Mayo4Sam05 (Mayo) - Posts: 6 - 20/06/2014 10:50:27    1606351

The format does not work at present I think we all agree on this, the county championships our only a couple of weeks away and clubs have had no game for weeks due to county teams playing.
I think straight knockout 8 teams 1/4 final in June, semi in July and final in August , this way if your county wins it gives county board time to sort out fixtures ie if some need to be moved for county team or if your beat first round then your master list remains the same.

knowtherules (UK) - Posts: 181 - 20/06/2014 10:53:59    1606355

Uppercusack - Spout the rule book all you want but do you think the current championship is working? If it was felt that a Sigerson Style weekend (festival) of Inter country football was good for the promotion of the game then is there nothing that can be done to accomodate this? Im not sure of the rules or techical terms about these compeitions in the rulebook (im sure you will enlighten me) but I played in the North American Chamopionship which was played over a weekend in Chicago. Try telling those lads thats not a championship.

This is a junior competition after all, we are dealing with lads who arent giving their full commitment to training for the county so they invest very little time in it. So when they see that they have to invest full days travelling to B'ham, Newcastle, Manchester extra, three or four Sundays in a row then they make a decision that its not something they want to commit to. Now say to lads, its one weekend, we will play 3 games (so the travelling involved will be worth it), are you available? We will then be able to definately train with a squad and prepare a team knowing who we have from game game to the next. Plus, it only impacts on one weekend worth of club fixtures. Now I know its not in your rule book, but surely development comes first because I absolutely agree that a blue riband inter county competition is really important but at the minute this competition is dying on its arse.

HospitalBall (UK) - Posts: 79 - 20/06/2014 10:54:46    1606356

This was a good competition when it was straight knockout. It was proposed by Warwickshire a few years ago to revert back but was rejected by all. I think we should go back to that. But it changes year on year as warks seem to be taking it seriously this year and last year were a club team

macs4eva (UK) - Posts: 107 - 20/06/2014 11:26:20    1606365

@mayo4sam i have a good idea who upper cusack is in any case so it doesnt bother me being named on here its not as bad as some who post here whose names change every week

back to the championship - a CCC should have the right to change as they see fit and with the wishes of the delegates deal with it at convention, but then again thats easier said than done when all that happens is musical chairs around the room in some counties and above

not enough players attend convention nor are they represented in my opinion the way they should be at board level, some county board meetings are like a pensioners gathering and we wonder why we cant change things, the game has moved on, in making those comments players have to stand up and be counted also, no point taking to social media and mouthing off about it - go and do something about it

UniGaa (National) - Posts: 694 - 20/06/2014 11:42:07    1606374

Hospitalball - I dont think the current format is working and changing the format to give Kilkenny more games to play has been to the detriment of the vast majority of the counties in Britain.

The reason for the current format not working is exactly as you have alluded to, committmenet. I dont mean committment in the sense that the players are not committed to putting in the time and effort needed to win but rather that the players can not committ to putting in that time because of various reasons.

With the original format the number of games and time travelling was significantly less than it is now and for the vast majority of players they could committ to that and more importantly it didnt impact significantly on their family and social life. With the current format the additional travel and games means that the level of time committment is too great which leads to players not being available for all of the games or them ruling themselves out of the squad.

If the counties would like a sigerson style weekend tournament then it can be arranged, much in the same way that the Irish Ferries 7's used to be arranged. It wouldnt be a championship though and so the winners would not be able to take part in the All Ireland Junior Championship.

I am of the view that the championship needs to revert back to the origial format.

Uppercusack (UK) - Posts: 16 - 20/06/2014 13:53:29    1606456

The format was changed long before Kilkenny were brought in. Kilkenny are not the problem they have fulfilled their fixtures which makes a mockery of the too much travelling argument.

macs4eva (UK) - Posts: 107 - 20/06/2014 15:18:05    1606497

macs4eva - I can speak from experience.

I have to travel from outside Newcastle to Leeds (2 hours) to play our home games, add another hour and a bit to that to get to Lancashire (3 hours) and 2 hours to get to Birmingham (nearly 4 hours), each return trip is double that.

If you think that is bad, have some thought to Scotland who have a 5 hour trip to Manchester and 7 hour trip to Birmingham. Again each trip so double that.

You have the luxury of being less than 2 hours from London and less then 2 hours from Lancahsire.

So say Scotland and Warwickshire are to play in Manchester (which in all likliehood is what is going to happen) by the time Warwickshire are home Scotland will still be on the road, they wont even have reached the border with Scotland. Scotland will have travelled 10 hours as against Warwickshires 4!

If you calculate the travel time committment alone you can see why we struggled to get our squad together this year.

Uppercusack (UK) - Posts: 16 - 20/06/2014 15:50:10    1606527

I'm not having a go. I understand that we are lucky with our location and facilities and yet still struggled to get a team last year.I think a knockout would make it easier . You might be surprised to hear the final is fixed for Birmingham regardless of teams.

macs4eva (UK) - Posts: 107 - 20/06/2014 17:28:23    1606585

Who won the semi finals this weekend.

IN_THRU (Donegal) - Posts: 20 - 22/06/2014 17:47:42    1607216

Warks v Scotland in pnh next Sunday

macs4eva (UK) - Posts: 107 - 22/06/2014 19:36:53    1607296

i believe the decision to make PNH the venue was put in place last year by the previous provincial secretary that all provincial finals should be at PNH, harsh on scotland on a couple of fronts, facilites wise apart from old bedians manchester where else can host it?

Newcastle - no changing rooms at one pitch and the other which has is not the biggest
Leeds - no changing rooms
Huddersfield - a narrow pitch with changing rooms


should be a tight affair next sunday i think scotland might just edge it

UniGaa (National) - Posts: 694 - 23/06/2014 08:39:05    1607397

So Junior championship final is set Scotland v Warwickshire @ 2pm Sunday 29th June 2014 at Pairc Na hEireann. Anyone any predictions for the game? Who will be the main men for their respective sides?

Not_a_Notion (UK) - Posts: 26 - 26/06/2014 13:24:03    1609363

Warwickshire Abu!

square_ball_ref (UK) - Posts: 127 - 29/06/2014 09:02:49    1610573

Congratulations to Scotland. Glad Warwickshire didn't win it.

tribesman_10 (Galway) - Posts: 96 - 30/06/2014 13:29:04    1611525

Thank goodness this competition has now finished give us all a break.

fancyaride (Mayo) - Posts: 141 - 30/06/2014 15:46:18    1611647

A good match at the Pairc, and the better team won. Warwickshire had a good spell in the second half but ultimately wasted a lot of chances. A few stand out performers in White in both Full Forward and Full Back but Scotland were the better team.

square_ball_ref (UK) - Posts: 127 - 01/07/2014 10:07:51    1611979

Thought harrigan played well , Gilbride seeded quiet after the knock got exposed for the goal , warwickshire lost it at midfield and couldnt cope with the pace , a lot of the lads in white didnt seem fit enough for Scotland its now back to the bread & Butter , whos gonna win the championship ?

knowle (Roscommon) - Posts: 82 - 03/07/2014 17:13:09    1613301