Motions for annual GAA Structures meeting
By Shane Brophy
The annual structures meeting of Tipperary GAA County Board takes place at the Dome at FBD Semple Stadium next Tuesday night, November 10th.
Such is the general contentment with how competitions are currently structures, just six motions have been submitted by clubs and committees, the majority of which relate to regulations within current formats.
Éire Óg Annacarty/Donohill are proposing an alteration to the 12 team Senior & Intermediate Football Championships from 3 groups of 4 teams to 2 groups of 6. The proposal would see teams play four out of five teams in their seeded group, i.e., 1 & 6 don't play, 2 & 5 don't play, 3 & 4 don't play each other.
The proposal also says that the group winners go straight to the county semi-final with the second and third placed teams in each group into quarter-finals. The fourth and fifth placed teams would meet in the Tom Cusack Cup semi-finals while the bottom teams in each group would play in the relegation final.
All in all, the proposal would require seven rounds, one more than in the current format but Eire Og Annacarty/Donohill have also suggest an alternative proposal where it would run in a six round format.
Tipperary Football Board have proposed expanding the Senior Football Tom Cusack Cup to include Intermediate teams that do not reach their championship semi-finals.
The proposal is for the beaten Intermediate quarter-finalists to join the three third-placed teams and the winner of the Senior Championship relegation semi-final, creating a six-team Tom Cusack Cup.
Upperchurch/Drombane have also submitted a motion relating to the Senior Football Championship whereby the team that finishes in first place in the group that contains two of the previous year's semi-finalists will automatically qualify for the semi-final. The remaining semi-final place will be filled by the highest-ranked first-place team from one of the other two groups.
The Mid club are also proposing relating to the Senior Football Championship, where the competition consists of 12 teams divided into 3 groups of 4 teams, both finalists from the previous year's competition will be drawn into different groups.
Tipperary Football Board have submitted a second motion relating to the County League whereby it runs in the same format as in 2026 with six teams in each division, playing five round-robin games.
The top 2 teams in each division compete in the league final in their division. The winner of each division is promoted to the next highest division for 2028. The bottom team in their respective division is relegated to the next lowest division. For clubs that didn't take part in the 2026 league but enter in 2027, their allocation to a division will be taken into consideration by the Football Board and the CCC.
Thurles Gaels are proposing a division of the County Hurling League exclusively be held for junior ‘B’ or ‘C’ clubs whose first team is graded in at that level.
St Patrick's are proposing to amend Co. Bye Law 8 relating to player gradings whereby: The 17 players being named must be on the standard Foireann team list form which will show each player's name and registered number. All players named must have played in the higher grade in the previous year with the exception of a maximum of 3 players who are now eligible to play in the adult grade for the first time as they will turn 18 years of age in the current year.