Walsh makes provincial plea
Tyrone boss Mickey Harte and Meath manager Eamonn O’Brien slammed the current system after both their sides joined Roscommon and Kerry on the sidelines after a weekend of stunning results in Croke Park.
For the first time since the introduction of the backdoor in 2001, there will be no senior provincial champion competing in this month’s All-Ireland semi-finals but Munster Council chairman Sean Walsh insists that eradicating the provincial structures will not solve the problem.
“There can be no knee-jerk reaction. It’s the first time it has happened since the backdoor system came in that all of the champions are gone. The provinces have served us well. People might say it’s just a traditionalist viewpoint but for crowds, atmosphere and excitement they have a big role to play. Look at what happened in Connacht this year, do people want to take away the type of celebrations we saw with Roscommon winning?”
Walsh is also adamant the introduction of an open draw system will not cure the problem of sparse crowds and low-key atmospheres characterising the majority of early provincial championship games.
“If you go with an open draw, it will decimate the crowds. The only time that you’ll have strong attendances will be the concluding stages of the championship in Croke Park. Look at the Munster final this year in Killarney, it was an excellent game and one of the best in this year’s championship with a great attendance. What would you replace that with in an open draw? You’d end up with games like Kerry v Donegal in the middle of summer in Galway, played in front of a few thousand people with no atmosphere.”
Former GAA President and Irish Examiner columnist Sean Kelly believes the weekend results have major repercussions for the provincial championships.
He said: “The downside of all this romance is at what cost to the provincial championship. A week ago we saw all provincial runners-up bite the dust. Now last weekend we saw all provincial winners follow suit.
“The fallout from that statistic will be very interesting. Managers and players and the GPA can add a lot to that debate.
“Right now, the most worried officials in the GAA are at provincial council level. And they have good reason to be. Already the backdoor has knocked thousands off those attending many provincial finals – when did you have a full house for a Munster provincial final last?”
Walsh agrees that the disadvantage facing provincial champions must be tackled and believes that providing them with home advantage or a venue within their province, would provide an incentive.
The other option is to revisit the motion brought forward by Dublin and Tyrone at Congress which sought to provide a second chance for provincial champions defeated in the last eight.
“The motion came in from two clubs at convention,” explains Dublin County Board chairman Gerry Harrington. It made provision for an extra round in qualifiers whereby the four provincial winners would play each other in two quarter-finals with the two winners qualifying for the All-Ireland semi-finals.
“The two defeated teams from those games would play the two winners from round five. In other words the qualifiers would have an extra round. Currently four teams advance from the fourth round of the qualifiers but in this format, those four would advance to a fifth round with the two winning teams meeting two provincial champions. The motion was debated but there was very little support for it except for Dublin and Tyrone.”
But he insisted that the provincial titles remains high on the priority list for players and managers.
“I would say any county would be dreaming of winning a provincial championships. A provincial medal still means a huge amount. But the lack of a backdoor for the provincial winner is unfair and I think that needs to be readjusted.”
Connacht Council president Paddy Naughton dismissed fears that the weekend results will lead to root-and-branch reform of the way the football championship is structured at provincial and national level.
He reasoned: “There is a lot of talk regarding the qualifiers and the provincial championships but a lot of it is spur of the moment after the weekend results. People talk about having an open draw but I believe that attendances would suffer. You wouldn’t have the same crowds going to games big distances apart. There is also a levelling out of standards and the progress Louth and Down have made this year can only be good for the game.”
