Not a mention of the phrase ‘Champions League-style format’ in sight.
The ongoing debate about the structure of the All-Ireland Football Championship was heard far and wide again this weekend following Dublin’s inevitable hammering of Longford in the Leinster Championship.
GAA people have been making suggestions about possible solutions for yonks now (ourselves and our brothers in SportsJOE had an interesting debate about it here) and one has been doing the rounds today that was clearly hastily scribbled together but is pretty interesting all the same.
From what we can make of the 8×4 grid and the bullet points below, it will be a completely open draw with four groups of eight (similar to the National League in its current format).
The top four teams from every group will go on to compete in a 16-team All-Ireland Championship, with the bottom four teams competing for a shield of some sort.
@JOEdotie #allireland #football #format #GAA #bridgingthegap pic.twitter.com/xpGxnV74tT
— 30 Day Challenges (@3X30Club) June 1, 2015
The competition to decide the split groups of 16 teams apiece will take place in May, June and July, while the provincial championships will take place in the Spring and replace the National League as it currently stands.
Interesting though it is (all suggestions are to be welcomed after all), we think we should raise a few points.
For starters, this new system will do nothing to stop the now almost ritualistic beatings that have become a part of the Championship as the big teams will still be playing the weaker teams.
Secondly, while the number of Championship games is to be welcomed, it does seem to involve an awful lot of games (seven per county) simply to break it down to two groups of 16. Do they envisage club games being played at all?
Finally, what did New York do to offend this person?
Still, if nothing else, it’s food for thought.
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