GAA plan to revamp Football Championship structure - and include a group stage
The GAA have announced a discussion document for congress with possible major changes to the Championship structure.
GAA Director General Páraic Duffy has produced the proposals with the plan to “condense our calendar of inter-county games to give our club championships more room to breathe”.
The plans would leave the Provincial Championships unchanged but add an oft-suggested group stage to the All-Ireland Championship.
They've proposed four rounds of qualifiers as normal, with the four winners of the Round Four games joining the Provincial Champions in the Quarter-Finals.
The quarter-finals will feature two groups of four with two provincial champions joined by two Round Four qualifiers with the top two in each group advancing to the semi-finals.
“Pitting the eight best teams in the country against one another in this way would increase the number of high-quality matches at the height of the summer when playing conditions are optimal,” the GAA said in a statement.
“The new structure would provide a more exacting pathway to the All-Ireland final: the finalists will have had to compete with three of the best teams in the country at the group stage, followed by a semi-final with a top-four team that came through the same test. This will have the effect of ensuring that the finalists will have been equally tested and that the two best teams in the country contest the All-Ireland final.
“Both All-Ireland Semi-Finals would be played over the one weekend which should generate greater excitement and also ensure both teams have the same period of time to prepare for the All-Ireland Final.”
The document will be put to congress next year.
