A number of inter-county managers are not happy about Paraic Duffy's proposal to change the All-Ireland Football format.
Chief among the complaints are from Clare boss Colm Collins, and Fermanagh manager Peter McGrath. Collins especially described the idea as "pathetic", and think its a blow to seeing the likes of Tipperary making the quarter-finals again:
That’s what Tipp and Clare get for getting above their station. It’s pathetic. If you take the championship as a horse race and the same horse keeps winning the race, what the people do is look and see how they can change the conditions of the race and give everyone a genuine chance.
But the more the top guns keep winning, the more the odds are stacked in their favour. You need to give a bit of light to counties. There was a great buzz when we started to get on a run but that buzz must be experienced by other counties. I can’t understand why nobody is trying to stack the odds in favour of the Leitrims and Carlows. Give them a bit of a break rather than trying to bury them. It’s going to take a situation where Leitrim, and I’m not just picking on Leitrim, but a county won’t field because players are too disinterested.
Collins says that meaningful change can't be brought about without scraping the 'dinosaurs' that is the provincial championships, but that no one wants to go near the sacrosanct provincials.
Fermanagh boss McGrath thinks that its a huge blow to the weaker counties who were hoping to make breakthroughs like the one he brought Fermanagh to in 2015:
Having group stages would practically remove that in one fell swoop.It looks to me like it guarantees that the big teams won't be caught out.
Sligo manager Niall Carew said that he sees the merits in it, but that a round robin would be more beneficial to the weaker counties:
The bigger teams are getting more games when it's the less successful counties who should be getting them.
Alternatively, the GPA have broadly welcoming the move and see it as a progressive step. GPA spokesman Sean Potts said last night:
We would broadly and warmly welcome the proposals. And the intervention of the director general is a progressive step. Any attempt to improve the structures has to be welcomed.
The GPA had attempted to bring in their own proposals which featured round robins in place of the provincials at the last Congress, but it was rejected.
[Irish Examiner]
See Also: Here Are 6 Potential Upshots Of The Championship Changes Announced
Photo by Oliver McVeigh/Sportsfile
