THE FOOTBALL REVIEW Committee launched their second report this morning in Croke Park.
Innovative new proposals to change the provincial championships have grabbed the headlines but there is plenty other information in the discussion paper from the committee that is chaired by Eugene McGee.
Here’s nine things that we learned from perusing the FRC’s report.
1. Fixtures need to be co-ordinated by a national body
Trying to organise fixtures is a complex business in the GAA. Thus the FRC are proposing that the National CCCC should have the overall responsibility of co-ordinating all fixtures at national, provincial, county, club, third-level and schools.
There is an acknowledgement that the responsibility will be discharged through the relevant committees at the various levels but the National CCCC will retain overall control.
2. The club fixture mess needs to be sorted out
Hold-ups in club championship are a common complaint throughout the country. Finding a solution is not easy but the FRC want to kickstart that process by insisting that all counties have reached the semi-final stage of their senior and intermediate club championships by the first weekend in August.
In addition there is the suggestion that the All-Ireland club championships be taken away from their traditional St Patrick’s Day date and completed in a single calendar year. The idea being that the provincial semi-finals will be played in early November, the finals by mid/late November and the All-Ireland championships then finished off in December.
3. Time to change up the National League
Division 1 of the National Football League needs to be concluded in a quicker fashion. To that end the FRC want to get rid of the semi-finals with the final instead to take place between the top two teams. The final should ideally be finished in mid-April as well.
Dublin captain Stephen Cluxton after last April’s league win
Pic: INPHO/Morgan Treacy
4. The weaker counties need some help
The gap between the top and lower-ranked teams has been the subject of hot debate in GAA. The FRC’s reaction is to set up a ‘National Strategy for Less Successful Counties’. The idea is that Paraic Duffy would chair that group which will feature members from relevant stakeholders.
A 3-5 year plan should be put in place to provide financial assistance and expertise in areas like coaching and sports science.
5. Let’s get the interprovincial competitions back in business
The inter-pro’s have been on life support in recent years with scant public interest in the competitions. Yet rather than kill them off, the FRC wants to revive them.
Their plans involve a weekend competition played over two days and located in one town or city. They want live night-time TV coverage of the games, strong marketing and the consideration of free admission to matches.
6. The minor age limit needs to be reduced from U18 to U17
The proposal to revamp the minor grade has been floated before and the FRC have taken up that mantle as well. Changing the age limit will in their view help avoid Leaving Cert/A Level students incurring the ‘additional stress and pressure’ of juggling the commitments of exams and inter-county Gaelic football.
Waterford celebrate September’s All-Ireland minor title win
Pic: INPHO/James Crombie
7. Changes also needed in the colleges football arena
There’s also changes mooted for second-level and third-level colleges football. At second-level, the FRC want the senior competitions shortened and concluded earlier in the school year than at present.
For the third-level grade, their hope is that the ‘two academic courses’ eligibility rule would be re-considered. They reckon it is disenfranchising players and instead it should be looked to bring in a rule whereby a student is limited to six years playing at this level.
8. They want to keep the International Rules series going
The FRC are happy to see Ireland and Australia continue with the International Rules series. Although the proviso they insert is that both parties commit to putting out their strongest possible representatives.
Michael Murphy and Aidan Walsh lift the Cormac McAnallen Cup.
Pic: INPHO/Ryan Byrne
9. The closed season needs to be properly observed
Enforcing the closed season training ban is important in the eyes of the FRC. They also want significant financial penalties if there’s any breaches of the start of collective training as well as formal reprimands to the county board officers.
Stupid idea to move minors to u17. Far too much of a gap between 17and 21 year olds. Would end up losing more players to other sports at the critical 18-20 age bracket. Minor championship is fantastic the way it is please don’t touch it.
RE plan for minor to be u17 whats happens to u16. Does this also mean that u21 is only open to those above 19.
I agree with nearly all their ideas.
Why not have the League Finals on St. Patrick’s Day?
Their reasoning for moving the Minor grade is sound. I would imagine they’ll move to an under 20 grade too, this would probably mean less clashes with senior games.
Why not play the Inter-Provincials around the time of the All-Ireland quarter finals or semi finals? With only a few counties still in the All-Ireland and club championships notoriously slow to get going there will be many inter county standard footballers willing to play top class competition.
Players just missing the cut in their home county should definitely be placed in a draft from which the weaker counties can pick. 4 players for Division 4 counties, 3 for Division 3 counties. After two seasons the players should be allowed reapply for their native county or else extend their draft period by another year.
A draft system similar to that in American sports is the obvious way to bolster the weaker counties. Keep the draft players within their native province to cut down travel times, I can’t see an issue with a couple of Dubs playing with Carlow for two years, Mayomen with Leitrim or Corkmen with Waterford. The players involved get to play in high quality competition and bring that experience back to their native counties, everybody’s a winner.
I’ll outline how the FRC could fix the Football Championships below. Eugene McGee could drop me a line and we’ll hammer out the finer details together!
The optimum system for the All-Ireland Football Championship should be:
A) Get rid of the January/February tournaments, move the League forward with the top 2 playing a League final in March.
B) The All-Ireland C’ship should be played like the World Cup. 33 teams in 7 groups of 4 and 1 group of 5. Seed the teams according to their finishing positions in the League, thereby linking the League and C’ship. Play the 3(4) round robin stage matches of the All-Ireland at neutral venues (except for New York and London who should play their matches at home) in April and May.
C) The 4 Provincial C’ships should be straight knock-out. They should be played in May/June, it may be necessary for the preliminary rounds of the Ulster and Leinster C’ships to overlap with the round robin stage of the All-Ireland. These titles remain a valid chance for meaningful silverware for all counties.
D) With the Provincial titles decided the All-Ireland C’ship Round of 16 takes place in late June, group winners getting the choice of home venue. Two weeks later the 1/4 Finals are held at neutral venues. Two weeks later the Semi Finals are held at Croke Park.
E) In mid August play the All-Ireland Football Final in glorious sunshine in Croke Park. All counties would have had at least 4 c’ship matches spread throughout the country. All counties would have had two shots at meaningful silverware. London and New York have a few home matches each year to spread the gospel of GAA. There are no dead rubbers.