Letter to the Editor: Gaelic football needs a ‘level playing field’

There is great urgency to find a”level playing-field” solution for Brexit. It is equally urgent to find a “level playing-field” solution for inter-county Gaelic football. Otherwise, we may lose one of the great treasures of our past.

The GAA would do well to watch how the UK and EU solve the great problem of “a level playing field”. If the protagonists find a solution in the Brexit context, perhaps it could be adapted to solve the great Gaelic football conundrum and save a really beautiful game from oblivion.

On Sunday last some of those with an interest in the GAA watched two of the most enjoyable and intriguing games played in recent times; or at least since the great cancer that is destroying the All-Ireland competition began to take effect. Gaelic football was played as it was intended and as it was played to the enjoyment of players and spectators alike for almost 130 years. That was before a coincidence of two developments saw the game deteriorate into the shambolic boring mess which is beginning to render playing of inter-county football beyond provincial level redundant. That would however leave the problem of 11 counties of Leinster.