ensure the delivery of competitive games; it would transform the summer by bringing big games into the provinces and it would provide the GAA with a cash injection.
One of the reservations about going down this route is that it will impact in the important work provincial councils do but the extra revenue generated by the this format – and I am convinced you will see bigger crowds because people want competitive games – can be funnelled back through councils.
It would also go some way to addressing Dublin’s home advantage in the Championship.
With all play-off All-Ireland series hosted in Croke Park, Dublin could be requested to play four of their group games on the road and the colour that would bring to the provinces would transform the Championship from the sorry state it is in.
Last year, what Tipperary and Cavan achieved was hailed for its romance but it was in part due to a winter Championship but anyhow once-in-a-generation successes can no longer be justified in sustaining a format that is not working.
It is a format that is beating up great football people like Colm Collins and Billy Lee, it is side-lining great talents like Sam Mulroy and Caolan Mooney for vast swathes of the season and, most importantly, it is not allowing kids around the country to even dream they can play in a big day in Croke Park.
The ball is now in the hands of the GAA officials. If they drop it, they will not be forgiven.