uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 26/02/2017 11:07:11    1960861

ifindoubt (Donegal) - Posts: 133 - 26/02/2017 11:11:33    1960866

One idea could be to scrap the provincials, just have an unseeded open draw round after round until out got to a super out (with a qualifier system) So in theory you could get Dublin Vs Kerry in round 1, with one of them going into a qualifier. So you have strong teams in the qualifiers and through the regular championship, if weaker counties want to play against the better ones to develop that would be one option.

TheUsername (Dublin) - Posts: 4445 - 26/02/2017 11:19:56    1960877

ifindoubt (Donegal) - Posts: 133 - 26/02/2017 11:38:56    1960885

I really like the new format, alot more top games and makes the AI more competitive!

What now needs to be done is to compact the fixture list! By right a team should have no more than 2 wks break between matches

as_ky (Kerry) - Posts: 535 - 26/02/2017 11:47:19    1960889

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4235 - 26/02/2017 12:01:12    1960892

I'm a bit agnostic on the Super 8 - underwhelmed you could say. As there seems to be less familiar posters here, l'll peddle my idea again which puts less emphasis on the 'Super 8' and more on the 'Initial 24' - play existing two-stream structure with the following changes -

Prov Final 8 play 2 more two-chance rds, while all 24 others play 2 matches via 8 groups of 3 (8 bottom teams eliminated).
This levels the playing field while retaining the lopsided Prov Championships.
Qual KO Rds 2 and 3 then have team quantities of 20 (16 from groups, 4 losing Prov Finalists) and 12 (incl 2 Prov Champs), respectively.
6 Rd 3 winners join 2 unbeaten Prov Champs in the AI QFs.

Fair, Balanced, Tidy and Neat !

omahant (USA) - Posts: 2611 - 26/02/2017 16:28:00    1961025

riverboys (Mayo) - Posts: 1389 - 26/02/2017 21:05:00    1961283

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4235 - 26/02/2017 22:31:22    1961343

I put a link below relating to format ideas put forward by L Shara which are 'revolutionary' and may be too much for the GAA (and YOU :).
I initially came across Shara's ideas in January's issue of World Soccer, and went searching.
Essentially, he argues that while group formats such as in Soccer's World Cup start out as fair, there is a lot of manipulation in determining who advances. Example, a team with 1 pt can more easily get the win it needs in its 3rd group match against a 6-pts team who has qualified. He argues strong teams get seeded and avoid equally strong teams - while weaker teams have an unfair tougher draw to overcome.
Shara offers many solutions that follow a common theme - applying this theme to the AI SFC = say, divide the 32 into 4 seeding pots (in line with NFL) - Each team plays one fro each pot (incl their own) for 4 match roughly equal strength schedule - then, all 32 listed in one table to determine the KO teams (say, KO 16 contest Sam). It may sound bananas that each team plays a unique 4-match set - but this is no worse 
than an FA Cup Rd of 64 where a team's chance of advancing varies widely based on quality of the unique opponent.
We could merge the NFL into the Race for Sam - Say, Kerry draws 4 teams from Divs 1, 2 and 3 for 12 games (maybe avoid Divs 1 v 4) before KO of 16 field chosen 32 team table. This could run toward Prov KO as well. Quite daft, you say ?

http://uk.reuters.com/article/soccer-tournaments-idUKL3N12S5E220151028n

omahant (USA) - Posts: 2611 - 27/02/2017 04:08:57    1961397

Why cant clubs play their league games without the county players. It happens in Kerry and while you would like to have them its generaly accepted that the county team comes first in the summer. I know clubs can struggle to field teams due to this but this is what is happening now and the Super 8 will not change that. The county league goes ahead each year on the weekend dates they are down for, thus the players have a structure around when they will be playing

Defullback2017 (Kerry) - Posts: 6 - 27/02/2017 13:38:25    1961588

riverboys (Mayo) - Posts: 1389 - 27/02/2017 19:33:29    1961788

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4235 - 28/02/2017 06:08:54    1961914

witnof (Dublin) - Posts: 1604 - 28/02/2017 10:01:15    1961940

I love this proposal, more games the better, plus they'll be more matches at each county home venue in the super 8, for example i'd love to see teams like Mayo or Tyrone play here in cork and vice versa. Personally i was never a fan of all the qaurter finals at Croke Park, i thought each provincial winner should had got a home qf

rebelfan (Cork) - Posts: 70 - 28/02/2017 10:42:39    1961962

Super 8's is a money making exercise, how long before 'Monday night Football' or 'March madness' or some other made up rubbish. The GAA has sold itself at the expense of the club player for many years, now that is being extended to the county player not playing at the elite level. It will eventually sell itself to forget hurling and then what are we left with.

Its great that we have a supposedly 21st century attitude towards media and coverage but the GAA is an amateur organisation and if the gap between the haves and have nots continues to increase as it is, we'll be left with nothing.

People say the GAA are slow to change that isn't true, the black card was brought in with little thought and we were just told to get on with it, what the GAA is slow at doing is recognizing the danger to the games and the continual chase for the almighty dollar or whomevers pockets they are trying to climb into leads to an elitist non-representative landscape.

I cant help but think that the men who met in the Hayes hotel in 1884 would be overly impressed with the direction things are going. You cant buy the things the GAA has going for it, volunteers the country over, parishes and towns pulling in one direction a phenomenal grass roots system, but if the GAA continues trying to sell it, it wont be long before the volunteers go elsewhere, no one likes seeing other people make money of their graft and that is exactly what central council do, offer little - take all.

duckula20 (Antrim) - Posts: 175 - 28/02/2017 12:10:03    1962003

Copy what works successfully in other sports around the globe

League - 3 divisions (you can have the top 4 from each division going into a semi-final/final. Winners of Division 1 are All-Ireland Champions)
Run the Provincial Championships in Parallel.

This gives you a defined season. Your team operates at a level where they have the best chance of being competitive. They also have their day out in the Cup (Provincial Championship)

That's my proposal

What do I really want ?

I want to see the players being rewarded for their effort & commitment in the form of a defined season which guarantees them a large amount of competitive games.
I want to see the GAA showing real leadership and provide the players with what they deserve.

Note: I have no problem if Westmeath dont have a chance of winning the All-Ireland on a given year. If there was 3 divisions we'd probably be in Division 3 and I'd like to think that we'd be in the shake up some end of season. A good run the provincial would be nice but if we were beaten our season wouldnt be over.

Ban (Westmeath) - Posts: 1415 - 28/02/2017 16:19:07    1962178

tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1115 - 03/03/2017 04:01:58    1963036

Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 03/03/2017 08:46:34    1963049

73forever (Limerick) - Posts: 89 - 03/03/2017 08:51:12    1963050