Leagues the prime targets for makeover

Gaelic Games Competitions restructuring: The GAA's much-mooted proposals for restructuring the league and championship were outlined in Croke Park yesterday, and it wasn't a complicated process.

The hurling and football championships will essentially continue as they are, with some modifications to the qualifiers, although both leagues are set for a major shake-up if the proposals are approved at the Special Congress in Croke Park on October 14th.

As expected, the provincial championships remain untouched. There is a suggestion, which wasn't expected, the football league finals be done away with. One of the more interesting proposals is that the eight lowest-ranked teams in the league be ineligible for the football qualifiers and go straight into the Tommy Murphy Cup. In hurling, the two qualifying groups are to be entirely separate, based on when teams are eliminated from provincial championships.

Interestingly, the proposals have already been put before the GAA's Central Games Committee, who have inserted further options of their own ahead of the Special Congress. GAA president Nickey Brennan explained the process from here, expressing his satisfaction with the proposals drafted by the Football Task Force and the Hurling Development Committee (HDC).

"We're giving counties an opportunity to consider the reports of the two work groups, including the options made by the GAC," said Brennan. "There is still some food for thought, a sort of a la carte menu, if you like.

"They have until the end of next week to come back to us, but when the proposals go to the Special Congress they will be the agreed set of proposals. Central Council will meet immediately after Congress to deal with the league changes. So we hope to have all decisions made that evening, ready to get our schedules in place for 2007 and for 2008."

The hurling league was always going to be given a shake-up, as the existing format fails to excite. The HDC, chaired by Kilkenny's Ned Quinn, didn't even consider scrapping the provincial structure, but after that, Quinn says, they were given "a blank sheet of paper".

So they've totally rewritten the format. Under the proposals, nine teams will make up division one (Clare, Cork, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford, Galway, Kilkenny, Offaly, and Wexford - based on current ratings) and that allows four home and four away games each, the top four reaching the play-offs.

Division two would have nine teams (Antrim, Down, Dublin, Laois, Carlow, Kildare, Meath, Westmeath and Kerry) and the same format as division one. Division three would have eight teams (Mayo, Roscommon, Armagh, Derry, London, Wicklow, Donegal and Longford) and division four seven (Louth, Leitrim, Sligo, Cavan, Fermanagh, Monaghan and Tyrone). One team would be promoted and one relegated, and teams scoring two or more goals from play would earn a bonus point.

The hurling championship sticks largely to the current format - 12 teams contesting the Liam MacCarthy Cup (tier one), 10 the Christy Ring Cup (tier two), and 12 the Nicky Rackard Cup (tier three). There won't, however, be relegation or promotion, the HDC feeling the gulf in class is still too great.

At present tier one consists of Cork, Clare, Waterford, Limerick, Tipperary, Kilkenny, Wexford, Dublin, Offaly, Laois, Galway and Antrim; tier two has Carlow, Kildare, Meath, Westmeath, Wicklow, Kerry, London, Down, Mayo and Kerry; and tier three has Armagh, Cavan, Donegal, Fermanagh, Monaghan, Tyrone, Leitrim, Roscommon, Sligo, Longford, Louth, and Warwickshire.

In tier one, Galway, Antrim and the first-round losers in Leinster and Munster play off in one qualifying group, and the second group is made up of the beaten semi-finalists in Leinster and Munster. This produces the All-Ireland quarter-finalists, which means - contrary to what was mooted - provincial champions gain no advantage.

The Football Task Force, chaired by Páraic Duffy, also tacked the league in a big way, leaving the championship relatively intact. The league will continue within the calendar year, and a straight four-division format is proposed, with two or three teams relegated and promoted. There is a provision for this format to be introduced in 2007, where the top flight contains the four best teams from 1A and 1B of 2006 (Mayo, Kerry, Tyrone, Dublin, Laois, Galway, Derry and Down).

Duffy admitted, however, it was likely the change would be held back until 2008, allowing teams decide their fate next year.

The task force are also proposing the team that tops a division wins that division, though Duffy accepted the GAC's option of playing league finals would likely prevail.

In the football championship, the main proposal is that the eight lowest-ranked teams in the league would play in the provincial championship as usual, but if they lose they would go into the Tommy Murphy Cup - the only exception being if they have made provincial finals.

This will reduce the qualifier format from four rounds to three: round one involving all eligible teams that don't make provincial finals (16 teams, eight games); round two involving round-one winners (eight teams, four games); and round three matching the winners of round two with provincial runners up - these rounds to be run on an open draw, meaning teams can meet twice.

Both sets of proposals are designed to facilitate the club programme, including the playing of football and hurling qualifiers on the same dates, two defined windows for club fixtures and the more frequent use of extra-time rather than replays.