Tipp should take the lead on championship reform

OPINION

By Shane Brophy

It might seem strange that Tipperary should wish to change the format of the All-Ireland Championship just six months after winning a Munster title but for the long term development of Tipperary football, that is just is what is required.

November 21st 2020 will go down as one of the great days in the GAA when the underdogs had their day as Tipperary and Cavan upset the odds to win their respective provincial titles. There were great scenes in Cork and Armagh when both counties ended long waits for Munster and Ulster glory.

Those who say the championship is fine the way it is will point to that and that other counties will get to experience that as well, however, those days will be the exception rather than the rule.

Sadly, Tipperary slipped back to being the role of cannon-fodder for Kerry last weekend, and this is no disrespect to the Tipperary players and management. They weren’t helped by the fact they had a poor league and came into the game low on confidence and missing key players from last years Munster championship run, including Alan Campbell, Colin O’Riordan, Liam Casey, and Steven O’Brien who wasn’t fully fit to start the game.

For Tipperary to even compete with Kerry, they cannot afford to be without anyyone as the depth of quality on the panel just isn’t there at the moment, particularly with underage success drying up, although there were positive signs with the performance of the under 20’s against Limerick last Thursday.

However, Tipperary v Kerry was a case of another underwhelming championship clash in 2021, and we have seen a lot of them so far, with Donegal v Derry the first really engrossing game between two well-matched teams, even though their league placings suggested otherwise.

Earlier on Sunday, we had the awful sight of Leitrim being embarrassed on national television by Mayo, and whatever about Mayo benefitting from the game, that will have done nothing for Leitrim and what encouragement is it for young kids to aspire to play for the county if that is what is coming their way if they make it to senior level.

Despite Tipperary’s recent progress, they are not that far removed from Leitrim’s situation and defeats like this to Kerry serve us no good, particularly if the result is a foregone conclusion beforehand.

This is where Tipperary can show some leadership when it comes to Special Congress in the autumn when proposals are voted on for the restructuring of the Gaelic Football championship next year because there is no doubt that the current system is broken and has been that way for some time.

The proposal which seems to be getting the most traction is inverting the current calendar where the provincial championships would be played at the start of the year, where in Munster for example, it would be played on a round-robin basis where Tipp would get to play Kerry and Cork every year which keeps the prestige of the competition important.

However, the provincial championship would not be connected to the main championship which will see the league moved to the summer with the four divisions as usual, with each county getting seven games against teams of their own standard and from where they can progress in the All-Ireland championship. For example, Tipperary are in division 4 next year and if they finish top, as well and being promoted to division 3 for the following year, they would also progress to the knockout stage of the championship where they would play a team that finishes second, third or fourth in division 2.

That seems a lot more appealing as teams would be coming into those games with momentum and feel they belong, even if against higher ranked teams.

Tipperary captain Conor Sweeney has come out in favour of it and manager David Power concurred following the defeat to Kerry

“If you are going to promote football in any county, we need games, and to be playing in summer. Look at that pitch, we need to be playing more games at this time of the year,” said pointing to the pristine Semple Stadium sod.

There is a saying in politics where Tipperary leads, Ireland follows. Maybe Tipperary could be the same in a GAA context.