Munster Chair insists Council will oppose moves to tweak senior hurling format
Munster GAA chair Tim Murphy. Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
The Munster SHC remains the gleaming jewel in the province's crown with this season's games expected to generate around €8m in revenue.
And Munster Council chairman Tim Murphy has insisted that they'll oppose any moves to tweak the competition's format, or to allow a fourth team to qualify from the round-robin in future.
The Kerryman said that with stadiums 'maxed out' for each round of games in this year's provincial competition, which concluded last weekend, 'I'm not sure we can actually get any more people to go to the hurling games'.
Murphy outlined how the Munster football championship, which climaxed with a final between Kerry and Cork that drew 32,691 to Fitzgerald Stadium last month, is likely to have generated around €1m in revenue.
"Probably just shy of a million (euros) for the football, and the hurling would generate eight," said Murphy. "So it gives you a perspective on the imbalance, from a monetary point of view certainly, between both hurling and football."
It is why Murphy stated that, along with the issue of shifting demographics, football development is high up on the provincial council's list of priorities.
But the hurling championship simply needs to be left alone, according to the Brosna clubman.
"We had a meeting only last Thursday night, and we actually discussed this, our secretary made a presentation on the whole structure, and every county, bar none, was supportive of maintaining the Munster senior hurling championship in its current format," said Murphy.
Asked who he felt may wish to change the format, Murphy pointed to 'external noise' that has been generated 'over the last number of years'.
"That was what we actually intended to do, on the night, just to see where are counties in Munster at when it comes to that?" he said of the structure question. "And there was no ambiguity, high up or low down, everyone wants the Munster hurling championship to continue in its current format with three qualifying from the province."
Waterford were the team that finished fourth this season.
"From our perspective, and from listening to our own counties, if we did go down that road (of four teams qualifying), which we never will, based on the conversations we've had recently, the jeopardy, that kind of championship nature that we currently have in Munster hurling, would be gone," said Murphy. "And for that reason, we don't see any reason to change it.
"I suppose championship should be championship and there should be a serious amount of jeopardy and risk for everyone involved. It's that, in our view, that actually makes it an attractive proposition.
"It makes it attractive from a player's point of view. It makes it attractive from a manager's point of view. And from the public's point of view, they are drawn to matches where there is jeopardy and where their county has a chance of qualifying, or their county is at risk of bowing out of the championship in any given year. So that's a very important set of ingredients to try to maintain."
As regards the Munster football championship, Murphy said that the seeding arrangement currently in place was necessary.
"It's not set in stone but if we continued to allow an open draw to continue in the province, the likelihood of totally imbalanced Munster finals would continue into the future," he said.
Clare have proposed that unseeded, weaker counties be given home advantage for a provincial semi-final, as well as a final if they qualify.
"Clare are quite entitled to put, or to bring that motion forward, and the counties of the province will ultimately decide," said Murphy, who declined to offer a personal opinion.
He did outline a figure of €400,000 which is likely to be ploughed into football development in Munster across a three-year period.
"We have money ring-fenced now from this year's Munster football championship, specifically for football development in the province," he said. "We've done that last year and we'll do it again next year.
"Maybe just to deviate a little bit off the point, at schools level, as a council we do feel that an intervention at post-primary level is one of the most beneficial ways of 100% enhancing standards."
Munster and All-Ireland title holders Kerry, as well as Cork, will both be involved in knock-out championship games this weekend that won't be televised. Murphy said he was keeping an open mind regarding the scheduling and broadcasting of games until the new All-Ireland format, as well as the GAA+ broadcaster, have been in place for a couple of seasons.
He spoke strongly about the need to upskill club coaches, in both codes, to allow units to appoint managers from within in the future.
He said clubs may even be 'incentivised' with grant aid, 'as opposed to facilitating this culture that has developed where people are coming and getting paid to do what should be voluntary work'.
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