Following the recent heavy defeats handed out by Mayo, Cork, Kerry, and Dublin, there has been much clamouring for the restructuring of the gaelic football championship as it appears as though the so-called 'elite' are suddenly so far ahead of rest. However, I have found myself asking how recent is this 'elitist emergence' and is the game in such dire straits at inter-county level that such a radical overhaul is required? Or is this just another high-profile overreaction that seem to be commonplace in the modern GAA?
Growing up, my earliest GAA memories are from the mid-eighties. This was an era when Cork and Kerry would annually battle it out in Munster, while Dublin and Meath dominated Leinster. Ulster was by far the most competitive province but a northern county had not won an All-Ireland since 1968. Mayo, Galway, or Roscommon would emerge from Connacht and had to be respected but never feared. Hammerings were commonplace in the early rounds of the championship, yet the most attention they got was maybe a gasp upon reading the scoreline in the matchday programme later in the year. Between Down's successes in 1968 and 1991, only five counties lifted Sam: Kerry, Dublin, Meath, Cork, and Offaly. Contrast that with five different All-Ireland winners over the past five seasons.
The introduction of the open draw at provincial level in 1991 co-incided with a period of Ulster dominance, and while it would be unfair to discredit the northern emergence, it was helped by earlier than usual exits or longer campaigns for the traditional powers. Moreover, the open draw brought greater attention to the early rounds of the championship, beginning with the four game saga between Meath and Dublin. Live television coverage, which was previously only reserved for All-Ireland semi-finals and finals, was soon extended to provincial championships. Meanwhile, with corporate sponsors on board for the hurling and football championships, the redevelopment of Croke Park underway, and county boards cashing in on sponsorship deals of their own, the GAA moved into a bold new era. With a growing appetite amongst supporters for "Championship Sundays", came an increasing pressure on players to perform and succeed for their county. Training and preparation were taken to near professional levels, yet months of committment for one 70 minute game didn't seem fair. And so came the backdoor system, where every county defeated in the provincial championship would get a second-chance through the qualifiers.
While no doubt the backdoor system was designed with the weaker counties in mind, and has succeeded in its original intention of ensuring at least two championship matches for every side, the stronger counties have arguably been the greater beneficeries in that they can afford an early season slip-up and still be there at the business end. The real question is, has the qualifer system improved the quality of the football championship? Since its introduction I don't believe anyone can argue that the best team in the country hasn't emerged as champions. While the pure knockout intensity of the early rounds of the provincial championships has been compromised, I don't buy it that any county settles on progressing through the back door route. Furthermore the era of blanket defence and cynical fouling - a topic that I have deliberately avoided discussing in this article - has evolved in tandem as teams, and particularly team management, adopt a 'win at all costs' mentality, demonstrating that competitiveness is as ripe as ever. The qualifier system has, more often than not, seen the strongest teams in the country - with the odd though refreshing exception - reach the last eight come the August bank holiday weekend, which the realists, though maybe not the romantics, would have to admit is good for the product.
However, the big issue facing the GAA is that, like a modern-day government, it must balance an economic responsbility of providing the best product possible to spectators, against a social responsbility of equitably promoting its games. Given its amateur status, many would argue that the latter should be a greater concern, but the reality is that gaelic games compete with all others sports, the majority of which are professional, for players and supporters alike, and marketing and brand awareness are key considerations for the modern-day association. Finding the balance is a huge challenge particularly with all the different interest groups in the GAA. There's no doubt that the qualifier system has had a major impact on the club scene because of the extra fixtures, although I do feel that some individual county boards are also partly to blame in not properly proactively addressing and facilitating a balance between club and county demands.
So back to the original point, should the championship be restructured to counteract the emergence of an elite? My quick answer would be no, but rather changes are needed to embrace the elite. The two usual solutions often thrown out there are to scrap the provincial championships in favour of an All-Ireland open-draw, and the so-dubed Champions League model with a preliminary group stage followed by knock-out. I'm firmly against both as neither would actually improve the situation - in fact the latter would greatly worsen matters when you imagine all the potential mismatches and dead rubbers. While a provincial title might not mean much to the 'elite', it can still be a realistic goal of many counties, or at least the opportunity to reach a final. And the provinces are steeped in rivalaries - in a recent interview, Pat Spillane was asked how many Munster medals he had? He wasn't certain which begged the question if they really mattered - he very promptly replied that any day they beat Cork really mattered.
So I'm going to conclude by saying that it is far too romantic an idea that inter-county football can be a completely level playing field, and that every county can eat at the top table. There are very obvious tiers - in fact almost every match preview will make reference to the competing counties league divisional status. I haven't quite worked it all out yet, but at club level we have senior, intermediate, and junior championships. Okay, at first it's going to be as popular as pay-cuts or tax increases amongst those affected, but just look at the excitement that winning a junior county championship brings to a parish - or winning promotion brings to fans of a lower division soccer club cross-channel. As for the other problems in the modern game - well that's for another day's discussion.
