National Forum

2013-Chance to be best Hurling Championship ever?

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The Munster championship might have the 'potential' to be a cracking competition. Unfortunately it won't be all that great if this year is anything to go by. People are quickly realizing that winning the Munster championship is not what it used to be. Only three times in the last 20 years have the Munster champions actually won the All-Ireland. The crowds at this year's Munster championship were very low. In other recessions (in the 1980s for example) Cork and Tipp were always packed to rafters. There was plenty of room this year. The games were very tippy tappy affairs with little intensity. Players know that Munster championship victories are not that important. Winning the All-Ireland is the only show in town. In terms of winning that, one team is head an shoulders above the rest. It is oh so predictable. Kilkenny will get there is September regardless of what happens before.

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 14/10/2012 19:50:05    1283039

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Bennybunny, would you (and anyone else) support the abolition of the provincial championships in hurling?

Pinkie (Wexford) - Posts: 4100 - 16/10/2012 15:11:50    1284018

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Pinkie
County: Wexford
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While I'd be sorry to lose the Munster final, I'd support the abolition of the provincial championships in hurling, its like trying to force a square peg into a round hole. Crowds have been dwindling at the provincial games since 2001, people were losing interest before the recession. Looking at next years championship, its hard to get excited about it. The Leinster SHC draw was very strange, I'm surprised there wasn't more comment on it, the two sides of the draw are very uneven.

I think alot of people, myself included, would like to see a system with proper fixed group stages, followed by a knockout stage (similar to something like the Euro Champs in soccer, where you have initial group stages, with maybe 4 groups of 4, then knock out from quarter finals on). But I don't think there are realistically enough top teams in hurling to have such a system, or will be in the immediate future, so its hard to figure out a good system with the teams that are there. And many alternative championship suggestions I've heard have tended to be very convoluted and hard to follow. But in an ideal world, I think hurling would be much better served with a more streamlined championship, where all teams have a minimum of fixed games, where all teams are playing hurling until at least mid July, and where the top teams are playing each other from the off. A scenario where the first game of the championship was Tipp v Kilkenny would generate huge interest in the hurling championship from the get-go.

Marlon_JD (Tipperary) - Posts: 1823 - 16/10/2012 17:53:04    1284130

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Marlon_JD
County: Tipperary
Posts: 293

I agree 100%.

Topa_the_left (Antrim) - Posts: 250 - 16/10/2012 19:51:15    1284178

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What are Portaferry's chances in the Ulster final? They had an impressive win over the Derry champions, Swatragh.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 16/10/2012 20:07:10    1284185

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I am not in favour of getting rid of the Munster championship. I am in favour of getting rid of the backdoor. Getting rid of the backdoor might give some meaning back to the munster championship. If Tipp played KK in the first round of the championship in some champions league style game I don't think there would any more interest than, say, if they played in a league game-it seems we are only interested in knockout games in this country-the big event. If there is to be a back door I would have it for division 2 teams only (or something like that). To me the backdoor was to help weaker teams. What it has done is helped stronger teams and ruined the provincial system. Either it helps weaker teams or it doesn't. If it doesn't then scrap it.

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 16/10/2012 20:50:16    1284199

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Ya I'd agree with you Bennybunny if that was the way we were to go, would certainly bring back the provincial championships. But overall I'd prefer Marlon_JD's proposal. I think the league could be reduced even further and a champions league style system could be brought in, say 3 groups of 4. Similar to AFL top teams qualify and play each other with losers playing winners of a round-robin between teams finishing 2nd. Or something like that!

Pinkie (Wexford) - Posts: 4100 - 16/10/2012 21:54:40    1284232

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How bout 2 groups of 6. Each group plays a round robin. Top 2 play in league semis and get a bye to AI quarter finals. The other 8 teams go into an open draw for the championship first round. Winners play top 4 teams from league in quarters. Losers play in a relegation playoffs, with the loser going down to div 3. Winner of div3/Lory Meagher Championship comes up. It's basically a template of the Kilkenny senior club championship. Get rid of Munster and Leinster championships. Games can start in April

richiescats (USA) - Posts: 420 - 17/10/2012 15:56:10    1284481

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The 'champions league' style format sounds nice but I am not sure if the Irish public has the stomach for it (or more to the point has the cash to pay for so many games). We would also have to factor in club championships. Kilkenny and Galway only played 5 games in this year's championship yet the county finals are still going on. RichieCats idea might not be too bad-that is making the championship dependent on league performance - or else just scrap the league altogether possibly! a league followed by another league will not go down well though...

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 17/10/2012 18:34:26    1284595

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bennybunny
County: Cork
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Having set group/league stages would actually make club fixture scheduling easier. For most of the championship, teams will know exactly who, where, and when they will be playing months in advance, so all fixtures could be planned well in advance. And with group league stages, there would be no unexpected replays from drawn games, so there would be less disruption to club schedules.
With the way the back door qualifiers work now, there might actually be less games overall in the above system, but the games played would be split more evenly between teams. For example, if you had a 4x4 group stage system, with Quarter finals after, every team would have a minimum of 3 championship matches. Conversely, 8 teams would have a maximum of 3 matches, 4 teams (QF losers) would have a maximum of 4 matches, 2 teams a max of 5 matches (SF losers), then the finalists a maximum of 6 matches. Limerick played 5 matches this year, and still only got to the QF's. So overall, if you have a proper, fixed championship structure, each team gets a minumum of games, but no team ends up going round the houses.

Marlon_JD (Tipperary) - Posts: 1823 - 17/10/2012 19:29:46    1284637

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MarlonJD

Very well put. I have to admit that you have beaten me in terms of the argument about disrupting the club schedule. A system like that would work quite well in terms of helping clubs. In terms of selling it to the public, however, the GAA's marketing division (if indeed it has one?) would need to do a lot of selling such a championship. 16 teams also seems like a lot. There would be a lot of lopsided games in the group stages. In theory I like the idea. What I would do to add to it, however, is link it to the Christy Ring Cup. Much like the champions league and Europa league are linked, the bottom teams in each group could be dropped to the Christy Ring cup.

At the moment the Christy Ring is something that is just 'gotten out of the way'. I don't think it, or the counties involved, are getting the respect they deserve.

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 17/10/2012 20:32:25    1284683

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