Football championship proposal document - updated document

[givehimaball]

The GAA has released a more detailed document outlining proposals for a new GAA Football Championship structure.

This is an expanded version of the document presented by the Director General Páraic Duffy at Croke Park on August 4 last and aims to address some of the issues raised at the time of the original publication.

Kerry and Limerick county boards have come out in favour of it, while Cork and Tipp have said they oppose it. It needs 66% approval at Congress to pass.

The figures and the graph at the end showing championship attendance from 2000 to 2016 says a lot.
To go from an average attendance of 18,670 in 2001 to 13,146 in 2016 is really shocking stuff.
I'd imagine if they accounted for the growth in population in Ireland over that time it would look even worse.
A quick Google search says the population in the republic increased by around 825,000 over that time period.
Falling attendances with increasing population.
I wonder what the fall in attendences for the provincial championships has been like over that period.

www.gaa.ie/mm/Document/GaaIe/GAANews/13/41/92/FootballRevisionProposalA4SPREADSSCpdf_English.pdf

[wayupnorth]

Completely in favour of the extra time in all matches proposal but why is Kerry supporting the appalling round robin quarter final proposal? Just when the useless League Semis disappear we get another spate of pointless games. If the GAA want to bring on the weaker counties the round robin should be in the early qualifiers as in Leinster Hurling not at the QF stage.
Incidentally I was shocked at the GAA President's recent RTE interview where he arrogantly dismissed Cork's objections to the scheme as "defiance". Is this the stamp of a democratic organisation?

[playitfair]

I think the proposal has a lot of merit. Good chance 2 best teams will be in the all-Ireland final. Gives most teams the same lead-in to crunch games.

My instinct is that provincial attendances have held up where the games are competitive. No doubt the hype around the qualifiers has well burst from its launch in 2001.

[wayupnorth]

Oct 20, 2016 12:32:55 GMT playitfair said:

I think the proposal has a lot of merit. Good chance 2 best teams will be in the all-Ireland final. Gives most teams the same lead-in to crunch games.

My instinct is that provincial attendances have held up where the games are competitive. No doubt the hype around the qualifiers has well burst from its launch in 2001.

The two best teams were in the final this year, last year and the year before without any need for a round robin. In 2013 the two best teams probably met in the semi final but the round robin probably wouldn't have made any difference there. Look. I'll be very happy to see Kerry play two more Championship games each year but I just can't see the point of it.

[kerrygold]

Its a positive development and a step in the right direction. We want to see the best teams playing each other more often in the business end window of the championship. Under the current format we are only getting 1-2 high end games every year. This year it was Kerry v Dublin and Mayo v Dublin (by 2).

At the highest level the game is now a serious product and will evolve into something very positive. While the packed defence game is a poor product when employed by lesser teams, when matted to a serious offensive game at the highest level it is very entertaining. Dublin v Mayo in the final this year is as good as it gets.

I'd imagine dropping attendance is more got to do with poor quality qualifier games and early provincial championship fare, both are often unwatchable products. It would be really exciting if the last four played each other to produce two finalists. I think the appetite would be there based on the evidence of the drawn and replayed final this year.

While I've lost my mojo for the game at the moment with the departure of Mark O'Connor I welcome this tweaking of the business end schedule as the first step in the right direction. Teams like Tipp, Fermanagh etc reaching the last eight can only benefit from this development. Hopefully it gets passed. There is far too much intercounty padding between January and June each year.