This Sporting Life

The inevitable announcement that a tiered football championship is on the cards was made this week as GAA President John Horan declared he felt that the appetite was there for it.

Speaking on Morning Ireland, Horan said “Our hope would be that at the next Central Council meeting in June to bring forward a proposal to look at the introduction of a Tier Two championship for those teams in Division Three and Four. There is an appetite out there within the organisation for us to go ahead with a Tier Two championship. Now, I feel, is the time to grab that when the appetite is out there. I think we will possibly get it through at Central Council and if we do we will call a Special Congress in September or October time to have a look at putting this forward to have it introduced next year”.

So there it is. The long-awaited acceptance that a second-tier competition is badly needed and we could see it as early as 2020. The discussion now becomes based around the topic of just what structure this will take or how the tiers will be broken down. While there can be no doubt but that something like this is needed, many pundits have argued that everyone needs to be still be given the chance of causing the shock of the year in that one off championship game. I have to say I would agree, and while the second tier element is a must, there needs to be a discussion on how best to create the gap.

The first elephant in the room is obviously the provincial structures and the desperate need for them to be scrapped. They just do not serve a purpose anymore and no one, bar the provincial councils, would lament their dismissal. It’s a necessity though if we are going to get the possible structures in place in order to renew interest in football. There just is not that spark anymore because results are becoming so predictable in the main. There are still the few results from time to time that make people sit up and notice, but with all due to respect to Tipperary their star has been on the wane for a while now so seeing them being turned over by Limerick is not a big enough shockwave to justify retaining the status quo.

It is not exactly a revolutionary idea to suggest that the group system is by far and away the best solution. Eight groups of four teams, with home and away built in. The top two progress to the All-Ireland series and the bottom two head to the new Tier Two competition. Simple, effective and sustainable. Every team will then start off their year with the dream of the big time but will ultimately wake up in the reality of their actual standard. Look at what the tiered system has done for hurling. There have been some cracking games in the McDonagh, Ring and Meagher Cups, and all for the simple reason that teams are playing against opponents who are at their own level which makes for competitive fare. We see it time and again in the National football league too so it just needs to be transferred to championship.

The other element here seems to be concerns about the media coverage that the second tier will get and the fears of a reduced media spotlight. If that is the reason that people are opposed to the change, they are simply in the wrong game. Lamenting the fact that the Sunday Game only gives a few minutes to the lower tiers cannot be a factor in holding back progress. On the other hand, it does allow the question to be asked as to what can be done to try and build further profile. One obvious solution is to develop an extra highlights show to cover these games like the BBC do for the Championship, League One, League Two etc. One of the highlights for GAA fans most week is the GAA review show on TG4 on Monday evenings, with a particular focus on minor games at this time of year, and club action in the winter. A no-nonsense approach of match highlights and post match reaction that allows people to engage further with the action. Let the Sunday Game look after the top end, and develop a separate package around the Tier Two action which allows proper time to review the games on their own merits.

The other argument here is that local media will always be the best place to go to for all the best analysis on these games, but then again the fact you are reading this means you already know to pick up The Clare Champion weekly anyway.