GAA's marketing of the Championship

What other elite sport would open their biggest competition with a whimper like the game at the weekend Leitrim v New York.

A complete one sided affair with Leitrim winning at a canter 4-18 to 0-08. Not even covered or televised.

Not until the 26th of May do we have a big game with Tyrone and Donegal meeting in Ballbofey which I might add has a capacity of 18,000.

In the mean time, Cavan v Armagh and Carlow v Westmeath are left to wet the appetite.

Is it me or is it pathetic the way the GAA promote their games?

Galway v mayo may 19

Gets better........
http://gaa.ie/fixtures-and-results/championship-wall-charts/

It's unavoidable as long as the structure is as it is i.e. provincial

Ogie wrote:

It's unavoidable as long as the structure is as it is i.e. provincial

They could retain the current structure , making it more condensed.

Could have opened this weekend with Mayo v Galway and Tyrone v Donegal in Croke Park.

Also a good half time/ interval show and both games televised.

Scrap the provincial championships altogether and use the champions league format. It would throw up some interesting ties instead of the usual Galway v Mayo and Cork v Kerry shite.

I wouldn't hold my breath though.

I agree! For too long Kerry only had to beat Cork, and in the west with the exception of a decent sligo, roscommon teams, It was Galway and mayo.

Bringing Mayo/Galway & Donegal/Tyrone to Croker would be stupid HSB.. Last think we want is a near empty Croker with no atmosphire.. But I do agree with Taibi, a champions league format would be a great plan.

A champions league format with seedings based on finsihing places in the league. This would make the league more relevant and you could free up time by scrapping the league semis and final with the top team being crowned champions. The provincial system is grossly unfair and has worked to Kerry's advantage for too long.

Heisenberg wrote:

Ogie wrote:

It's unavoidable as long as the structure is as it is i.e. provincial

They could retain the current structure , making it more condensed.

Could have opened this weekend with Mayo v Galway and Tyrone v Donegal in Croke Park.

Also a good half time/ interval show and both games televised.

It would have to be a lot more condensed, I agree... otherwise you start with that and there will be a big break somewhere. But you couldn't have had Mayo v Galway before Leitrim and New York as you have to have the preliminary round of a competition before the first round.

To me, for the system to be fair, the provincial structure has to go. And then you can have first rounds, qualifiers or CL format or whatever you want, but it's a fair, even system, with everyone playing the same day or weekend, the same break, and a defined inter-county championship season. You'd also have some new games as Taibi says. What's more, it would free up more time for club football.

But it will never happen because there's too much money involved. No ethos issues there.

With the Backdoor System in place now, the Winning of your Provincial Title has even less relevance to most of the top Teams..

the GAA have a press office, marketing dept and god knows what else and yet they never come up with anything.
they leave it to the sponsors who hire ad agencies and pr firms to run their stuff.

i mean ffs that unexpect the expected ad was some joke. you had karl lacey saying the line and his face wasn't even on the camera.

in happier news bit of back splapping here. bradys are doing good work with social media and so on to help pormote the ballers and camogs.

and, yet more backslapping, i notice at the home place and in relatives the people are supporting the sponsor.

I'm not sure if a Champions League type format would work. Potential for too many dead rubber matches once the better teams qualify.

Regardless of what format the championship has there will always be imperfections. The current format has plenty but I'm yet to hear of a solution that isn't without it's own problems. There has been talk of redrawing the provincial boundaries and have eight teams in each province but would say Louth be best pleased if they were moved into Ulster? Donegal and Longford to Connacht? Laois to Munster? I don't think that would work either.

The current system is here to stay for the foreseeable future because the provincial councils will resist any attempts to change the structure.

I appreciate your point KK but I think already there are a lot of games that are effectively dead rubbers. There are arguably only four games prior to the August Bank Holiday weekend that really mean anything, one in each province - Kildare v Dublin, Donegal v Tyrone, Mayo v Galway and Cork v Kerry.

I think most people would like to see a CL format at least tried, eight groups of four then a last 16, but as we all know the provincial councils just want the filthy lucre.

There'd be a hell of a lot of mismatches in that system as well, more so even, because you'd end up with eight division four counties in separate groups more than likely taking three hidings.

Also, a CL format is fine for the counties that can realistically hope to win the AI, but what about the 20 others? The big dream in Fermanagh, for example, is to win a first ever Ulster title; realistically, what would they be playing championship for without that target? And there's loads of other counties like that. This year, for example, I think it's safe to say that eight counties MAX are competing for Sam. A CL format would leave 20 others with nothing to aim for.

You'd never again have scenes like Clare 92, Leitrim 94, Westmeath 04, Sligo 07, and so on. Not saying the current system doesn't have major flaws but I disagree the solution is as easy as just chucking out eight groups of four.

I like the present system with the back door, and a provincial title would be a cherished achievement in a lot of counties.
I can still remember the thrill of 98 and 2000, and I would love to win a Leinster this year, or any year for that matter.
An open draw or any format other than the present provincial system would take away from our games. and the local rivalry that is all part of the GAA, in my opinion

Ohtoohtobe wrote:

There'd be a hell of a lot of mismatches in that system as well, more so even, because you'd end up with eight division four counties in separate groups more than likely taking three hidings.

Also, a CL format is fine for the counties that can realistically hope to win the AI, but what about the 20 others? The big dream in Fermanagh, for example, is to win a first ever Ulster title; realistically, what would they be playing championship for without that target? And there's loads of other counties like that. This year, for example, I think it's safe to say that eight counties MAX are competing for Sam. A CL format would leave 20 others with nothing to aim for.

You'd never again have scenes like Clare 92, Leitrim 94, Westmeath 04, Sligo 07, and so on. Not saying the current system doesn't have major flaws but I disagree the solution is as easy as just chucking out eight groups of four.

Like everything, like the league... it's important to those without grander designs. It's not important to those with their eyes on the big prize (Ulster excepted).

I accept it entirely that it would be unreal for Kildare to win a Leinster. But it is a fact that it is not an even and fair system. And stanley, the back door is relatively new yet you like that... But it has absolutely killed the club game.

Anyway, like I said, it's a moot point. Qualifiers are here forever as are the provincial championships. #moolah

With the drive and commitment among the top teams over the past decade, we're not going to see a repeat of Clare, Leitrim or Westmeath any time soon.

Actually of the four games I mentioned earlier, two are played before the end of May, which means that at the height of summer, June and July, there will be exactly TWO meaningful games in the football championship, one each month. I mean, come on, it's no way to run any competition.

But I agree with Ogie, money talks, it's not going to change in a hurry.