New NFL League format

NFL set for another revamp
12 August 2011

Plans to change the structure of next year's National Football League have been unveiled.

Under the new format, the 16 teams currently in Division 1 and 2 will make up Divisions 1A and 1B. The remaining 16 team would be moved into Division 2 and 3 based on their final standings in this year's league.

Tyrone, Kildare, Westmeath, Meath, Louth, Derry, Monaghan and Galway were due to play in Division 2 next year, but they will now join Cork, Dublin, Kerry, Mayo, Armagh, Donegal, Laois and Down in Division 1.

They would be divided into two groups of eight using a random draw, which would be repeated every two years to keep the competition fresh.

The new format would allow for the reintroduction of Division 1 semi-finals, while the bottom team in each of 1A and 1B would drop down and be replaced by the top two in Division 2.

Before reverting back to its current format in 2008, the National League had comprised of Divisions 1A, 1B, 2A and 2B with the outright winners being crowned Division 1 and 2 champions.




- Think this can only be good for Kildare, means we will possibly get opportunity to play some of the top teams early next year. can only help us!

Would the anti McGeeney brigade still be able to bemoan our lack of promotion to the top division if this gets introduced?

Seriously though it would be a big benefit to us going into next year. The only problem I'd have would be the "random draw" to decide between who's in 1A and who's in 1B. Probably be better to put four division 1 teams and four division 2 teams into each group to make it a bit fairer. For relegation bottom in each group should go down with the two teams who finish second bottom playing against the two team who are runners up in divisions 2A and 2B in playoff matches.

Yeah good news for Kildare, like to see us paired with Dublin and Kerry amongst others. We have to get used to playing against and beating such teams.

How p*ssed off must Laois be, they end up the same position as Meath who barely stayed up!!

Fuck Laois, Meath are way better then them.

This would be great for Kildare, all the benefits of promotion without actually having to win it.

I can hear the gnashing of teeth from Laois already.

Good for Kildare, but why the GAA need to change the league format every few years is beyond me... we had this system in the mid-2000s, ffs, they changed it to the current one, and now they're changing it back. Just makes a joke of the whole competition

Could be some good away days next year

From reading a bit about it yesterday it seems that the change is required as they are brining back semi finals next year and are eager to avoid to many repeat pairing which is inevitable if 4 teams out of 8 get through.

Agree with the new format, but whats this about Kildare benefiting from playing the big boys like Kerry, Cork, Dublin etc on a more regular basis?.
The national league is and always has been a glorified training and schooling ground, teams playing each other off peak or at half throttle benefits nobody.
Once the championship begins league form usually has little or no bearing on what is to come.

Another myth thats seeped into the psyche of some Kildare supporters, just like the silly myth that Geezer trains his team to peak through the backdoor, yeh thats right Kieran deiberately sent out his team half baked so those losses against Wicklow, Louth and Dublin (2011) can be explained away because as we know Kildare simply thrive through the backdoor.
Yeh they've done well going the backdoor route but that was more by accident than design on Geezers behalf.
Last year all provincial winners failed to make the last four, and everybody was shouting from the roof tops that the provincial winners are at a tremendous disadvantage compared to teams having an extended run via the safety net route, yet this year we have all four provincial winners contesting the semi finals, another myth blown right out of the water.

Well I'm open to correction KC but I think this is the first time since the back door was introduced that all four provincial champs are through so I'm not sure how you think it's a myth.

rgb wrote:

Well I'm open to correction KC but I think this is the first time since the back door was introduced that all four provincial champs are through so I'm not sure how you think it's a myth.

rgb go back to 2009 we had two qualifiers and two provincial winners in the semi's, the year before that we had 3 and 1 in favour of the qualifiers, 2007 it was two and two, this year and last year were exceptions rather than the rule, most of the time you're going to get a mix of both, no particular trend has built up in favour of either, because you have to take into account as usual the uncompetitive nature of the Munster championship where Kerry and Cork will invariably trade places and take it in turns as to which one wins that particular years Munster title, the two of them have met in the All Ireland final in two of the last four years (2007.09) and each of them were finalists in 2008 and 2010.

there no change in league format for 2012 league in football and there league semi final for division 1 ONLY

Ok sorry KC- when you used the word 'myth' I presumed you completely disagreed with the "back door teams have an advantage" theory.

I'm glad the League wasn't changed.