Éamonn Fitzmaurice: GAA has selfishly prioritised provincial championships that are a dead duck
Motion 19 was defeated as it failed to get 60%. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie
My initial feeling on Saturday afternoon as news emerged of a majority voting for Proposal B but it’s ultimate failure was one of disappointment and frustration, if not surprise. It is an opportunity missed.
Regardless of which spectrum I viewed it through, I felt Proposal B had way more positives than negatives.
Simple enough tweaks could solve some of the issues and anomalies that have been flagged in recent weeks.
Regardless of which cap I was wearing as I thought it through, be it from a club perspective, from the Kerry angle, from the general wellbeing of football point of view, from the lower ranked counties’ perspective or from a supporters’ viewpoint; it was progress, it was positive, and as a starting point it should have been embraced.
Instead, we are reverting to a system that was officially deemed broken over four years ago, and was dysfunctional for long before that. In fact delegates were so anxious for change in 2017 that the Super 8s was heralded in with 76% of the vote. This time round, the suits, as epitomised by Michael Reynolds this week, selfishly prioritised the provincial championships that are a dead duck.
Reynolds was defending the indefensible in trying to defend the Leinster Championship. Yes I know Ulster is a decent championship and always has been and its importance, tradition, and relevance in Ulster is huge. One decent provincial championship does not save the football championship in general though.
Interestingly, in 137 years of the association Ulster counties have won a combined total of 18 All-Irelands, which considering the luminaries of the game that have plied their trade up there is hardly groundbreaking stuff. While accepting the historical challenges faced, maybe broadening the horizons would serve their counties and teams better in the long run.
There has been a lot of guff about the healthy debate that was had around this issue and that change is coming. However, we are notoriously slow to change things within the GAA. It took a global pandemic to see the split season implemented. Without the intervention of Covid-19 I doubt that would have happened either.
While we can all be so proud of our unique community-based organisation and all that is good about it, unfortunately within the GAA there can be a selfish myopia that means people only look directly at what is affecting themselves, be that the team they are involved with, the club or county they are from or, in this case, their provincial championship.
We are all guilty of it. Visionaries with an unbiased overview are few and far between. Sometimes a leap of faith is required and the consequences might surprise even the likes of
Michael Reynolds and Brian McAvoy of Ulster.
The qualifiers were initially introduced at a Special Congress in October 2000. Speaking at that Special Congress, Jack Mahon, Galway PRO and himself an All-Ireland medal winner, said that he felt he was “standing in the dyke against a torrent” and emphasised his belief in the straight knockout format.
“When you win, you win and when you lose, you lose.”
I am sure the following September the irony wasn’t lost on Jack and he was happy to admit he was wrong as Gary Fahey lifted Sam Maguire, Galway having emerged as champions via the inaugural qualifiers.
This week I heard some of delegates that had voting rights at the Special Congress speaking about the proposals. Their understanding of the proposals was sketchy at best. I found it amazing that after all the debate that delegates didn’t understand the proposals inside out. The secret ballot is also an insult to all Gaels. For such an important motion every county and every club should know how their delegates voted. Delegates should have the courage of their conventions and hiding behind a secret ballot is nonsense. Interestingly, a CPA motion was introduced at Congress in 2018 to have the secret ballot removed for votes of this magnitude but unsurprisingly it was roundly defeated, by... yes a secret ballot.
I think we all except that there is no perfect solution and those waiting for that are living in cloud cuckoo land.
The three biggest issues that seemed to spook delegates was the de-coupling of the provincial championships from the All-Ireland series and the legitimate worry about the potential devaluing of them; the fate of the bottom three teams in Division 1; and the winners of Division 3 and 4 being admitted to the knockout stages of the Sam Maguire competition.
A few simple solutions to link the provincial championships to the All-Ireland series and to maintain their status and importance would be as follows:
Firstly, as there are always four home and three away games in the league, the provincial champions could be awarded the extra home game for the league championship.
Even if all four champions came from Division 1 this would still work. A second solution would be for the provincial champions to be kept apart at All-Ireland quarter final stage and to be guaranteed a home All-Ireland quarter-final should they get there.
Finally, provincial champions could be straight through to the All-Ireland quarter-final, but this would probably significantly compromise Division 1 of the league championship and could possibly create more problems that it would solve.
With regard to the three teams finishing in sixth, seventh, and eighth position in Division 1 being out of the championship, in many ways my attitude would be tough luck and see you next year.
They have had seven championship matches and haven’t earned a position in the top five. They don’t deserve to advance and are unlikely to win the All-Ireland anyway if their form is as patchy as that.
I have seen it written that Kerry wouldn’t have advanced in 2014 based on the league standings as we finished sixth. That is comparing apples to oranges. In 2014 Kerry were unbeaten in the championship and won the All-Ireland. Playing in the league with half a squad and with different priorities is very different to being locked and loaded for championship football.
If it was really felt that the teams in sixth, seventh, and eighth of Division 1 should be afforded another opportunity, they could play off against the teams emerging from Division 2, 3, and 4.
Finally to the argument that Division 3 and 4 teams will be playing Division 1 teams in the Sam Maguire competition and that this will result in lopsided contests. Too often, this happens annually in the provincial championships and is one of the reasons so many people are anxious for change. Also, is it not important when starting out in the championship to give every team the chance (however remote that chance) to win Sam Maguire and to avoid exclusion?
I feel that these issues could have all been ironed out but I also think the GAA dropped the ball by not organising a live television debate and by not reassuring the provincial councils around funding. If Kevin O’Donavan had debated against Michael Reynolds or Brian McAvoy I feel the Cork man would have won plenty more people over to the potential of Proposal B and to the exciting route our championship could have gone down.
It’s not all doom and gloom though. I am an optimist at heart and would hope that this will be revisited immediately and in time for the February congress. Larry McCarthy seemed to suggest as much afterwards. I got the impression he has something up his sleeve and we will hear about this sooner rather than later. When 80% of the players, half of the delegates at Congress, as well as many many people nationally including myself want to see change, they will realise they have to keep searching for that solution.
In the short term I think the GAA really needs to get the Tailteann Cup right for the 2022 season. If that takes off as it should and is a positive experience for the supporters and players of the participating counties it will be huge.
For it to succeed as I have highlighted in these pages previously it has to be marketed properly to ensure it has the profile it deserves. Live television will need to be a given as will the games being played on the big days as curtain raisers to matches in the Sam Maguire competition.
I also feel the Tailteann Cup final has to be played on the day of the All-Ireland final. All-Ireland final day is an exclusive and special day and if we are serious about the secondary competition we have to give it an appropriate stage. I would have the minors first, the Tailteann Cup second, and the Sam Maguire decider third.
Croke Park is well capable of taking three games in a day, especially at the height of summer. I understand ticket-wise this will be challenging and if it proved unmanageable as a compromise we could have a festival of football on All-Ireland weekend with a double header featuring the minors and the U20s on Saturday evening in Croke Park, and the senior deciders on Sunday. Finally, there will have to be an All-Star team for the Tailteann Cup teams and a significant holiday for the winning team also.
