Three SFC proposals set for consideration

The GAA’s national fixtures task force are set to put forward three options to restructure the All-Ireland senior football championship proposals with a Special Congress next May possibly taking place to decide which one, if any, is supported.

As the Club Players Association (CPA) anticipated in a statement confirming their departure from the group this week, the task force in their final meeting on Wednesday agreed three restructures will be shortlisted — small changes to the current Championship, flipping the League model into the summer as the Championship and establishing four provincial conferences of eight teams.

Central Council will on Saturday be briefed on the three recommendations while also being issued with a list of motions that can be put on the Clár of Annual Congress in February should Ard Chomhairle see fit to do so.

The “Improved Status Quo” option, as titled by the CPA, would retain the Super 8s, which enters its third and final year of experimentation in 2020, but condense the duration of the inter-county season.

The CPA reported this model would provide 13 weekends for exclusive club championship/league matches in counties, eight for provincial and All-Ireland club games while 30 for inter-county between 16 for Championship, a week for Championship preparation, 10 for League and three for pre-season competitions.

‘The Flip’ involves the League format being replicated in the Championship, with counties commencing their campaigns concurrently. It is believed provincial leagues could replace the National Leagues in the spring.

The 4 x 8 proposal would mean counties from Leinster and Ulster having to transfer to Connacht and Munster. It would bring more symmetry to the Championship, also ensure all counties begin the competition at the same time. It is a blueprint similar to one put forward before by the Football Review Committee in 2012.

All three proposals could facilitate the second tier championship backed by Special Congress last month. The CPA had given conditional support to ‘The Flip’ and 4 x 8 models but their improvements to both were rejected.

The taskforce is expected to undertake a roadshow across the country in early 2020 in which they will explain the three proposals. Should a Special Congress in May get the go-ahead, it will be the second in eight months and third gathering in the same timespan including Annual Congress in three months’ time.

Several of the recommendations that will be put forward by the taskforce pertain to governance such as county boards being given a deadline to submit their club fixtures for the year and designating a period in which college competitions can take place unfettered.

It’s expected the taskforce will propose that the month of April for club matches only is enshrined in rule. To assist in that, they envisage the provincial inter-county championships starting later in May so that counties have a two to three-week space for preparations.

In turn, the All-Ireland championships would be condensed further, with the All-Ireland hurling final and occasionally the football decider continuing to take place in August. One of the proposals would see the football and hurling finals being played over consecutive Sundays.