National Forum

Could A Professional Hurling/Football League Survive In Ireland?

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Replying To KillingFields:  "4 up 4 down in 16 team competition isnt a good thing. Too easy to be promoted. 2 up 2 down makes proper challenge to be peo.oted."
Maybe with 4 up 4 down you'd have a better changing of the guard and keep more counties involved for longer.

Trump2020 (Galway) - Posts: 1082 - 19/05/2020 15:47:06    2278714

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Replying To KillingFields:  "4 up 4 down in 16 team competition isnt a good thing. Too easy to be promoted. 2 up 2 down makes proper challenge to be peo.oted."
It's not too easy to be promoted. There are too pools of 8 so only the top 2 teams in each pool are promoted. It could be reduced to 3. 2 up 2 down is not enough.

Rolo2010 (Donegal) - Posts: 193 - 19/05/2020 15:51:04    2278715

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Replying To KillingFields:  "4 up 4 down in 16 team competition isnt a good thing. Too easy to be promoted. 2 up 2 down makes proper challenge to be peo.oted."
Sorry. I thought you were responding to my comment. 4 up 4 down would only work if you had 2 groups of 8.

Rolo2010 (Donegal) - Posts: 193 - 19/05/2020 15:58:05    2278716

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Replying To Rolo2010:  "It would require a reduced intercounty season. League with the old format plus the Championship equals 15 or 16 games at most for every county. Most will play less than that. The IC season should be no more than 6 months. Less if possible."
Yes I think 2 tiers to the championship with 2 groups of 8 in each would make sense.

You're talking then a season could be 9 or 10 weekends long depending on how many qualify to playoffs.

That could be played off in a similar manner to how international soccer is played off between the club games.

Like March to July regular season in both levels. Aug for playoffs in inter county. Sep and October to finish off club competitions.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 3111 - 19/05/2020 16:57:36    2278720

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Replying To Trump2020:  "Maybe with 4 up 4 down you'd have a better changing of the guard and keep more counties involved for longer."
4 up and 4 down , from the top 16 would make championship 2 a lot more appealing to the week 16 as promotion is not so difficult..Anybody can also be relagated from championship 1 also , but if you good enough its only one season down ! if 4 down is to much , tweak it to 3 teams ... Its a genuine relagation fear for most top team! This fomat is skewed toward the weak 16 , i think that reasonable..

jfk21 (Dublin) - Posts: 51 - 19/05/2020 18:23:59    2278727

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Replying To GreenandRed:  "On the 6th tackle or if the attacker is close to the try line then yes the League tackling is as ferocious as Union. Maybe more so because players are a more similar size 1-15 compared to Union. But 1st to 5th tackle the attacker isn't as aggressive, when tackled the tackler has to release him and he has to play the ball back for the next play so for me that's less aggressive than Union tackling. Of course there are some differences, but it's an oval ball, kick forward, pass flat or backwards through the hands, tries, penalties, conversions, for me there are more similarities than differences. Not such a fan of League, too fast, League is less stop start than Union but I prefer Union.

I saw the New Zealand Maoris playing Rugby League once upon a time, in Tolka Park! It's a better game to be at than watch on TV."
I saw Ireland play France at Tolka Park in 1999.

Ireland lost to a last minute conversion. Bu99er.

lionofludesch (Down) - Posts: 369 - 19/05/2020 18:24:43    2278728

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Replying To Whammo86:  "Yes I think 2 tiers to the championship with 2 groups of 8 in each would make sense.

You're talking then a season could be 9 or 10 weekends long depending on how many qualify to playoffs.

That could be played off in a similar manner to how international soccer is played off between the club games.

Like March to July regular season in both levels. Aug for playoffs in inter county. Sep and October to finish off club competitions."
Just call it the League. I think there's still value in having the provincials and the All-Ireland Championship.

Rolo2010 (Donegal) - Posts: 193 - 19/05/2020 18:54:14    2278732

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Replying To jfk21:  "4 up and 4 down , from the top 16 would make championship 2 a lot more appealing to the week 16 as promotion is not so difficult..Anybody can also be relagated from championship 1 also , but if you good enough its only one season down ! if 4 down is to much , tweak it to 3 teams ... Its a genuine relagation fear for most top team! This fomat is skewed toward the weak 16 , i think that reasonable.."
I like it.

There'd be very few dead rubbers.

Say with 6 from 16 going into the playoffs and 3 from 16 teams getting relegated there's loads to play for.

Top your group gets a bye to the semis.

2nd/3rd place gets a playoff place.

4th-6th stays up. 7th place goes into a relegation playoff and the 8th placed teams go down.

There'd be good games week after week.

You always hear about this would mean the GAA is "leaving the path clear to other sports". There's a lot to be said for having a short sharp window for games.

The inter county season currently is quite fragmented. It's hard for excitement to kind of build. The super 8s were brought in to change that but a round robin after previous knockout rounds is a strange change of pace and I don't think people have responded well to it.

Groups of 4 actually are way more likely to have dead rubbers too. The last rounds of the super 8s haven't actually delivered lots of crunch fixtures. Having no relegation is a big factor in that.

A short window for games works well in a lot of sports.

American Football's NFL is played off in about 5 months. The soccer and rugby world cups get run off quickly. Basketball has a regular season which is kind of shadow boxing but then has its playoffs where the games come thick and fast.

They don't mind scheduling their games when they calendar is more clear because they want their games to be front and centre.

We schedule our games to compete with higher profile sports. It doesn't make sense. It kind of speaks to I think a lack of awareness of where we stand.

I do think a competition played off over June, July, August and early September. The games would be coming hard and fast and the excitement would build.

It would clash with the international soccer tournaments but the closing stages would be lost their completion. You can try and fit most group games in June and August with alternating break weekends in July for teams.

Shorter season and better train to games ratio might mean more players find it worth committing to the inter county game.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 3111 - 19/05/2020 19:15:54    2278735

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Replying To Rolo2010:  "Sorry. I thought you were responding to my comment. 4 up 4 down would only work if you had 2 groups of 8."
4 groups of 4 teams , the bottim team in each group is relagated to champinship 2 . The top 2 team in each group play the all ireland quater finals . That makes near all game competative . 5 roups of 5 is fine eather , if you want 20 team in the championship 1 .. leinster and munster hurling groups work quit well as it is , they would be actually ultra competitive if relagation was more viable option

jfk21 (Dublin) - Posts: 51 - 19/05/2020 20:27:29    2278740

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Replying To lionofludesch:  "You're changing the game completely there. Rugby Union and League are now two completely different sports, though with transferrable skills. Whilst changing the game isn't necessarily a bad thing, GAA doesn't have the numbers for two rival associations."
"Changing the game there" - akin to Rugby League changing the Union game, I'd say.

"Transferabilty between my GAA League v Union" - surely, is greater here than existing GAA to AFL.

"Not enough support/players for both GAA League and Union" - I start League small (8 elite teams) - I'd hope it would generate the excitement of the Railway Cup of the 50s (before my time), albeit with twice the teams and run over multiple round robins.

omahant (USA) - Posts: 1824 - 19/05/2020 23:19:11    2278758

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Replying To GreenandRed:  "Rugby Union and League are now two completely different sports, though with transferrable skills?

Gaelic Football and soccer are different sports with some transferable skills. Gaelic football and rugby even have some transferrable skills.

Rugby Union and Rugby League are the same sport with different team sizes and different rules, line outs, scrums, tackling is less aggressive, for me, in league in many cases to slow down opponent before play the ball. They're both rugby."
I agree with most of what you said - although I think Rugby mutated off into two sports (with similarities). League scrums are a joke and unnecessary as applied - better to have 'tap and go' instead.

omahant (USA) - Posts: 1824 - 19/05/2020 23:34:54    2278759

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Replying To Rosineri1:  "for professionalism maybe we should look to cricket/rugby for inspiration. Cricket brought in 20/20 and it has proved a great success forgetting people in, much quicker game. It is pretty much build around watching some sport and having a few beers. Also Rugby 7's is another sport which has greatly grown in popualrity and has been successful in non traditional rugby countries. Maybe 7's is the GAA game we should be looking at going professional with, maybe have a round in London, New York, Dubai, Melbourne"
Yes indeed - with the new game attracting non traditional and tradition GAA fans alike.

You mention the Rugby 7s - although I think this version is more change than I'd desire (canned excitement).

The GPA also created the 11s version of hurling, which I think is a bastardised version to advertise our real product to a US audience. Nah.

I have GAA league, 11 players, smaller pitch but still with goals and points. Maybe to make points more difficult in a smaller pitch, the goal should be narrowed (two thirds the width ?). Square ball increased to large rectangle ?

omahant (USA) - Posts: 1824 - 19/05/2020 23:50:24    2278760

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Replying To jfk21:  "What about a league/championship of two divisions of 16 teams .. split division one into 4 groups the top 2 in each group play all ireland quater finals . the bottom 4 teams are relagated ! With a 4 up 4 down system , championship 2 is not so bad place to be. Teams fear being stuck for in the second championship for years .. promotions is not so difficult with 4 teams going up per year .. everybody in danger of relegation or chasing promotion work ! I dont follow soccer but I know enough the chase for Europe and relegation make all game important"
4 up/4 down after each 2nd hosts other group 3rd in the lower league playoffs instead ?
Or, each 2nd hosts Div 1 7th and each 3rd away at Div 1 6th - so only the Div 2 finalists get automatic promotion.
Both group winners to Div 2 final / both go up.

omahant (USA) - Posts: 1824 - 20/05/2020 00:20:01    2278762

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Replying To KillingFields:  "4 up 4 down in 16 team competition isnt a good thing. Too easy to be promoted. 2 up 2 down makes proper challenge to be peo.oted."
2 up/2 down automatically - with flexibility of up to 6 up/6 down following playoffs -

2A 2nd hosts 1A 7th
2B 2nd hosts 1B 7th
1A 6th hosts 2A 3rd
1B 6th hosts 2B 3rd.

For division fixture variety, 3rd, 5th, 7th switch groups (A to B / B to A) within each division as well.

omahant (USA) - Posts: 1824 - 20/05/2020 00:42:04    2278763

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Replying To jfk21:  "4 up and 4 down , from the top 16 would make championship 2 a lot more appealing to the week 16 as promotion is not so difficult..Anybody can also be relagated from championship 1 also , but if you good enough its only one season down ! if 4 down is to much , tweak it to 3 teams ... Its a genuine relagation fear for most top team! This fomat is skewed toward the weak 16 , i think that reasonable.."
Could use to determine AI KO 16 as well -
Div 1 each top 5 (seeded 1 to 10)
Div 2 each top 3 (seeded 11 to 16)
Rd of 16 - 1 hosts 16.....to 8 hosts 9.
QFs - high seed hosts low..2nd high hosts 2nd low.
SFs - neutral Prov venues, same wkd.
Final - Jones Rd.

omahant (USA) - Posts: 1824 - 20/05/2020 00:58:29    2278764

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Replying To omahant:  "I agree with most of what you said - although I think Rugby mutated off into two sports (with similarities). League scrums are a joke and unnecessary as applied - better to have 'tap and go' instead."
It's a very long time ago but would you say that Rugby splitting itself in two strengthened the game or opened the door for soccer to take over ?

I'm not seeing that splitting GAA into professional and amateur parts would strengthen it. I just don't see the finances stacking up.

lionofludesch (Down) - Posts: 369 - 20/05/2020 09:51:03    2278773

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Replying To lionofludesch:  "It's a very long time ago but would you say that Rugby splitting itself in two strengthened the game or opened the door for soccer to take over ?

I'm not seeing that splitting GAA into professional and amateur parts would strengthen it. I just don't see the finances stacking up."
If done right it could work. While Ireland would obviously be the center of Gaelic Games the vast majority of finances would come from outside Ireland. Of course the games would have to be very aggressively marketed outside Ireland. Example: Cycling's biggest event is the Tour De France but it's not just French cyclists and it's shown and marketed all over the world. As said before if you have a great product it would sell. And it's a lot better than a lot of the stuff that IS selling.

Trump2020 (Galway) - Posts: 1082 - 20/05/2020 11:38:51    2278792

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Replying To omahant:  "4 up/4 down after each 2nd hosts other group 3rd in the lower league playoffs instead ?
Or, each 2nd hosts Div 1 7th and each 3rd away at Div 1 6th - so only the Div 2 finalists get automatic promotion.
Both group winners to Div 2 final / both go up."
I think your say 2 up and 2 down betemween the 16 team championships are automatic , 2 more position decide via a playoff between championship 1 and championship 2 . . That would be perfect , no moaning if relagated..

jfk21 (Dublin) - Posts: 51 - 20/05/2020 13:05:22    2278797

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Replying To Trump2020:  "If done right it could work. While Ireland would obviously be the center of Gaelic Games the vast majority of finances would come from outside Ireland. Of course the games would have to be very aggressively marketed outside Ireland. Example: Cycling's biggest event is the Tour De France but it's not just French cyclists and it's shown and marketed all over the world. As said before if you have a great product it would sell. And it's a lot better than a lot of the stuff that IS selling."
Betamax was a better product than VHS but VHS outsold it.

lionofludesch (Down) - Posts: 369 - 20/05/2020 13:57:57    2278806

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Replying To Trump2020:  "If done right it could work. While Ireland would obviously be the center of Gaelic Games the vast majority of finances would come from outside Ireland. Of course the games would have to be very aggressively marketed outside Ireland. Example: Cycling's biggest event is the Tour De France but it's not just French cyclists and it's shown and marketed all over the world. As said before if you have a great product it would sell. And it's a lot better than a lot of the stuff that IS selling."
Ya but cycling is raced all over the place and has donefrom the start it was just that TdF was the most popular of the early races and it was never just a sport for French expats like Gaelic games is around the world

Breezy (Limerick) - Posts: 1106 - 20/05/2020 16:39:22    2278823

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