Post by pony on Sept 25, 2007 8:12:35 GMT
will it come to the SFC
Champions League style hurling format ‘inevitable’
By Jim O’Sullivan
THE abandonment of the Munster hurling championship in favour of a Champions League type format is ‘inevitable,’ the Chairman of the National Hurling Development Committee Ned Quinn said yesterday.
He stated that its mass appeal would have to be balanced against the overall good of the game, specifically in relation to increasing the number of counties who have the potential to win the Liam MacCarthy Cup.
Quinn, who is Kilkenny chairman, was explaining the background to the motion from the HDC to introduce a new system next year. This will form the centre-piece of a Special Congress (confined to Central Council delegates) on Saturday in Croke Park.
If passed, it would reduce the number of ‘meaningless’ rounds — effectively preventing any team from staying in contention if they lose two games — and, by giving the provincial winners automatic passage to the All-Ireland semi-finals would also rule out quarter-finals.
Stressing that he was speaking in a personal capacity, he expressed the belief that — after 10 years of experimentation — they are in a process that ‘will inevitably lead to a Champions League-type hurling championship.’
“It’s a question of when we decide to do it,” said Quinn.
“For the moment, I don’t think anybody is going to stand up and propose abolishing the Munster championship. If you were to examine what has happened since the backdoor system was first introduced, we have modified it, changed it, moved it and we are still ending up with a somewhat inequitable system.
“It’s very hard to get what would be described as a fair system for everybody. It may be fair for some, but not everybody”
Pointing out that nobody ‘put their mind’ to how a Champions League format would operate, he said he couldn’t ever envisage one being run in tandem with the Munster championship.
“I can’t see a situation where you’d have the Munster championship on its own ‘qualifying’ to get into the All-Ireland and everybody else playing a non-provincial-based championship.
“I think we’re talking five years down the road at least before this could be considered. If you examine what has happened since we brought in the backdoor system, it’s a process that’s evolving (towards such a format). The very title would put people off, but certainly I think there’s an inevitability about it.
“It’s hard to argue against the Munster championship and it’s very easy to argue against the Leinster championship. That’s the dichotomy we are in. And then you have Galway and Antrim.
“What stopped us all in the beginning, or has prevented many of us from proposing anything outside of the Munster championship, is that it’s such a wonderful championship.
“But in the totality of developing hurling, is it the way to stay at it? It’s been there for over a hundred years and here we are — we still have just a handful of counties that are at top level.’’
The HDC was given the task of coming up with a new formula following a meeting earlier in the summer attended by Association President Nickey Brennan, Director-General Liam Mulvihill and the provincial council chairmen and secretaries, along with the Chairman of the Competitions Control Committee, Quinn and (Games Manager) Pat Daly from the hurling development committee.
“What was decided at that meeting was that there was going to be a number of changes sought to the championship,’’ Quinn explained.
“We were then asked to devise a system which would eliminate repeat games as far as possible and eliminate the qualifiers, would put a promotion and relegation system in place between the Liam MacCarthy Cup and the Christy Ring Cup. We were also asked to come up with a ‘two strikes and you’re out’ type format — and to do all that within the context of the provincial system we have.
“This is also set in the context of what (Player Welfare Manager) Pauric Duffy is trying to do for clubs, It will free up game time for club championship as counties exit the championship.
The Leinster counties voted 10/2 against the idea of Galway being invited to participate in the province, mainly because of anxieties about their strength at under-age level.
While acknowledging that eliminating quarter-finals and reducing the number of games could have a negative effect on the promotion of the game, Quinn said simply that it was difficult ‘to square the circle.’
“To reduce the number of games to facilitate the clubs and to maintain all the games we have is just impossible. There was a big demand to eliminate what was described as the ‘meaningless’ games and it’s not easy to come up with a formula that maintains everything else.’’
The National League format for 2008 will be debated at a separate meeting of the Central Council. Quinn explained that the HDC favoured a nine-team league, except that they would need 13 weekends to run it off. His own preference would be for four eight-team divisions.
“I don’t believe that any competition format will up-skill a county. A lot of work has to be done internally and I’m delighted that Nickey Brennan will be announcing a fund for the development of hurling in the ‘next’ set of counties likely to make a breakthrough.”
