When is a league not a league?

A couple of misgivings remain about the knock-out denouement to the AIB League, and not unexpectedly they reside largely in Limerick. There remains some angst in Shannon that the semi-finals and final aren't a separate competition, while the mayor of Limerick has played the populist card by appealing for next Saturday's final to be played in Thomond Park. To which this column says: bah humbug, twice over.

To take the latter complaint first, this is parochialism gone too far. C'mon Limerick, show the country what you're about and put on a show in Lansdowne Road. With the new structures, this final will henceforth be the biggest event in the club calendar and deserves the best stage. Besides, Thomond Park doesn't cut the mustard.

Sure, there might be an argument for having given Shannon some pennant or piece of silverware for their well-stuffed cupboard for finishing top the first division, in addition to their £15,000 first prize. But that's as far as it should go.

To make it a separate competition, whether it be a knock-out event for the top eight or top four, would largely have defeated the purpose of the semi-finals and final. It was the very fact that Shannon's title as champions was up for grabs at Thomond Park on Saturday which ensured such an edge to the occasion. And there will be the same edge next Saturday.

Anthony Foley admitted afterwards that when he woke up on Saturday morning he was as nervous as he had been on the morning of his international debut. Imagine: an Irish club game could have that effect. This is good. This is what we want. He would never have felt that way, there wouldn't have been 7-8,000 present, or such a full-blooded spectacle, if the knock-out stages were just a liquor.

That is what last weekend would have merely been had it been a separate competition comprised of the top eight in the first division or the top four in the top flight along with qualifiers from the lower divisions. This is the same flawed formula which has applied in the GAA National League for years and which the GAA world have bemoaned for years. You end up with a half-way house, and neither side of the event is as stimulating as it should be.

Granted, a "final" to a "league" sounds like a contradiction in terms. But strictly speaking, the AIB League isn't a league. If it were a league, it would be played on a home and away basis. Instead, there is an in-built imbalance to the league stage, especially as there was an odd number (13) of matches.

This is highly significant, especially in a "league" which saw 59 home wins to just 28 away wins (there were also four draws).

Indeed, it's worth noting that Shannon actually played eight of their 13 games at fortress Thomond Park. Of the top eight, they had to play only Garryowen and Cork Con away.

By doing their stuff in the "league" stage, Shannon rightly earned themselves a home semifinal. They thus had a second tilt at St Mary's at Thomond Park, where they have never lost to the Dublin club, as opposed to meeting them once in Templeville Road, where they have lost on their last two visits.

Garryowen also made home advantage tell in the other semi-final.

So not surprisingly, it pays to finish as high as possible, not only to the teams but also to the clubs. Aside from the £20-30,000 prize money, the home semi-finalists kept the receipts, and by a conservative estimate must have made close on £50,000 each over the weekend, not to mention corporate hospitality and bar takings. C'mon lads, you can't have it every way.

By rights anyway, it should be called a championship, and viewed in that light the semi-finals and final constitute a fair and fitting climax. Limiting it to the top four in the championship is a far more demanding criteria than the top eight.

It is to be hoped that henceforth the standards for the knock-out stages will have been set more by Saturday's semi-final (and primarily the first-half) than Sunday's. Ultimately, there needs to be a greater concentration of quality rugby and quality players in the semi-finals, and that begins with a reduced First Division.

Granted, there are now obvious concerns for the clubs. Some will only have five home AIL games next season. Given the IRFU and provinces and clubs are seemingly hell bent on this difficult provincial/club, half-way house structure then ultimately there has to be a compromise.

I'm not sure what the answer is, but it may well be something along the lines of three teams of ten divisions, and played on a home and away basis. In which case the clubs are going to have to give a little, and resign themselves to playing without their internationals on, say, international weekends.

This would also provide a bit more of a level playing field for those clubs who feel discriminated against by other clubs having their professionals paid for by the union. Additionally, it would force clubs to go beyond a cheque book policy and develop their playing pool, while rewarding those who do.

There's also a compelling argument for copying the Super-12 points scoring system of four points for a win, two for a draw and one bonus point each for scoring four tries or more in a game or when losing by seven points or less.

It would stimulate further interest, as a narrow deficit in the table would not be so insurmountable. Nor would this make quite the drastic difference one might expect. Applied to this year's table, St Mary's would have finished above Young Munster (having outscored them by 57 tries to 21 and picking up six extra bonus points in the process); Ballymena above Cork Con, Dungannon, intriguingly, above Blackrock (thereby putting them in the play-offs) and Old Crescent above Dolphin.

In the second division, conceivably Buccaneers could have gone into the last round a point above Galwegians after picking up eight bonus points to the latter's three. But then again, Galwegians scored three tries on seven occasions. Knowing Buccs' capacity for a maximum haul, how much harder would Galwegians have pushed for that fourth try in those seven games?

On the day that Cork Con were scoring the only try of the game and losing 12-11 to Shannon, they picked up the same reward (nothing) as Old Crescent were in losing 51-6 to Lansdowne. That, admittedly, was untypical of Crescent, who were the unluckiest side in losing five games by one score.

There would, of course, be flaws, such as Ballymena picking up bonus points in their dilettante 66-29 and 64-33 defeats to Garryowen and St Mary's, as well as their 19-13 defeat to Shannon (a more commendable effort).

This points system wouldn't be perfect then but it would encourage teams to score tries and be competitive over 80 minutes, and more so than the current system does.