Next weekend will be a crucial one for the GAA. In an historic departure, football championship matches will be played between teams beaten in the first round. It will be the culmination of a couple of years' agonised debate about the nature of championships and the knockout format. Second chances all around.

The critical questions are: Will it work? Will it redefine the championship?

This is, of course, a different matter to the question of whether it's a worthwhile idea.

On any objective basis, the traditional format was unsatisfactory but tradition dies hard in the GAA, at all levels. So it's important the upcoming All-Ireland qualifiers first round gets the support of teams and followers alike.

Over the last four years the hurling championship's current format has been a success despite the dilution of the knockout principle - but on its own terms. The intention was to provide more big matches and make the semi-finals more competitive. This has worked for the stronger teams but wasn't intended to do anything for weaker counties. The latter were to be accommodated in enhanced intermediate and junior intercounty championships. That these haven't been notably successful has nothing to do with the format of the senior championship.

Football's reform is wider ranging and designed to address more of the knockout format's shortcomings. As well as providing greater spectacle and excitement at the sharp end of the championships, the qualifiers are designed to give additional matches to all counties involved. We will shortly find out how much they all want this facility.

There are two distinct groups affected by the losers' rounds. Emerging teams whose progress is stopped dead by championship defeat will benefit from extra matches and extra time spent together. This was a point made by Ger Heavin last week when he spoke about the new format prior to Westmeath's narrow defeat by Meath.

"You train to play football not just one match in the summer. When you lose or play badly, you can't wait to get out and play again and eradicate the bad display. Before you sometimes didn't get that chance for another year. This is a great idea."

Westmeath are one of the teams particularly suited by the qualifiers. A developing side beginning to make a mark at the top level, they would have been harshly treated had their progress been arrested for a year just because they lost to one of the most formidable and experienced outfits in the championship.

Some sides learn a lot from a defeat, but teams in decline and teams with no interest won't benefit, as one or two extra matches won't redress their problems. In fact, it can be argued one or two extra matches won't address the wider problems of the GAA in trying to optimise its championship structures. There is a simple allure about straightforward sudden death. When shock results occur, part of the celebration is for the victory and part for the departure of the more fancied team. Most sports have a knockout competition but few make it the centrepiece of an annual programme.

This is easily explained in the case of professional sports because they need the revenue generated by a long-running competition. The evolution of sports universally tends to professionalism or semiprofessionalism. In the GAA context this is complicated by how such an evolution might be funded.

There is no agitation for the abolition of amateur status but the pressures on players are leading inexorably in that direction. One county team in the lead-up to the championship trained for 49 days out of 50. Between weight-training, practice and challenge matches, demands can extend to six days or nights a week. This obliteration of social life and intrusion into work is not compatible with any reasonable theory of amateur sport. Either the demands recede or players will be compensated, at least to some extent. Back from that digression, the the games will have to be better served by championship structures. There's no need to rehash the marketing and promotional arguments for expanding the match schedules but they are very strong. The qualifier series takes the initial steps in this direction but it doesn't represent the end of the journey.

Last year's Football Development Committee proposals were the catalyst for the current system, although it in a considerably watered-down version. It may also fall between the two stools of knockout and league formats in that it dilutes the adrenalin rush of the former without adding the extended benefits of the latter. It's by no means certain all teams will approach the second chance with appropriate enthusiasm. Already there are indications that provincial championship defeat has thoroughly distracted some teams' preparations in a way that wouldn't happen if all counties had a guaranteed schedule of league matches.

Ultimately, the championship will have to have a league format if players and supporters are to be properly accommodated. Such a structure can't - as the FDC was obliged to do last year - be required to prop up the provincial championships. It must provide a series of competitive matches. This also means a hierarchical structure with weaker teams competing at a different level to ensure competitiveness.

Saturday's matches should be wished well and decently supported and the qualifiers will have an impact on this year's championship. This is all welcome but it's unlikely the format won't have moved on in five or 10 years. In the meantime, seconds out - round one.

e-mail: smoran@irish-times.ie