The problem isn’t Dublin, The problem is that there is only one Dublin and about 20 Wexford’s, Clare’s, Fermanagh’s and Sligo’s all over the country. The fix increasingly provided by those outside Dublin is spilt Dublin but this won’t help the aforementioned counties.They will still be making up numbers and given no chance to compete through the business end of the championship. You can pump development grants into these counties but they can only improve to a certain ceiling because their population is so small.
The problem isn’t that the best intercounty GAA players lack skill or are human robots that play without spontaneity as is so often heard on RTE. The problem is that there are too many intercounty teams and hence too many intercounty players for it to be truly considered elite. People don’t watch the elite to see the Wicklow corner backs or number 24 on the Cork panel. 33 football teams in championship with match day squads of 24 adds up to 768. How many of those players are truly household names on a national level. 10% at most? If you take out players from your own county how many present intercounty players could you name. There are just too many intercounty players who are not truly elite.
The problem IS structures; competition, fixture and intercounty. The competition isn’t competitive in a meaningful way until the quarter final or semi final stage, the fixtures are far too far apart for much of the season and the training to game ratio is irrational. Club calendars are thrown into disarray and played off in a rush after months of inactivity.
None of this is news. It is being discussed at length on Internet forums and social and mass media but the current way this discussion proceeds doesn’t seem to provide a workable solution to many never mind all of the problems. Any alternative structure proposed does not address the underlying issue that it is the same four or five contenders for trophies every season. The present flavour of the month that is being proposed is that the structure of the league is the best competition structure so it should be the main competition. Those proposing that have a point but at the moment players from weaker counties will not agree to competing in a secondary championship. It’s also worth remembering that league semis and finals for the past 5 or so years have largely been non-events and Dublin have won almost all games in the league playoffs pulling up. These problems are insurmountable in my view.
I’d like to say the solution I have is straightforward but complicated problems need radical solutions and mine is pretty radical.
Dublin are not really what the old GAA are about but they should be what the new GAA are about. Without going into it too deeply the GAA implemented their own radical strategy in the mid 2000s and decided to pump development funds into an already strong, well populated Dublin setup on an unprecedented level. This investment was buttressed by the Irish Sports Council who committed one million euro a year over the course of at least six years to Dublin GAA (http://www.independent.ie/sport/hurling/dublin-answer-6m-question-26759948.html). Add in sponsorship revenue that no other county can come close to matching and it doesn’t take Malcom Gladwell to work out that Dublin becoming an unbeatable powerhouse was inevitable. A cursory look over any final Olympic medal table will tell you that the equation; Population + Investment = Success, almost always rings true in sport.
But as I said Dublin are not the problem, the problem is there is only one Dublin. The GAA need to find a way to create more Dublins and that’s where the radical decisions come in.
As stated in paragraph two my belief is that we have too many teams and players in the intercounty setup that in reality contribute little to the competition as a whole. The thought of amalgamating counties is starting to be whispered about in a very mild sort of fashion such as suggesting neighboring division 4 counties like Carlow and Wicklow should join up but as I see it to compete with the financial and population might of Dublin in the future practically every county will need to match up.
For argument’s sake the teams with their total populations that I would like to see in the new competition format are as follows:
Kildare Meath Westmeath 505000
Mayo Galway 389000
Cork Kerry 689500
Clare limerick Tipperary Waterford 590000
Wexford Kilkenny Laois Carlow Wicklow 532500
Offaly longford Roscommon Leitrim cavan 291000
Dublin 1.35 million
Louth Armagh Tyrone Monaghan 543000
Antrim Derry down 1.4 million
Donegal Sligo Fermanagh 285000
Kind of “out-there” I know but it gets worst for the “True Gaels”. This system will only work in a professional or semi professional era. The logistics don’t work otherwise in terms of the travel for training. The competition format would be straight league home and away with no relegation as I’d see it so 18 weeks of action. Maybe we could borrow from AFL’s competition format but basically a straight league with a possibility of playoffs at the end. For the sacrifice of county borders we get two huge rewards
Every team being able to call on truly elite players and those elites playing against each other every week in a fixed league calendar.
We bring the disenfranchised counties that make up the majority back into the centre of the competition and offer them a team and a competition that will re-energise the counties making up the numbers
Apart from that we get many bonuses; from a format that is “Fantasy Football” friendly which you may scoff at but anyone who follows NFL in this country knows the power that Fantasy Football can have in broadening a sport’s appeal to the ability of the GAA to launch their own TV channel and boost their revenue to another stratosphere. The sport will have marketability and sexiness and a lot of the things that make the Premier league and the NFL such constant water cooler topics.
There are many reading who may think this is crazy but if sport is ran in every other country like this and we run it in a way that is different to the entire rest of the world then who truly is crazy?
There are plenty of drawbacks of course worth discussing. For instance where does these plans leave hurling? The answer is for the moment they won’t be able to join the professional party. Their time may be in another ten to fifteen years from now when there is a reasonable chance Dublin will rule there as well and change is required to retain a meaningful All-Ireland championship. The other issue is where is the money going to come from to contract 30 (man squads) by 10 (teams) so 300 players at a generous wage of something like an average of 70000 euro a year. So to cover this we would need the GAA to pony up 21 million a year. It may sound like a lot but since the 6.2 million euro the GAA currently pay the GPA a year would be wiped away the figure is more like 16 million. The extra revenue that will raised from gate receipts, TV income and sponsorship will far outstrip the current cash being raised from these sources. Factor in also that GPOs will not need to be the expense it currently is since we have 300 GPOs with a long off season that can become the new army of GPOs. Also mileage expenses would be done away with. There is also the possibility of Private Ownership of the GAA franchises if we wish to go down that road. It works in AFL so why not GAA? The biggest expense with this transition to professionalism is likely to be the capital expenditure required to improve stadia to cope with the huge crowds that the new competition will draw.
Away from the revenue argument the biggest attacks that would be launched on my plan if they were ever debated on a national level would be the “hearts and minds” argument; That GAA is about playing for your area and people have no interest in playing or supporting an entity that isn’t their exact county or that they won’t support players for their team who are outsiders. Well players ultimately won’t care, they will just be happy to make their living from doing what they love. The fans; some traditionalists may walk away from the new format. But some would not be a significant number for me. The same people who support GAA support sporting entities of which they have no connection to. So they love Manchester United and hate Manchester City or love Everton and hate Liverpool. You think most of them wouldn’t be able to get over it if the team they are supporting has changed shape but is now playing in a far more competitive and interesting format. You decide.
The GAA ethic of volunteerism would be harmed the naysayers would argue. It’s fair to say.. maybe ..but I would need it explained to me how in Ireland kids still get coached and managed by parents and volunteers for underage soccer teams when the game is professional at elite level. I’m not saying things would be the same but I would definitely need to be shown why the spirit of volunteerism is unique to GAA and isn’t seen already seen in the likes of soccer, boxing, swimming and athletics already on this island. Answers in the comments section below if you have one.
Where my plan leaves the new elite professional level players in term of availability for their clubs I don’t know in the long term. Under my plan the elite competition would be actually shorter and follow a definite calendar which would be goes news for the clubs and the CPA but to be honest I’m not sure about the club/elite spilt anymore. I’m not sure if it is asking too much for players to serve both club and county in the current system and club and elite in the format I purpose. I also have not addressed will there be transfers and drafts in my plan. That would be a pain point no doubt if introduced. Another obvious pain point will be the merging of counties like Kerry and Cork and Galway and Mayo who traditionally compete at the business end year in and year out. I can’t say for certain the level of opposition that would exist for my plan in those counties. However if they are faced with the counties around them merging and strengthening then it will mean they may struggle to compete and no one can predict how that would play out.
The other arguments I would predict to hear against my plan would be that stuff like Ireland can’t support professional sport or I’m being hysterical because even if 90% of counties do not have any hope of national success it has for the most part always been that way. I don’t frankly understand how anyone could hold the first point of view. If poorer countries than ours can support female professional volleyball and basketball I have no idea why anyone would think we can’t sustain a professional version of the most well-attended sport in the country. As for the second argument, the GAA is now a sport that needs to appeal in the live TV market. It didn’t matter in the 70s and 80s if it was the same teams always winning because only the semis and final were on TV anyway. Now it does matter as in this era games are on TV every weekend.
I could be wrong about Dublin and how I envisage them being an almost unbeatable force for all time but even if I’m not there are still too many counties completely disfranchised under the current system. Large areas of Ireland not close to fulfilling their potential not because they see the sport as crap but only because they have no success to aspire to because the competition structure being based on population makes it so lopsided.
Before I wind this up; Whether you agree with me or not on my proposal or professionalism in the GAA let’s get one thing clear here; Dublin, Mayo, Kerry etc Gaelic Football players generate more income for Ireland than almost any other Irish person. Programme sellers, match officials, Ground staff, Police, vintners, medical personnel/physiotherapists, journalists and their employers whether print radio or online, Bus/train Drivers, hotels, car park operators, shop owners, burger van operators and on and on. The list is endless. The people generating these millions get no salary. The lack of a fair salary for elite GAA players is slave labour and contravenes the most basic economic theory on the labour market. The only real pity about my proposal is that if followed it would leave the great hurlers of the country out in the cold but hopefully their day will come too. The truly elite players all deserve to be paid, and as I see it, the great thing is it will benefit the country in generating more income for people all over the land and benefit the sport by providing a much greater competitive spectacle. It will take it to a completely new height as a national obsession.
Andmayweneverhavetosaygoodbye 