Donegal players backing league system for All-Ireland SFC rejig

On Saturday of next week, October 23, the GAA are holding a Special Congress at which a huge decision will be made on the future of the All-Ireland football championship.

The delegates from around the country will have four proposals on the agenda regarding the race for the Sam Maguire and some of them are far-reaching for an organisation that normally changes very slowly. The four proposals include two that have already been used, with the Qualifiers and Super 8s, while the first of the new proposals, as well as Proposal A, would see the

Provinces evened up to include eight teams, taking teams from Ulster and Leinster to play in Connacht and Munster.
The final proposal, known as Proposal B,  would see the Sam Maguire race being contested on a league basis with eight teams qualifying for the quarter-finals while there would be a second tier competition for the Tailteann Cup.

The Gaelic Players' Association (GPA), which represents county players, has come out strongly in favour of the latter proposal. Whether it can get the 60% vote required at the Special Congress remains to be seen.
Eoghan Bán Gallagher is the Donegal  GPA representative and the Killybegs man is firmly of the opinion that change may not be a bad thing.

"The majority of teams will be happy to try something new,” he said. “You can always make adjustments that I would be a wee bit iffy about. It has got to the stage where we should try something different with the championship because there are too many uneven games.

"The GPA did a full survey on the proposals. I don't know exactly how the Donegal lads voted themselves. I did speak to a few of the lads. There was no general consensus whether it was A or B.

"From my own personal point of view, we have spoken about the structures in the past and specifically relating to our situation, we all thought the Ulster championship was brilliant as players, but we felt the All-Ireland competition as a whole was unfair going through the provincial system.

"In the last few years, we have been in the preliminary round and have to win four games to win Ulster. They are four tough games you're going to have to win. Then two years ago we were going into the Super 8s, which is a new competition.

"Then the games mounted up for us. The good thing about the two proposals now, no matter what, in order to win the Sam Maguire, you have the same amount of games to win and to get there, is a big thing from our point of view in Donegal. It makes the whole competition fair."

Proposal B would “breathe life into Gaelic football,” according to GPA CEO Tom Parsons. "The GPA is backing the league format,” Gallagher added.

“If you win the competition after qualifying through the league and then the quarter-finals, semi-final and final, you know that you have thoroughly earned the Sam Maguire or the Tailteann Cup. “ Both competitions are fair with all teams playing the same amount of games to win either competition."

The Killybegs man felt that presently the competition is a bit lopsided: "To win the All-Ireland competition coming from Ulster obviously is far tougher than coming from Leinster and Munster at the minute. I think Connacht has improved immensely and there are three very, very good teams there.

"I've listened to a good bit of debate on it. I wasn't sure about it myself at the start. It's very easy to be comfortable staying with the same thing. It's great if you win the Ulster championship and go into the All-Ireland series having won Ulster and it gives you that bit of a kick and advantage.

"But in general, the whole competition for the Sam Maguire is fairer (if teams play the same amount of games). Maybe Kerry and Dublin will feel it's beneficial for them as well. Kerry, especially so in the last few years, they might feel they were undercooked going into the All-Ireland semi-final this year.

"The National League is a brilliant competition as it is. Everybody does enjoy it. We will chat to them and get their views on it. I don't think we will be trying to dictate to them. It is their job to decide. It is always good to get feedback from other people to see what they think.

"There is no harm in trying something. We  tried the Super 8s but it didn't quite work. I enjoyed the Super 8s personally,  but I can see more counties wouldn't go for it. If Donegal hadn't made it to the Super 8s in those two years, it's very tricky to improve as a team to get to the level of teams that are playing all the time."

Gallagher feels that having the championship in a league format would mean some great games in MacCumhaill Park, Ballybofey in the middle of summer.

"You could have three or four games in Ballybofey every year which are big games that mean something towards winning Sam Maguire,” he added. “If you had three or four games of the likes of Dublin, Tyrone coming to Ballybofey in the middle of summer would be hugely attractive. That's what the players have been pushing for, more games and less training, so we have to back whoever came up with this. It ticks all the boxes that players have been asking for over the last few years.”