Seán Moran: Proposals for championship change worthwhile

Leaving aside the strange timing with which the GAA has chosen to spring far-reaching football championship proposals in the run-in to the biggest weekend of the season to date with a full house expected in Croke Park on Saturday for the All-Ireland quarter-finals, there is no reason why yesterday's proposal by director general Páraic Duffy shouldn't be supported when it goes to congress.

There is some irony in the fact within the last year, months of consultation on the issue of championship reform elicited nearly 20 separate proposals, which reduced to just one being sent forward by Central Council to last February’s congress.

That idea of a secondary or B championship was dead before it arrived in Carlow and was simply withdrawn without further debate. So it’s striking that within six months, a comprehensive overhaul of the later stages of the football championship should be on the table for congress.

There will be comment on the fact the provincial championships have been left untouched but commitment to them has been unwavering at nearly all levels of GAA administration.

It’s probably not a huge surprise Duffy is the author, as he was chair of the committee that 16 years ago devised the All-Ireland qualifier format, which has revolutionised the football championship.

He also produced the proposals that went before this year’s congress with the aim of creating additional space for club fixtures and combating the incidents of player burnout. In that task he was only partially successful and worthwhile ideas such as putting an end to replays and bringing forward All-Ireland finals were shot down.

That experience raises question marks over the prospect of success for the blueprint launched yesterday, which reiterates both proposals.

Watershed change doesn’t come easily within the GAA and a variety of rules will need to be addressed if the complete proposal is to be accepted. As usual those changes will require a two-thirds majority.

The problem that occurred earlier this year could be revisited with some ideas cherry picked and other discarded although the director general did say the “core proposal” was the introduction of the round-robin format at the last-eight stage of the football championship.

In itself it is a good idea in that it provides greater competition for the All-Ireland and means the quarter-finalists will each have to overcome three significant challenges to reach the semi-finals.

This addresses the complaint by Kerry and against the county's progress in the current championship – that to reach an All-Ireland semi-final involved just three matches, two against Clare and one against Tipperary, spread over 77 days.

The idea that there will be three different venues for the group matches will spread fixtures around the country and as the director general notes, provide additional use for the many stadia that have been built with the GAA’s assistance.

Another positive aspect of the reform would be that it would make the experience more fulfilling for counties who have done well to get to the last eight. This year and last year a trend of uncompetitive quarter-finals has begun to emerge and the prospect of a home match against one of the provincial champions would be an enticing one for the lower-ranked teams.

Against that it can be argued that the round-robin format probably militates against dark horse semi-finalists such as Tipperary only last week, Wexford in 2008 and Fermanagh in '04.

In the past the round-robin format has been tried in the hurling championship a decade ago and it wasn’t successful because of the predictability of the counties to emerge and also the complete dearth of interest in dead-rubber matches.

This has been countered in the current proposal with the staging of the group match between the two non-provincial winners – in many cases if not necessarily all, the likely weakest teams – on the first weekend.

Another quibble that may arise is the fact Dublin may effectively end up with two home fixtures should they reach the last eight, as the opening matches are scheduled for Croke Park as presumably would the county’s home group match.

The argument that the headquarters venue is a neutral ground for All-Ireland purposes may be undermined by Dublin using it as a declared home venue – albeit that in practical terms there would be no option and anyway the county has been using Croke Park in that capacity for its league matches for five years at this stage.

The additional burden on the fixtures schedule has been limited by proposals to play the three rounds of group matches on successive weekends, the already accepted abolition of national league Division One semi-finals and the proposal to play extra time in all championship matches.

There would however be a negative impact if for instance the core proposal is accepted and replays retained – as was been the insistence of provincial councils and counties at this year’s congress.

The proposals add up to a tightening of the championship season and a sample calendar gently suggests that the All-Ireland hurling final could be played in August and although the football decider remains fixed on the third Sunday in September the room for bringing it forward is clearly demonstrated.

Further tweaks such as the staging of the Ulster preliminary round on the same weekend as a first round would also bring the earlier part of the season forward and all told there is a definite shift towards making additional dates available to clubs at a meaningful time of the year.

Whether congress is in a mood to change its mind on a number of the above matters is by no means certain but if it doesn’t an opportunity for significant improvement will have been missed.