The last point: Change game for Gaelic football needs a lot of goodwill

Sisyphus was a lad in Greek mythology condemned by the Gods to roll a boulder up a mountain only for the enchanted rock to tumble back down the hill each and every time he neared the crest, an eternity of repeating the same task over and over. It is an old, old tale but when it comes to GAA structures, it sounds very much like day to day life.

Sisyphus wasn't a particular pleasant bloke by all accounts, his crimes earning him his peculiar punishment but the cynic in me thinks that if I really wanted to act the maggot with anyone, I'd ask them to come up with an idea on how to improve something that is almost regarded as sacred, say a competition structure for the GAA, and then I'd ask them to sell it to the general public - even Sisyphus would quail at that thought!

If this sounds like a weird way to start a column dedicated to sport, well it is - and it is only weird because it is frankly a weird subject (no, I'm not talking about the US Presidential election where that very word 'weird' has been weaponised in incredibly effective ways). We all agree that change is a necessary element of life but once change arrives on our doorsteps, we rail against it.

Consider the growing backlash to Croke Park's decision to postpone next year's pre-season competitions, like the FBD Insurance Connacht League, for 2025. The Gaelic Players Association have been advocating for it so that players may actually get a bit of downtime at the end of the club season and it is hard to see why anybody could oppose the decision but some most definitely are opposed to the move.

The FBD League has developed into nothing more than a glorified challenge series - Leitrim fielded a strong side against Galway last January, the Tribe maybe at about one-third strength but what we're not hearing about the challenge games before and even during Christmas so teams can get ready for the FBD League.

In fairness, the money raised by the pre-season competitions go into hardships funds but at a time of the year when travelling poses difficulties to players and fans in terms of road conditions, I'll not lose any sleep if we don't have to trek across to Bekan in January for the FBD League.

Jim Gavin's Football Review Committee haven't come close yet to reaching any conclusions but already there is a concerted effort out there to stymie potential recommendations - at least wait until there is ink on paper before deciding if you're in favour of something or not. The irony is that for years any attempt to reform Gaelic football was hammered because it didn't have any current managers involved. Now that the FRC is laden down with some of the best managers to patrol a sideline, we're hearing that managers don't think about the good of the game, only what needs to be done to win.

Come to think of it but Sisyphus would rather roll that boulder up and down the slope of Mount Tartarus for eternity rather than make sense of what we want from Gaelic football. Example - the GAA's decision to postpone yet another revamping of the structure of the All-Ireland Senior and Tailteann Cup championships effectively means the structure remains in place next year.

Logistical difficulties were given as the reason behind the decision with many counties already deep into planning for 2025 - and us with a quarter of 2024 still to play out but all we've heard about is Oasis and the dire need for changing a structure only two years in existence. Whatever the merits of complaints about the new system, and many are justified, the fact that many counties are happy to rip up the structure two years into a three year trial period says quite a bit about the GAA right now.

We've had years of complaints that the Qualifier system did nothing for 'so called weaker counties' and only helped the strong but the new structure has been condemned in double quick time as some people don't seem to know what they want.

Three teams qualifying from the groups, some without winning a game, is a genuine source of angst and could be easily remedied by reducing the number of qualifiers per group to the top two. But that would almost certainly lead to dead-rubbers and that was one of the worries about the system before it was ever brought in so you can't win, no matter what you do.

We're hearing about a proposal that will come before a Special Congress that will effectively see a team exit the competition with two losses and to be fair, that sounds right. Everyone starts in the first round, the winners and losers divided into two sections, the winners progressing to round 2A where those winners progress straight to the quarter finals while everybody else gets one more chance.

The losers of 2A now wait for the winners of 2B to emerge - the clash of those counties who lost in round 1. Once the losers of 2A and winners of 2B, we have four teams going into the quarter-finals and we're on our merry way. Sounds simple but you don't have to be Stephen Hawking to see a few quirks in the system, primarily that once you get to the quarter finals, an unbeaten team could exit with their first loss while everybody else had got a do-over.

But under the now reviled current system, each county is guaranteed three games each Summer and as we're told each and every year, playing games is what develops a team. If the new plan is implemented, you could be done and dusted for the year after two losses in two games.

Some will welcome that, certainly those looking after finances won't complain. Those eliminated quickly will reduce their costs considerably and that's a genuinely good reason for many counties but the proposed new structure also adds to the competitive imbalance that will suit the stronger counties.
Win your first two games and you are in a Quarter Final while prospective opponents have maybe two more games, slogging through games, maybe incurring injuries or suspensions while you're honing your tactics and fitness. It doesn't help that any structure that includes the Provincial system as a key qualifying element impacts unfairly on the prospects of many counties.

Longford and Leitrim are neighbours with roughly the same population. Longford have more counties to get past to win a path to the All-Ireland series and while Dublin will ride roughshod over everyone else, a place in the All-Ireland series is there if you have the players and get a run going. Leitrim, on the other hand, have three teams who reached the knockout stages this year in their province so unless the Gods are kind and come up with an easy draw, the Green & Gold are immediately at an enormous disadvantage.

The same goes for Munster and Ulster - Fermanagh and Antrim are minnows that will nearly never challenge the established order. Leitrim played both last year in the Tailteann Cup and were well beaten but neither are getting near the battle for Sam via their provinces. Contrast that with Kerry's comfortable path to the All-Ireland down in Munster and the possibility that Tipperary or Waterford might pull off a shock and reach a provincial final.

It strikes me that we've become ever more reactionary - a couple of bad games and let's throw out the baby with the bath water. I'm not against new structures, in fact I believe we've got to change and innovate to keep things fresh, but we're already we're rowing back on promises to promote the so-caller weaker counties, the protected Sunday for the Tailteann Cup is going to vanish after hurling folk complained that two absolutely dire, one-sided wipeouts were on a Sunday and not the Saturday!

The starting point of any competition has got to be that everyone is treated the same - the big boys will come out on top but you've got to be fair to everyone, regardless of status or resources. We've had it in the Leitrim Senior Championship where some teams have had a much easier ride to the knockout stages purely down to the luck of the draw, a concept so outdated that even its most fervent advocates know the gig is up.

What we need know is the goodwill from everyone to come up with structures that serve all, not the few. Do that and there'll be no more need for change!

READ MORE: THE LAST POINT: Patient work starting to bear fruit