This is the vision: a spring, summer and early autumn season of spellbinding football matches between the glamour teams, Sunday tumbling into Sunday of fevered hype and live TV and all the time a thickening intrigue as Ulster teams venture into Connacht seeking points and the storied counties from Munster and Leinster clash in early summer. And this before the sacred provincial finals even begin. Onwards to a brave new world for the GAA . . .

When details of Monday evening's launch in Croke Park concerning the structure of the football championship filtered into print in the Star newspaper midweek, it took a couple of days for the full impact of the proposal to sink in. Sudden death for the already ailing league and the thriving All-Ireland championship.

Instead, the creation of a brand new super-championship, to be run on a north-south basis from March through to October, represents a radical and unprecedented mood of enlightenment within the GAA, a sweeping attempt to embrace the call for change that has found an increasingly appreciative listenership in recent years.

While the precise details of the blueprint for a new championship have yet to be announced, the contents of the leaked information were acknowledged as accurate by a member of the Football Development Committee responsible for the plan.

On the face of it, the new package is incredibly appealing, with every intercounty team guaranteed at least 10 games, a competition played during the (theoretically) fine days of March through to late September and a divisional system which manages to be all-embracing while protecting the historic provincial crowns.

Players and managers alike will be able to operate around a precisely-defined season and the cruelty of the knock-out system will be a thing of the past. So absolute is the move to change that it seems incongruous that it has been composed by an official branch of the GAA.

How it is received by its extended family between now and Congress will be interesting to observe in the coming months. It is not so much walking away from tradition as permanently emigrating. It will radically alter the face of the existing structure. "It certainly is radical," observed Galway manager John O'Mahony on Thursday. "The first thing that strikes you is that, if passed, this new system would obviously signal an end to the old way whereby the winner takes all and I think that that is one issue which will be a major talking point. But against that, there is definitely a mood for change in the air now and this would be in keeping with that feeling."

Supporters of this new wave of thought can point to the fact that the new system offers more games for every county. Summarised simply, the best seven teams in Ulster and the top four in Connacht will play in the northern section. The top seven in Leinster and the big four in Munster will form the southern section.

After every team plays 10 matches, the top four placed sides in Leinster and Ulster go on to play in their respective provincial semi-finals and from there to the traditional provincial final.

The top two placed Connacht and Munster teams go on to play their provincial finals. London and the 10 teams that don't qualify for the north-south divisions are placed in a B championship and will also get 10 games each. The winners gain promotion to the top flight for the subsequent championship.

"For us, the idea of getting 10 games a year in good weather is very appealing," commented Ger Halligan, Wexford's football manager. "But the system isn't without pitfalls. I mean, to really benefit, we would have to get into the top divisions or else I can't really see how any team will progress.

"I remember when I was playing the league divisions went from one to four and you were stuck playing the same teams and there was a certain monotony about it. There is the incentive there to go and win the thing now and move up to the premier grade but for teams who can't do that, it could be grim."

As well as that, the very concept of a B championship could carry psychological consequences for the sense of self-worth of those involved. While developing counties regularly lament the fact that their fate is to play one afternoon in the summer only to see their season ended by a stronger neighbour, now at least they are in the same pot.

The championship as it stands has provided the backdrop for days of improbable romance, such as Leitrim's 1994 Connacht championship triumph.

"While the current system is hard to succeed under, at least all counties are united by the one dream, however unlikely," says O'Mahony, who managed the 1994 Leitrim team. "Going back to my time in Leitrim, the aim for the following year was to win Connacht again and maybe perform better in Croke Park." But no matter how fondly Leitrim fans reminisce on that success, the county contested an All-Ireland semi-final only twice ever, despite producing some great players over the decades.

Standing just fractionally below the levels of consistent competitiveness, are counties like Laois (last Leinster title 1946), Tipperary (1935), Fermanagh (never emerged from Ulster) and Clare (two Munster titles, the last in 1992). How disadvantageous could any change be to them?

"Yes, there is that argument," agreed Halligan. "For the teams that qualify for the north and south divisions, there is a lot to look forward to. And even for teams in the lower section, the thought of playing games in good weather is definitely appealing. There are very positive elements to this, but I think it is important that the profile of the B competition doesn't suffer and that participants in it don't feel as though they are an afterthought.

"And I mean, it is nice for smaller teams to run out against the big guns now and again. Wexford has a strong football tradition and if, in an open draw situation, we drew Meath or Dublin at home, that would be great motivation in itself. Smaller teams would not like to see the opportunity for such days closed off to them."

Equally, the power counties will be reluctant to meet each other more often than once.

"Look, every county will look at this from their own perspective," pointed out O'Mahony. "For instance, when Galway beat Mayo in 1998 in the first round, it was a fine psychological boost, as I'm sure it was for Mayo the previous year. It is a hurdle cleared. Knowing that teams just beaten could well have to be met down the road, as would be the case in the new system, is probably not the most comforting thought." But if managers will interpret a 10-game, highly-charged league based championship as something which will involve a total re-drafting of their daily schedules, for players it must seem like a wonderfully liberating prospect.

"I can definitely see the positives there," declared Meath corner back and current All-Star nominee Cormac Murphy after he was informed of the proposals. "For a start, the March to October aspect needs to be adopted anyway, even into the current regime. And the idea of playing plenty of games in the better weather is appealing.

"I'm glad that they are planning to retain the provincial structures because I feel that they are extremely important to all counties and no one would welcome an end to it. My one concern would be the B championship structure, I think that it could have a counter-effect and that teams now perceived as weak could actually end up becoming weaker. But the plan is definitely taking steps in the right direction."

While the precise details have yet to be clarified, this vision of the future will also affect the way the club championship is run and will propel the GAA into a faster, tighter, more explosive season. Comparisons will be drawn, in fact, with a certain sports programme across the Irish sea.

"There does seem to be a Premiership element to it," noted O'Mahony. "And it seems likely that it will generate a significant amount of money. I suppose the obvious question then will be that in this new climate, how long before the spectre of professionalism rears its head?"