There is a lot of talk about splitting Dublin in two and I don't really buy into it.

Instead, how about merging county teams like the way Rugby did with club teams becoming provincial teams e.g. Irish provinces, Neath/Swansea Ospreys etc.

Before I get slammed for this, I think the option should be given and if some bordering counties wanted to do it then let them.

As an example you could have 4 teams in Munster: Kerry, Cork, Tipp/Waterford team (Ormond), Clare/ Limerick (Thomond).

Basically leave the teams who are traditionally strong alone and let the other teams merge if they wish.

I would love if there were only 20 inter county football teams and have say a Division 1 and 2 league with top team being crowned champions after the nine rounds of fixtures.

For championship have 4 groups of 5 (2 home games, 2 away games and neutral) Top two go into a straight knockout quarter finals.

There is some cracking talent in every single county that never gets a chance to shine on the biggest stage because of accident of birth. Merging counties would give these guys a better chance. Nobody enjoys watching a division 4 team getting thrashed by a division 1 team in championship.

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 06/09/2018 18:50:47    2139915

Its a good idea but i bet a lot of fans and players of the merging county teams wouldnt buy into it, distance and loyalty to there own county is a factor

PyatPree (Cork) - Posts: 376 - 06/09/2018 20:23:49    2139946

Best idea yet, there'd be less teams of poor standard. Dublin fans won't buy into the idea of 2 teams from the city and as the legend says, we're basically a province, so let's equal it all up.

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8586 - 06/09/2018 20:27:44    2139947

No appetite for it among fans or players.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11227 - 06/09/2018 20:31:22    2139948

You would merge bordering counties so it would be a regional team and avoid traveling fr Home games e.g. Tipp and Waterford, play games in Clonmel or Dungarvan, it would suit South Tipp and West Waterford where most football is played in both counties. Either venue would be convenient to the majority of Football fans in both counties.

I know fans and players wouldn't like it for historical reasons. I just find it mad that they have an appetite for an annual hammering off one of the big teams and an early championship exit.

Also I think it should be optional and not forced on counties cos I think if a couple of counties had the courage to do it and suddenly started storming up the pecking order the reluctant ones wouldn't far behind them.

I feel sorry for good Footballers in a county like Kilkenny who will never have a platform for their skills. If they merged with Laois, Laois players would dominate the starting 15 initially but at least future Kilkenny footballers would have something to aspire to other than humiliating drubbing in Division 4 every 5 years or so before the Kilkenny county board withdraws the team again.

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 06/09/2018 21:36:42    2139955

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 06/09/2018 21:38:38    2139957

Interestingly a version of this idea is used in Kerry club football. Smaller clubs come together to form divisional sides that play in the county championship, this gives players from these clubs a chance at winning a senior championship medal, which they could never hope to do with their club. Crokes are dominating at the minute but divisional teams like East Kerry and South Kerry would have had success over the years and fans do follow the team. There can be a bit of politics about how many players from each club are represented etc but generally speaking it's a great system that ensures the best players get to play in the latter stages. Of course the county game is different and I wouldn't be advocating forcing something like that on anybody but the concept makes a lot of sense.

You could probably put whole provinces together and they wouldn't beat Dublin though so I'm not sure that conversation is going to go away. I think talk of splitting them is crazy but if they continue to dominate for another couple of years I think the GAA will have a full blown crisis on their hands and who knows what might happen. It's all about money and putting bums on seats with the GAA. The attendances this year have to be a worry.

GeniusGerry (Kerry) - Posts: 2105 - 06/09/2018 22:19:11    2139977

KingdomBoy1 (Kerry) - Posts: 14092 - 06/09/2018 22:42:53    2139983

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8586 - 06/09/2018 23:30:09    2139995

PoolSturgeon (Galway) - Posts: 1902 - 07/09/2018 06:49:23    2140010

Who'd join with the likes of Louth? Meath? That'd be fun.

Kurt_Angle (Dublin) - Posts: 567 - 07/09/2018 10:22:05    2140059

lads i can see dublin actually being split in two. there will be a huge marketing drive by the GAA when they are only getting 30k to all ireland semi finals and struggling to sell out all ireland final tickets it will hit. the way it is at theminute is crazy. sure its akin to Melbourne only having one aussie rules team, in the strongest area for aussie rules, if there were only one team there they would dominate every thing. plus the GAA know that if they could get two dublin teams each with a following of 60k apiece they could generate huge revenue from dearby matches. this is all about money and big business and thats why its going to happen eventually and maybe not that far away. the GAA are addicted to money, if they see there monster they have created beginng to lose them money they will act very swiftly indeed. they may start to introduce a dublin second team into the obyrne cup and then bit by bit into the national league.

dickie10 (UK) - Posts: 685 - 07/09/2018 11:47:49    2140086

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 07/09/2018 15:30:46    2140163

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 07/09/2018 15:32:57    2140164

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 07/09/2018 15:38:12    2140166

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 07/09/2018 15:40:01    2140168

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 07/09/2018 15:42:07    2140169

Why not start with the Electoral constituencies and merge from there. I think it's important too that each team- stand alone county or merged ones- have comparable playing populations for equitable competition.

North and South Kerry could merge as Kerry. The 12 or so Dublin areas could merge into various City and County teams. Merge arrangements should be temporary allowing counties/regions to go it alone when appropriate.

Thix could be trialled in the NFL only to see how people feel.

omahant (USA) - Posts: 2570 - 08/09/2018 21:30:00    2140399

Why not start with the Electoral constituencies and merge from there. I think it's important too that each team- stand alone county or merged ones- have comparable playing populations for equitable competition.

North and South Kerry could merge as Kerry. The 12 or so Dublin areas could merge into various City and County teams. Merge arrangements should be temporary allowing counties/regions to go it alone when appropriate.

This could be trialled in the NFL only first to see how people feel.

omahant (USA) - Posts: 2570 - 08/09/2018 21:30:30    2140400

Regarding splitting Dublin. Traditionally less people played GAA sports in Dublin compared to more rural parts of the country. About 15 years ago the GAA decided that Dublin because of its huge population would be treated as a special case to promote the games and huge funds were put in on games development in Dublin to increase the numbers playing there. The money invested in Dublin was way above what would have been justified based purely on playing numbers ( I think at the time Cork had more playing numbers by a bit). The GAA as a whole bought into this as putting rivalries aside it was good for the game. Ultimately if the success of growing the GAA in Dublin continues it will be untenable to have only one intercounty team representing the boundaries of county Dublin as Dublin is a special case (ie. Population of about 1.25m) I can eventually see Dublin being split into its current administrative boundaries (ie. Fingal/South Dublin etc.). Dublin GAA will find this hard to resist if the GAA as a whole comes around to this view as they originally looked to be treated as a special case when it came to funding. There is a precedence for this in the GAA, I believe at one time the Kerry county board ordered a club in Tralee to be split into 3 separate clubs. Personally I don't think we have arrived at the moment where Dublin should be split as it is hard to say for certain if Dublin's domination of football is a golden era or the new norm. Regarding the possible amalgamation of counties. I can eventually see some counties coming to this conclusion themselves. Something along the lines of the divisional set up for junior club teams in Cork and Kerry to play in the senior club championship. This could be part if a new tiered football championship.

bdbuddah (Meath) - Posts: 1338 - 09/09/2018 12:17:44    2140462