Whatever the precise outcome of this afternoon's special congress in Dublin, the overwhelming likelihood is that next summer's senior football championships will be radically overhauled. Motions six and seven on the clar, proposing the adoption of the report of the Inter-county Fixtures Work Group, are likely to be passed in substance.

This provides for a parallel, open-draw competition in football for all teams eliminated up as far as the provincial finals. It also provides for All-Ireland quarterfinals in which the last four in the new structure go into a draw with the provincial champions.

Increasingly the question is whether the change will be adopted as a permanent rule or for an experimental period, as proposed in motions from Clare and Roscommon. To an extent the difference is inconsequential. If the proposals are adopted as a rule change, they will require a two-thirds majority and will be harder to change or tweak; but should the idea prove a disaster, making the necessary alterations will still be possible.

It is, however, possible to have sympathy with Noel Walsh's reservations about the whole process. As chairman of the old Football Development Committee (FDC) which produced radical proposals for reforming the championship, Walsh is obviously an interested party, but his comments about the different levels of scrutiny accorded his plan and the current report are valid.

The FDC proposals sparked heated discussion in the months before last April's annual congress. The FDC scheme for amalgamating the league and championship while retaining the provincial competitions didn't secure the backing of delegates and was referred to a special congress in the autumn. Should motions six and seven fail, the FDC scheme will be debated.

"One might argue that our proposals were over-discussed," Walsh suggests. "The time of the year suited that. These current plans only came out in August and there doesn't seem to have been time for proper debate. My own county, Clare, never got them and had to decide on the basis of what was read in the newspapers.

"The danger with this is that congress has been softened up by our proposals and the new plan now goes before a special congress (only half a congress in effect, because counties may send only five rather than 10 delegates) and with little chance for counties to consider it. They've been underexposed, as media attention and everyone else's has been on the All-Irelands."

It does appear that the debate generated by the FDC has convinced nearly everyone that the current championship format is unsustainable, guaranteeing as it does that half the counties competing will have only one match. But Walsh is correct in drawing attention to the low level of discussion which has surrounded the work group's proposals.

Other motions relating to the football championship which were held over from last April's congress are to be taken, although if the work group report is accepted, these will automatically fall.

Cork's proposal for the introduction of preliminary pools in the championship and a calendar year in the league has been withdrawn as the latter is contained within the work group's proposals. The preliminary pool format - used in Leinster this year - is proposed by Sligo.

The remaining motion is from Mayo club Ballyhaunis and proposes the introduction of All-Ireland quarter-finals along the lines of the most recent hurling championship, with defeated provincial finalists going back into the draw.

The long-awaited GAA Anti-Doping Code is also up for approval. The code adopts the provisions of the International Olympic Committee and will be incorporated into the GAA's official guide.

A motion to introduce "blood substitutes" has also been tabled. This procedure would bring the GAA into line with other sports which allow temporary replacements for players who need medical attention for cuts.

The Gaelic Players Association has announced that it favours the acceptance of motions six and seven, although it prefers the FDC proposals which are also on this afternoon's clar but unlikely to gain acceptance. Polls early in the year showed 95 per cent of players supporting the FDC scheme.