National Forum

How To Level The Playing Field

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An NFL style hurling draft should level the playing field fairly quickly. A list of the top 300 21year old hurlers in 'the big 10' hurling counties would be compiled annually, and these 300 'draftees' would be picked and dispersed to the 32 counties of ireland to commence their intercounty careers in their newly adopted location. The worst team in the country, say Warwickshire, would get first pick in each round, and the all ireland champions would get the 32nd pick in each round until all players are dispersed. This 'draft' would be an annual affair, so the 'playing field' should 'level' quite quickly.

Pope_Benedict (Galway) - Posts: 4035 - 24/03/2025 17:18:03    2598377

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Replying To omahant:  "Yeah, I agree with "not forced" - some traditional counties, i.e. Kerry, might want to stay intact as one.

Imagine carving up Ireland into say, 12 competitive teams covering all 32 counties.
Every fan could get behind its own team,knowing it has a reasonable expectation of at least being competitive.

All dream world, of course."
I'd rather support Wexford as they are. I don't think I'd bother going to see a Wexford/Kilkenny/Carlow "superteam" at all, even if they were winning..

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 15190 - 24/03/2025 22:49:01    2598444

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Replying To Viking66:  "I'd rather support Wexford as they are. I don't think I'd bother going to see a Wexford/Kilkenny/Carlow "superteam" at all, even if they were winning.."
Would it make a different if called "Southeast Leinster"?

omahant (USA) - Posts: 3147 - 25/03/2025 02:19:24    2598462

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Replying To omahant:  "Would it make a different if called "Southeast Leinster"?"
I still wouldn't go to see a South East Leinster side. If the Railway Cup was back properly I'd bring the kids to see Leinster in the Football and Hurling, especially if there were Wexford men playing.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 15190 - 25/03/2025 08:16:26    2598469

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Replying To legendzxix:  "Leitrim earned a good promotion from Division 4 last year. I'm more curious on expectations for championship where county boards want the one sided nature of provincial championship matches to be addressed. At the same time there was little support for Tier 3 championship. Little interest in addressing lopsided provincial draws also. There is no clear picture! Maybe that's their intention?!"
Leitrim earned one of the luckiest promotions known to man last year as proved this year by how Wexford have got on and how we've done in Division 3. You can have all the tiers you like but it will not address inequality on matters such as coaching and so forth.

Square_B (Leitrim) - Posts: 1226 - 25/03/2025 08:51:40    2598479

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Replying To Square_B:  "Leitrim earned one of the luckiest promotions known to man last year as proved this year by how Wexford have got on and how we've done in Division 3. You can have all the tiers you like but it will not address inequality on matters such as coaching and so forth."
Talk of a Tier 3 didn't gain much traction when discussed with county boards last year. Obviously no appetite for that yet. A 16:8:8 split would have a good balance. The Tailteann and Tier 3 finals as curtain raisers to All Ireland semi finals. I think it will be inevitable. Just a matter of when.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 8616 - 25/03/2025 10:35:19    2598499

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You need 3 tiers, but a system that allows flux between them - A 12, 12, 9 system is best
But while amalgamation might be a bit early now
There is no reason why weaker counties couldn't pool resources (like S&C, statistics etc)

If you just paired counties
1. Sligo, Mayo
2. Leitrim, Roscommon, Longford
3. Derry, Donegal
4. Fermanagh, Tyrone
5. Cavan, Monaghan
6. Meath, Westmeath,
7. Laois, Tipperary, Offaly,
8. Cork, Waterford
9. Antrim, Down,
10. Louth, Armagh
11. Dublin, Wicklow
12. Kildare, Carlow, Wexford, Kilkenny
13. Galway, Clare
14. Limerick, Kerry

So if you want to sponsor Kerry football, you have to give the same sponsorship to Limerick football.
Louth and Armagh schools of excellence would be paired at U15. County development squads are paired also.
Club League football leagues could be amalgamated to increase interest. I'm sure the likes of Rathnew would like a hop off St Vincents. Or St Marys Ardee v Crossmaglen.

tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1271 - 25/03/2025 11:35:36    2598508

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Replying To Viking66:  "I'd rather support Wexford as they are. I don't think I'd bother going to see a Wexford/Kilkenny/Carlow "superteam" at all, even if they were winning.."
100% that would be a disaster. Best comparsion I can think of is the regions in Welsh rugby, set up 20 years agon and still nowhere near the support the old club teams had.

Overdahill (Galway) - Posts: 25 - 25/03/2025 13:02:03    2598526

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Replying To Overdahill:  "100% that would be a disaster. Best comparsion I can think of is the regions in Welsh rugby, set up 20 years agon and still nowhere near the support the old club teams had."
Absolutely. That idea goes against everything the GAA stands for.

Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 15190 - 25/03/2025 13:38:07    2598536

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@tirawleybaron - You might want to rethink some of your amalgamations. Under your proposal, a South Wexford club like Gusserane could have close to a four and a half hour return trip for a League match against somebody like Johnstownbridge in Kildare. And obviously the same would apply in the other direction.

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2777 - 25/03/2025 14:09:27    2598542

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Some interesting opinions here.
My latest 2 cents:
1. County Amalgamations wouldn't work because you might end up with 14 Roscommon players on a Leitrim/Roscommon team. Nobody from Leitrim will buy into that. I even see clubs at home hating it and they don't have any choice at all.

One thing I've thought about before is this notion of having super-clubs, like in Rugby. These wouldn't be linked to counties at all, but you might have one based in Tralee, Cork, Waterford, Castlebar etc. These clubs would go out and try to sign players, but the players could be released back to their clubs/counties in the summer. Who knows, maybe these bigger clubs could be professional in time. But that's a whoel other conversation.

2. NFL style draft might work, but only as a supplement to a county panel of homegrown players. So like my initial transfer idea, maybe have 5 spots for outside players, and there's no guarantee that they'd even play, but might halpe out a smaller population county.

3. One other levelling idea might be to financially dope smaller counties. Instead of allocating based on playing population, just allocate every club the same a mount of money. This might penalise Ballyboden or Lucan Sarsfields who have U12 F teams, but Ballyboden and Lucan can probably raise twice as much cash from private donations, sponsors and fundraising as they get from central funding.

So, for example, instead of giving B'Boden 10 quid per player at u12 (they might have 200 new players per year) and giving the same to a club in a rural area who might have 10 players per year, give each club 500 quid per grade.
This 500 quid would ensure that players in rural areas - areas where they need to maximise the potential of every player - are well funded. Ballyboden wil get a good pool of players regardless, plus they might also find a significant non-playing contributor in the parent pool each year.

kingdom_come (Kerry) - Posts: 83 - 25/03/2025 18:41:18    2598588

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