Farrell: FRC proposals not radical enough
The former Dublin star and All-Ireland-winning minor manager gave a lukewarm reaction to the Football Review Committee’s proposal to retain the provincial structures with a slight tweaking.
The FRC want to take four weaker teams from Leinster and Ulster and place them in Munster and Connacht, ensuring eight teams in each of the four provinces.
Breaking provincial boundaries would be a historic development but it’s still a long way from the Champions League style open draw that many players apparently favour.
Farrell’s GPA claimed in the past that a ‘growing majority’ of their members favoured a move away from the current provincial model.
Such a change would be difficult to deliver, however, and Farrell suggested that the FRC brought forward a proposal that they felt stood a legitimate chance of being passed.
“In the GAA, we seem to temper any blue skies thinking with a sense of ‘Jesus, that’ll never get through Congress’ or ‘this might fail at a particular hurdle’,” said Farrell.
“I think that has an influence on our bigger thinking which is unfortunate but it’s just the reality.
“I think a lot of these groups that try to come together and bring ideas forward and make recommendations are challenged with that particular difficulty as well.
“What can you expect to succeed with here? So there’s a level of pragmatism that’s brought to bear because of the reality of the conservative nature of the organisation and the bureaucracy involved.
“I’d like to give it (the FRC proposal) a shot. What’s proposed here, in terms of the sequencing of games, if you were to ask me, and this is my own personal opinion, it’s probably not radical enough, in terms of the provincial competitions still remaining part of the All-Ireland series.
“But, again, we’ve had difficulty in trying to make sense of that with our own members. A lot of players are in favour of the Champions League format yet they don’t want to do down the provincial competition because the level of ambition for a lot of players is that they feel it’s as far as they can possibly reach, given the counties they’re playing with.”
The FRC’s proposal to alter the Championship is a central part of their overall drive to make more space for regular club activity in the summer months.
To bring it all to fruition, the GAA may be forced to scrap certain competitions or games.
“Overall, my sense is that it’s a very good document and that it’s a catalyst for further exploration and investigation,” said Farrell. “And I think we need to move on it and ask some of the hard questions here.
“Like, do we want change in the Championship? And if we do, whatsacred cows have to be removed from the equation?
“So we have to start putting the gun to our heads a little bit.”
The FRC also want a guaranteed minimum number of club championship games during the summer months while they propose that the provincial and All-Ireland series be run off by the end of each calendar year.
Farrell is supportive of a ‘structured calendar’ for club players but rejected the suggestion that the GAA should be catering more for the 99% of club players in its Association and not just the elite county players.
“I think we need to be careful we don’t throw the baby out with the bath water,” continued Farrell. “Because the county competition is the shop window. That’s where we win over the hearts and minds of the youngsters, the next generation coming through. That’s where the commercial revenue is generated. That’s where the supporters are harvested and cultivated. TV rights, all that sort of thing spawns from the shop window.
“We need to be mindful that there has to be a symbiotic relationship because you can’t have one without the other, it’s as simple as that.
“But I wouldn’t go so far as to say you have to base the whole calendar around the club scene because I think that could come back to bite you.”
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