It's worked in hurling, so here's how groups could fix the football championship
May 29, 2018
Dublin players stand around the Sam Maguire Cup.
©INPHO/Bryan Keane.
by Alan Clynch
The senior hurling championship has been reinvigorated by the group format in Munster and Leinster. Could this be the solution for the football competition as well?
Calls for change in the format of the football championship have been getting stronger each year and while the Super Eight format comes into operation this season for the first time, that does little to effect the championship experience for more than 75% of the counties taking part in the race for Sam Maguire.
Most of the proposals for a changed football format want to see the provincial championships scrapped but the likelihood of that happening is slim, so let's build a new system which retains with those historical competitions.
Conferences and group formats are run in countless competitions across the globe including big ticket sports like rugby, American Football, hockey and basketball - so we should not be too worried about groups based on geographic location.
What the new look hurling championship has shown us is that people want a guaranteed fixtures list with home and away games. So what is to stop us doing just that in the football championship?
We have 33 counties taking part - if we include London and New York. Let's move London to the Ulster SFC to balance the numbers. You could argue that they are more closely aligned with six of those Ulster counties and there will be endless puns when they meet Derry.
There will be two groups in both Ulster and Leinster, with the top two in each group making the provincial semi-finals.
Connacht and Munster will each have just one group, with the top side qualifying for provincial final and the second and third placed side contesting a semi-final.
In Leinster and Ulster - the previous year's provincial finalists are kept in separate groups. Apart from that it is a completely open draw.
The four provincial champions and four beaten finalists all progress to the Super Eight.
Every county is guaranteed a minimum of four championship matches and two home games.
In the 2017 championship there were 60 games in total (excluding replays) made up as follows: Leinster (10), Munster (5), Ulster (8), Connacht (6), Qualifiers (24), Quarter-finals (4), Semi-finals (2) and Final (1).
In the 2018 championship that figure grows to 68 games as the Super Eight sees 12 games, an increase of eight on the old quarter-finals.
In our proposed new football championship there would be 100 games: Leinster (28), Munster (17), Ulster (23), Connacht (17), Super Eight (12), Semi-finals (2) and Final (1).
If, just like the hurling competition, games are played on successive weekends then the new format would fit into the same time frame as the current championship.
There are undoubtedly a few problems to be solved - like how do we involve New York, if at all, or do we replace them with a Northern based English team. Where there is a will, there is a way.
It's worth considering.
What the proposed system would have looked like in 2018
Leinster SFC (Two groups with five rounds and the top two contesting the provincial semi-finals)
Group 1 - Dublin, Louth, Meath, Wicklow, Wexford, Longford.
Group 2 - Kildare, Laois, Offaly, Westmeath, Carlow.
Munster SFC (One group with five rounds. The top team goes straight into the provincial final with the second and third team playing in a semi-final)
Group - Kerry, Cork, Tipperary, Clare, Waterford, Limerick.
Ulster SFC (Two groups with four rounds and the top two contesting the provincial semi-finals)
Group 1 - Tyrone, Monaghan, Cavan, Fermanagh, London.
Group 2 - Down, Donegal, Antrim, Derry, Armagh.
Connacht SFC (One group with five rounds. The top team goes straight into the provincial final with the second and third team playing in a semi-final)
Group - Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo, Leitrim, New York.
Super Eight (Two groups with three rounds, the top two from each group contest the All-Ireland semi-finals)
Group 1 - Ulster winner, Leinster winner, Munster runner-up, Connacht runner-up.
Group 2 - Munster winner, Connacht winner, Leinster runner-up, Ulster runner-up.
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