National Forum

Provincial Club Championships

(Oldest Posts First)

As county finals are starting to get played , I really feel that it is an awful pity that its the club season over for winning teams, and this is a real anti - climax for them. Particularly teams who have never won a title before, or havent won one for some time.The GAA made a correct call at the time , but maybe , knowing what we know now is a time to re-consider.
I think that the Provincial Club Championship could be ran off in parallel with the county ( more or less with some tweaks.)
This would leave AI semis and final to be played in Feb / March 2021.
To do this would require some tweaks and would mean giving byes to clubs from successful counties as the county championship progresses. ( Not ideal but worth it in my opinion).
How would this work . Lets take Leinster football as an example ( its the most complicated by far, others will be easier)
11 counties , 11 clubs.
Oct 31/Nov1:
3 x IC 1st round games
8 counties left , 11 clubs still left

Nov 7/8:
4 x IC QFs.
Suggest that on that weekend the 3 clubs from the counties beaten previous weekend go in to a hat and 2 play each other
4 counties left , 10 clubs left

Nov14/15
2 x IC SFs
Of the 10 clubs left , Put the 6 from counties not left in the IC SF into a hat . 3 games
2 counties left , 7 clubs left

Nov 21
1 x IC Final
Of the 7 clubs left take away 2 from counties in Leinster IC Final , leaves 5. Draw 2 v 2
1 county left, 5 clubs left

Then of the 5 clubs that are left, give the club from the county who won Leinster a bye in to the Leinster club final . Then play off the other 4 in 2 x QFs and 1 x SF over the weekends of All Ireland IC Semi and Final.

Because of the AI Final being so close to Christmas in Football then 2 of the 4 Provincial finals would have to be deferred until 2021 also .

Sounds very complicated , but very do-able if Covid is in any sort of control ( a big if).
But really worth considering.

sweetbutpsycho (Galway) - Posts: 6 - 23/09/2020 09:57:36    2293695

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Too many fixtures with the County season starting.

Would be too demanding of the county players who would be
involved.

carlovia (None) - Posts: 1517 - 23/09/2020 10:02:07    2293696

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Replying To carlovia:  "Too many fixtures with the County season starting.

Would be too demanding of the county players who would be
involved."
Not really. For player whose county gets to AI final its 3 extra games (max) over a 3 month period ( hardly excessive)
For players whose county dont get to a Provincial Final , they will be delighted to play.
Were the players asked? I would be very surprised if any county player from any club team who wins a county final would be against the suggestion.
I actually think that the real fear is that club games in parallel with county would compromise attendances ( unlikely to be an issue now) or TV revenue ( more likely to be an issue).

sweetbutpsycho (Galway) - Posts: 6 - 23/09/2020 10:13:09    2293697

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Too much travelling too. Anyway, in Tyrone, nobody cares too much about the provincials, the county is all that matters : )

essmac (Tyrone) - Posts: 1141 - 23/09/2020 10:15:59    2293699

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Replying To essmac:  "Too much travelling too. Anyway, in Tyrone, nobody cares too much about the provincials, the county is all that matters : )"
Strange if the club matters so little in Tyrone, why did ye go ballistic after the county final, endangering health and damaging the GAA's reputation.

sweetbutpsycho (Galway) - Posts: 6 - 23/09/2020 10:24:01    2293702

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Replying To essmac:  "Too much travelling too. Anyway, in Tyrone, nobody cares too much about the provincials, the county is all that matters : )"
Ye rush off the club championship, the clubs could have played a replay in the County final but went for extra time and penalties. A bit needless when it only takes 4 games to complete the Tyrone championship

FoolsGold (Cavan) - Posts: 2763 - 23/09/2020 10:51:03    2293711

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I dont think it is an anti climax for clubs having secured a county title

Tarismelting22 (Roscommon) - Posts: 760 - 23/09/2020 11:13:46    2293717

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Replying To sweetbutpsycho:  "Strange if the club matters so little in Tyrone, why did ye go ballistic after the county final, endangering health and damaging the GAA's reputation."
First win in 60 odd years and in a penalty shoot out at that.
Can't say I blame them for going nuts.

MuckrossHead (Donegal) - Posts: 5028 - 23/09/2020 11:27:02    2293721

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You could always run 2020 next year concurrently with 2021 assuming everything is back to normal by then. Obviously a few clubs will have won back to back so would have to forfeit 2020 but I imagine that wouldn't be that many at senior level.

Breezy (Limerick) - Posts: 1236 - 23/09/2020 16:36:47    2293793

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Replying To Breezy:  "You could always run 2020 next year concurrently with 2021 assuming everything is back to normal by then. Obviously a few clubs will have won back to back so would have to forfeit 2020 but I imagine that wouldn't be that many at senior level."
Why bother?
Its one year. Everyone knew about it. It was decided early enough there wasnt going to be a provincial or all ireland series.
Running it concurrently with the 2021 competition is madness. Doesnt make sense.

KillingFields (Limerick) - Posts: 3495 - 23/09/2020 17:53:51    2293809

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It's unfortunate there isn't a provincial club championship but all knew the rules before the season started. This season's inter county competitions will start/finish from October to December and it's likely the 2021 competitions will then start as close to usual Jan date as possible.

The national leagues will have a significant impact on county placings from 2021 so it's hard to see a window for your idea until next April. The appetitie wouldn't be there to look back at 2020 at that stage. In the current health crisis there is likely evidence to show players are better concentrating on one team at a time than going from club to county game/training every few days/week and back again icreasing the risk. 2021 might even be a complete split season as a result of this with inter county finished up completly by June/July.

sam1884 (UK) - Posts: 999 - 23/09/2020 19:20:52    2293824

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Replying To KillingFields:  "Why bother?
Its one year. Everyone knew about it. It was decided early enough there wasnt going to be a provincial or all ireland series.
Running it concurrently with the 2021 competition is madness. Doesnt make sense."
Why bother? Because I bet these lads who just won county would love a shot at an AI medal

Breezy (Limerick) - Posts: 1236 - 25/09/2020 08:02:02    2293978

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Replying To sweetbutpsycho:  "Strange if the club matters so little in Tyrone, why did ye go ballistic after the county final, endangering health and damaging the GAA's reputation."
Sorry, I could have been clearer:

"In Tyrone, nobody cares too much about the provincial club championship, the county club championship is all that matters".

The club comes first in Tyrone. In my view, Tyrone club teams play a better brand of football than the county anyway, more direct, less of the safety-first stuff. It's valued precisely because it's so hard to win. Dungannon weren't even one of the favourites this year in Tyrone. Winning the O'Neill Cup matters hugely to us. Unlike various other counties where you have one or two clubs dominating, and they view the county club shampionship as a good warm up for the provincial club. Barring a disaster, they expect to win the county.

I know from speaking to lads who've had a run in the provincial club series that they say you need a run of recent or ideally successive county final wins in order to acquit yourself well in the provincial and AI club series thereafter. The likes of Corofin, Dr Crokes, Derrygonnelly, Cross et al have serious ambitions outside their county, and they said it took the experience of being beaten in Ulster after their first county title to bring them back down to earth and resolve to take the provincial club more seriously the following year. By the time you've won a few county titles on the trot, they inevitably mean a bit less, and you mentally then can kick on and take the provincial club seriously.

Whereas, in Tyrone, winning the county title is like climbing Mount Everest. You'd have a better chance of getting to an All Ireland semi final with the Tyrone county team than you would of winning the Tyrone final with your club. Tyrone teams, it may have been the first time in years competing in the Ulster club. They usually have no experience of playing in the competition, they're on a high, they're in serious bonus territory and consider that the essential work has been done, and, while of course they say they take it very, very seriously, in reality they just don't go as mad at it as they they did for the county final they've just won.

Dungannon's celebrations prove my point. They went a bit mad, and sure why not : ) Rough way to go out for Trillick, but high drama for neutrals and 1956 is a long way back for Dungannon.

essmac (Tyrone) - Posts: 1141 - 25/09/2020 14:03:56    2294032

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