National Forum

New Format 2026 All Ireland

(Oldest Posts First) - Go To The Latest Post


@tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1311 - 24/04/2025

Still think my AILC is better.

omahant (USA) - Posts: 3205 - 24/04/2025 23:31:13    2604142

Link

Replying To legendzxix:  "The league is a balanced competition. 7 games at a fair level. A consistent format when there is a lot of tinkering elsewhere."
It's great, it wouldn't work for championship because you can't have only 8 contenders but 2 groups of 8 certainly would.

Hurlings format is not unlike the 2 groups of 6 old league format, which isn't good for the secondary competition but really good for championship.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4489 - 25/04/2025 09:09:19    2604159

Link

Replying To legendzxix:  "The league is a balanced competition. 7 games at a fair level. A consistent format when there is a lot of tinkering elsewhere."
The format is better than the reality of the competition though with managers openly stating they'd have concerns about qualifying for the final.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4489 - 25/04/2025 09:22:45    2604163

Link

Replying To Whammo86:  "The format is better than the reality of the competition though with managers openly stating they'd have concerns about qualifying for the final."
All the complaints are about offering a week off after the league finals which is fair enough.
I know underdogs impressed in the provincial championships last weekend but I'm not on board that the provincial championships have caught fire.
If all in for the qualifiers is the preference of the majority:
1. Possibly Q1 losers could compete in a Tier 3 Cup.
2. The Q2 losers could compete in the Tailteann. The Tailteann would need at least 8 counties. If only 7 counties are knocked out in Q2 - the highest ranked Q1 loser might have to be given a bye.
Tailteann winner as always guaranteed an All Ireland spot. The Tier 3 winner could be guaranteed a Q2 spot meaning at least a Tailteann spot.
The Tier 3 Cup might not contain any Division 4 counties if they all win in Q1! I don't think that format can be labelled as exclusionary.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 8725 - 25/04/2025 10:38:38    2604176

Link

Replying To legendzxix:  "All the complaints are about offering a week off after the league finals which is fair enough.
I know underdogs impressed in the provincial championships last weekend but I'm not on board that the provincial championships have caught fire.
If all in for the qualifiers is the preference of the majority:
1. Possibly Q1 losers could compete in a Tier 3 Cup.
2. The Q2 losers could compete in the Tailteann. The Tailteann would need at least 8 counties. If only 7 counties are knocked out in Q2 - the highest ranked Q1 loser might have to be given a bye.
Tailteann winner as always guaranteed an All Ireland spot. The Tier 3 winner could be guaranteed a Q2 spot meaning at least a Tailteann spot.
The Tier 3 Cup might not contain any Division 4 counties if they all win in Q1! I don't think that format can be labelled as exclusionary."
I don't think those lower tier competitions are needed when there's already entry to the qualifiers.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4489 - 25/04/2025 11:03:19    2604179

Link

I think a good solution would be 3 tiers of 11, 10 games each over 11 rounds, 5 home, 5 away, and one bye.
Game every 2 weeks, hurling every two weeks in between.
At the end of the rounds, top team wins the league trophy (Corn Mhíchíl Uí Mhuircheartaigh), similar to minor premiership in AFL.
Top 2 teams go direct to semis, teams 3 to 6 got to quarter finals, and teams 8 to 11 go to relegation semis.
Provincials also tiered, and done like the triple crown in the 6 nations, so there's no extra games, but provincial games have an added incentive. You'd have a seperate table for each province, so the team with the most points in the provincial table wins the trophy, not only if a team is unbeaten.

In this system, a team plays at least 10 highly competitive games, with the maximum a team will play being 13.

Obviously this is very far removed from what we currently have, and the more iterative solutions would be much more likely

Ciaran359 (Galway) - Posts: 23 - 25/04/2025 11:03:50    2604180

Link

The current league structure is dysfunctional. What would anyone want to retain a competition which has created an elite 10 teams, to the exclusion of the others. Yet none of the elite teams wants to win it, they just want to keep others from winning it.

In fixing the rules of football, the entire game was reviewed (good and bad), we decided what sort of game we wanted and produced rules to get it.

To fix the championship, the entire calendar needs to be fixed.
We should be looking for competition(s) where counties primarily play counties at their own level, but also recognizes that we need to extend the number of contenders overall.

tirawleybaron (Mayo) - Posts: 1316 - 25/04/2025 11:41:08    2604192

Link

The compressed scheduled has diminished the league, with div 1 teams now only wanting to retain their status and most not wanting to be in a league final.
Div 2, 3 and 4 titles are now more contested than Div1

BlastCalyle (Mayo) - Posts: 215 - 25/04/2025 12:27:12    2604208

Link

Replying To tirawleybaron:  "The current league structure is dysfunctional. What would anyone want to retain a competition which has created an elite 10 teams, to the exclusion of the others. Yet none of the elite teams wants to win it, they just want to keep others from winning it.

In fixing the rules of football, the entire game was reviewed (good and bad), we decided what sort of game we wanted and produced rules to get it.

To fix the championship, the entire calendar needs to be fixed.
We should be looking for competition(s) where counties primarily play counties at their own level, but also recognizes that we need to extend the number of contenders overall."
Why should these games come in the league at the expense of being able to running a longer and better championship?

I love the idea of a 2 groups of 8 championship.

It'd be so much more suitable for the primary competition than the secondary competition, where it created a bit of snore fest when in was the format before 4 divisions of 8 was implemented.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4489 - 25/04/2025 12:58:13    2604214

Link

Replying To Ciaran359:  "I think a good solution would be 3 tiers of 11, 10 games each over 11 rounds, 5 home, 5 away, and one bye.
Game every 2 weeks, hurling every two weeks in between.
At the end of the rounds, top team wins the league trophy (Corn Mhíchíl Uí Mhuircheartaigh), similar to minor premiership in AFL.
Top 2 teams go direct to semis, teams 3 to 6 got to quarter finals, and teams 8 to 11 go to relegation semis.
Provincials also tiered, and done like the triple crown in the 6 nations, so there's no extra games, but provincial games have an added incentive. You'd have a seperate table for each province, so the team with the most points in the provincial table wins the trophy, not only if a team is unbeaten.

In this system, a team plays at least 10 highly competitive games, with the maximum a team will play being 13.

Obviously this is very far removed from what we currently have, and the more iterative solutions would be much more likely"
There's a lot to like about something like this.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4489 - 25/04/2025 13:02:40    2604215

Link

Replying To Whammo86:  "I don't think those lower tier competitions are needed when there's already entry to the qualifiers."
Up for discussion. I want a qualifying standard - you want all in!
If all in is the preference of the majority - the qualifiers guarantees at least two games. Is there no benefit to going on a run in tiered tournaments and gaining qualification to the next highest tournament for the next year?
Again there is tiered promotion and relegation like club championships. The Champions League, Europa League and Conference League are tiered qualification.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 8725 - 25/04/2025 13:03:39    2604216

Link

Replying To legendzxix:  "Up for discussion. I want a qualifying standard - you want all in!
If all in is the preference of the majority - the qualifiers guarantees at least two games. Is there no benefit to going on a run in tiered tournaments and gaining qualification to the next highest tournament for the next year?
Again there is tiered promotion and relegation like club championships. The Champions League, Europa League and Conference League are tiered qualification."
I'd be surprised if there was much engagement in those tournaments if everyone gets entry into the All Ireland anyway.

If the championship is mainly knockout I'd see that it should be open.

If the championship was more group/league based and there's promotion and relegation between tiers based on championship performance then tiers make a lot more sense. The big value in tiering is that more matches can be facilitated with something at stake.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4489 - 25/04/2025 14:12:07    2604227

Link

Replying To Whammo86:  "I'd be surprised if there was much engagement in those tournaments if everyone gets entry into the All Ireland anyway.

If the championship is mainly knockout I'd see that it should be open.

If the championship was more group/league based and there's promotion and relegation between tiers based on championship performance then tiers make a lot more sense. The big value in tiering is that more matches can be facilitated with something at stake."
Like club football,
Like inter County and club hurling
Like inter County and club camogie
Like inter County and club ladies football.

Seanfanbocht (Roscommon) - Posts: 2260 - 25/04/2025 15:08:53    2604239

Link

Replying To Whammo86:  "I'd be surprised if there was much engagement in those tournaments if everyone gets entry into the All Ireland anyway.

If the championship is mainly knockout I'd see that it should be open.

If the championship was more group/league based and there's promotion and relegation between tiers based on championship performance then tiers make a lot more sense. The big value in tiering is that more matches can be facilitated with something at stake."
Depends what you mean by entry to the All Ireland. The whole point of Qualifier Round 1 and Qualifier Round 2 would be that 24 or 25 non provincial finalists are attempting to qualify for the All Ireland.
A group stage is a better distinction that teams have qualified for a tournament:
Q2 winners qualifying for the All Ireland of 4 groups of 4.
Q2 losers entering the Tailteann Cup of 2 groups of 4.
Q1 losers entering the Tier 3 Cup of 2 groups of 4.
Carlow lost to Meath in provincial Round 1. If they lost out in Q1, they could still have a good summer in the Tier 3.
I read today: "The Tailteann Cup is made for counties like Fermanagh who are obsessed with Gaelic football but are cursed to be in a province that is stacked with other superstars.
In the second-tier Championship, they have an opportunity to really build momentum, grow as a team, get used to winning and maybe bring a trophy back to Enniskillen someday to give the fans a real celebration."
It is understandable that all counties might want to be part of All Ireland qualification. It is possible to facilitate that while also having the Tailteann Cup and a Tier 3 Cup.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 8725 - 25/04/2025 15:57:00    2604247

Link

Replying To legendzxix:  "Depends what you mean by entry to the All Ireland. The whole point of Qualifier Round 1 and Qualifier Round 2 would be that 24 or 25 non provincial finalists are attempting to qualify for the All Ireland.
A group stage is a better distinction that teams have qualified for a tournament:
Q2 winners qualifying for the All Ireland of 4 groups of 4.
Q2 losers entering the Tailteann Cup of 2 groups of 4.
Q1 losers entering the Tier 3 Cup of 2 groups of 4.
Carlow lost to Meath in provincial Round 1. If they lost out in Q1, they could still have a good summer in the Tier 3.
I read today: "The Tailteann Cup is made for counties like Fermanagh who are obsessed with Gaelic football but are cursed to be in a province that is stacked with other superstars.
In the second-tier Championship, they have an opportunity to really build momentum, grow as a team, get used to winning and maybe bring a trophy back to Enniskillen someday to give the fans a real celebration."
It is understandable that all counties might want to be part of All Ireland qualification. It is possible to facilitate that while also having the Tailteann Cup and a Tier 3 Cup."
It's once again trying to accommodate everything.

If the All Ireland is open it diminishes the incentive to do well in the 2nd tier competition.

I also just think a third tier is unnecessary. There's a few no hoper teams but otherwise there's probably 11 or 12 teams in Fermanagh's boat that get to play in a good competition.

I really don't think a semifinal run is beyond many teams outside of say London and Waterford.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4489 - 25/04/2025 18:22:43    2604282

Link

Replying To Whammo86:  "It's once again trying to accommodate everything.

If the All Ireland is open it diminishes the incentive to do well in the 2nd tier competition.

I also just think a third tier is unnecessary. There's a few no hoper teams but otherwise there's probably 11 or 12 teams in Fermanagh's boat that get to play in a good competition.

I really don't think a semifinal run is beyond many teams outside of say London and Waterford."
The Offaly joint manager was saying Offaly don't really get behind second tier tournaments. It's funny how you don't want counties excluded from the qualifiers and then don't want the same counties to have an opportunity for a good summer!

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 8725 - 25/04/2025 20:58:56    2604306

Link