New Championship format

I understand Monasterevin have a proposal before next Tuesday county board meeting to change the format of next years championship:

it is based I believe on the models used in Dublin and Laois.

Round 1 is an open draw which give 8 winners and 8 losers

Round 2

8 winners play off against each other with the 4 winners progressing to the quarter finals.

8 losers from round 1 also play off against each other, the 4 winners progress to the next round and pay against the 4 losers from the above games.

The 4 losers from these games go into the relegation playoff

Round 3

The 4 losers from the winners games play off againsts the 4 winners from the losers group games. This gives the remaining quarter finalists.

Quarter finals

The 4 winners from the winners group in round 2 play off against the winners of the round 3 games

Semi Finals will be an open draw.

Has any clubs discussed this proposal or will each delegate have to make up their own mind on the night.

Are people in favour of this format as opposed to what we have had previously.

I personally am in favour of it but my main issue is that it is discussed before the meeting on Tuesday.

Maybe they should run the pre-season tournaments in this format so that clubs can make an informed decision regarding the format.

This format was used at u/16 level a few years ago and worked well. Padraig Ashe was in favour of introducing it at adult level I think, but Clubs voted for the present system (3 rounds initially).

I'd be in favour of the proposal but wonder whether Round 1 will have to be played early in the year so that the Reserve Championships are not held up if Kildare progress to the later stages of the All-Ireland.

Clubs were notified by email about the proposals over the weekend. In addition to the proposal about the Championship (which will apply to Senior & Intermediate only) there is a proposal that Clubs second teams cannot play in Divisions 1, 2 or 3. A number of those already doing so would be repositioned in a Div. 3b. The bottom teams in Div. 1 & 2 would be automatically relegated with the 2nd & 3rd from bottom teams playing off to avoid the 2nd relegation place. The will be no relegation from Div. 3

I actually agree with the proposal about no second teams in the top 3 divisions as well, at the moment teams will struggle to field two teams on the same day, however if the Div 3b games were play on Monday and only involved 2nd teams that proposal could and should work out well for all concerned.

Proposal is that the Div 3b games would be played at the same time as Div. 1, 2 and 3 games

whats the point in having a division 3b surely if the second teams were kicked out of the top 3 divisions they would play monday nights in division 4

There's also a proposal that Divisions 4, 5, 6 and 7 be divided geograpically (i.e. Div. 4 North and Div. 4 South, etc.) to limit travelling long distances on a Monday evening.

Personally, i'm not in favour of this as presently these leagues are graded via promotion/relegation. If the divisions are decided by geography it will lead to very strong teams being grouped with very weak teams and the quickest way to discourage a Monday night footballer is by getting a series of hidings.

Fear An Geata wrote:

There's also a proposal that Divisions 4, 5, 6 and 7 be divided geograpically (i.e. Div. 4 North and Div. 4 South, etc.) to limit travelling long distances on a Monday evening.

Personally, i'm not in favour of this as presently these leagues are graded via promotion/relegation. If the divisions are decided by geography it will lead to very strong teams being grouped with very weak teams and the quickest way to discourage a Monday night footballer is by getting a series of hidings.

i`d agree with ya there fear but do you know what are the reasons behind creating a division 3b?

Fear An Geata wrote:

There's also a proposal that Divisions 4, 5, 6 and 7 be divided geograpically (i.e. Div. 4 North and Div. 4 South, etc.) to limit travelling long distances on a Monday evening.

Personally, i'm not in favour of this as presently these leagues are graded via promotion/relegation. If the divisions are decided by geography it will lead to very strong teams being grouped with very weak teams and the quickest way to discourage a Monday night footballer is by getting a series of hidings.

Well if they were divided by geography and promotion/relegation then it would make sense.

I'd be in favour of that proposal, it can be tough to get lads to travel down the county after work on a Monday at that level.

centreback wrote:

whats the point in having a division 3b surely if the second teams were kicked out of the top 3 divisions they would play monday nights in division 4

Who said they were being "kicked out". They are just being removed from the top 3 divisions where in my opinion there is no place for them and the backage that 2nd teams bring with them. If they still wish to play at the same time as their first team well then let that be their choice.

Did I also hear there is a change to the regrading system?

centreback wrote:

Fear An Geata wrote:

There's also a proposal that Divisions 4, 5, 6 and 7 be divided geograpically (i.e. Div. 4 North and Div. 4 South, etc.) to limit travelling long distances on a Monday evening.

Personally, i'm not in favour of this as presently these leagues are graded via promotion/relegation. If the divisions are decided by geography it will lead to very strong teams being grouped with very weak teams and the quickest way to discourage a Monday night footballer is by getting a series of hidings.

i`d agree with ya there fear but do you know what are the reasons behind creating a division 3b?

Don't know except maybe they're that much stronger than the other 2nd teams in Div.4. There's to be 7 teams in Div. 3b and they will play each other home and away.

I presume the remaining teams in Div. 3 will play each other home and away too?

What will happen in Div. 2 if Moorefield are removed?

Moorfield aren't in Div 2.

As far as I am aware the idea will be that Divisions 1, 2 & 3 will be divided equally (numerically) once all B teams have been removed.

I don't know exactly how this will be done though.

It is only right though that the first teams are in the top three divisions.

Maybe Athgarvan and Kildangan should be invited back to weekend league football too.

mrblobby wrote:

Moorfield aren't in Div 2.

Eh.. yes they are, Moorefield B.

Eh... think you'll find they got relegated last season

the proposal is 16 teams in div 1 & 2 as at present ,

10 teams in Div 3 who will play home and away

In regards to the league, one area that could be tweaked is the top of the league format. I have no problem with top 2 getting promoted but there should be a semi final with the 3rd and 4th team being included in a semi final as it curremtly stands there is a lot of games where teams from 3rd to 10th have nothing to play for.

Thats a decent championship format. Would be worth a try.

Sam1928 wrote:

Thats a decent championship format. Would be worth a try.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with the current championship format.

The glaringly obvious thing is the wait between championship matches is what needs to be looked at, not the format itself. Over the last few years since that format has been introduced its brought about some of the best championship football in Kildare.

The open draw live on KFM adds to the championship also. I say if its not broken, why try fix it.

That new format looks needlessly complicated. The format we have at the moment is fine in my opinion. Just play 3 group games like we did a couple of years ago instead of 4 games.

This format worked well at u/16 and in other counties, all games are important and have a bite to them. Its worth a try as its to drawn out @ the minute imo

Agree with reverting to 3 group games and have a seeding system in place for the Q/F to ensure the last round of games are competitive. Also need to have games played at regular intervals whicha are agreed in advance.

See no problem with the current system as one of the lads said the only problem is the gap between games when Kildare are going well. I know a lot of people would prefer a seeding system for the quarter final but I dont go with this, your aim is to get to the quarter final first then with the open draw I think it brings more excitement from the quarter final on wards if your team is good enough then you should not worry about who you play.

whatever way they go about it, they must give these league format games meaning by seeding the qualifiers. If you win all four games and top the table, you should not be punished by playing the other team that has won all four games. It defies any logic not to seed them.

Was this the system used in the hurling championship a few years back? I remember there being a winners and losers group after the first round??
In the new proposal everybody gets at least 3 meaningful games with no dead rubbers and the only team that doesn't win a game is relegated??
The current championship is working well at the moment but this mite not be a bad way to go either.

I think this system is better than what we currently have in that every games has a lot at stake, compared to the current system which in my opinion is far too drawn out and gives no benefit to teams who win their group games. In the proposed format any team that wins it's opening two games can't be drawn against another team which has done likewise.