League semi-finals to be restored in 2012 to beef up interest

GAELIC GAMES:THE GAA is set to restore the semi-finals of both the National Football and Hurling League in Division One and also do away with the five-year directive on the changing of playing rules.

Both decisions were agreed at Saturday’s Central Council meeting in Croke Park, although they will now involve the drafting of motions for Congress next April for final approval.

However, both proposals are likely to receive sufficient backing – and particularly the reinstating of the semi-finals in the league, as the competition has struggled to maintain its profile and interest in recent seasons.

It would also be the 2012 season before the semi-finals are returned, as the format for next year’s competition is already agreed – and likewise the amendment to the five-year directive on the changing of playing rules, as any such rule changes would only be able to come before the 2012 Congress, at the earliest.

“Both these decisions will now require the drafting of motions for Congress next April,” said GAA press officer Alan Milton, “because they do involve a rule change of some form or another. But these two matters have been quite widely discussed recently, and there certainly are merits for bringing them to the floor at Congress.”

Indeed in recent seasons the National Leagues have earned a reputation as competitions that begin with a bang and end with a whimper – and the lack of semi-finals certainly hasn’t helped. They were last played in the National Football League in 2007 and in the National Hurling League a year later, and since then the latter stages of both competitions have been hampered by inevitability.

As things stand, the top two counties in each division qualify directly for their respective finals. Earlier this year, the National Hurling League concluded with the quite farcical situation whereby Cork and Galway played each other in the final round, already knowing they’d both meet in the final. Inevitably, both counties fielded shadow teams and the game attracted only several hundred spectators.

Likewise, the final round games involving Offaly against Tipperary and Kilkenny against Waterford were similarly irrelevant, as neither team could reach the final, while all four were safe from relegation. In fact the only meaningful game in the end was the relegation clash between Limerick and Dublin, which turned out to be a comfortable win for Dublin.

The climax of the 2010 National Football League also saw Cork assured of a final place before their last game in Division One, against Mayo, while Mayo needed to beat them to make the final – which they duly did, before losing out heavily to Cork in the final rematch, just two weeks later.

However, the semi-finals would only be returned in Division One, with the other divisions continuing the format whereby the finalists are decided at the end of the various rounds. “As agreed on Saturday the semi-finals in the league would only be brought back in Division One, in football and hurling,” explained Milton. “But again they are only coming as motions, and whether anything comes of them remains to be seen.”

The five-year directive on the changing of playing rules has come in for heavy criticism recently, particularly after Congress earlier this year, where the majority of experimental playing rules narrowly failed to gain sufficient support, and under rule, couldn’t be revisited again in any form until 2015.

“Right now the issue of playing rules can only be revisited every five years,” explained Milton. “Again that restriction has been widely discussed, and there is a view out there questioning the requirement for such a restriction.

“Especially one of five years, especially when you think about the time span involved. I think that was crystallised last year in the experimental playing rules that were introduced, and the fact that people did see some merit in them, and yet most of which were voted down. As things are they can’t be revisited again for another five years.”

Obviously there is no guarantee this five-year directive will be changed. However, it’s hard to see the reinstating of league semi-finals not gaining sufficient support. In football, they were last played in 2007, when Donegal beat Kildare, and Mayo beat Galway – before Donegal went on to win the title.

The semi-finals were then scrapped, essentially to create something of a window between the end of the league and the start of the championship. Instead this decision seemed to undermine further the status of the league, while also resulting in a notable loss of revenue.

This year, for example, had semi-finals applied in Division One of the National Football League, Mayo would have played Kerry, and Cork would have played Dublin – two high-profile games to further whet the appetite for the championship.

Central Council also confirmed on Saturday that the permanent agreement between the GPA and the GAA would be finalised in coming weeks.