Back in April the Irish Examiner ran a piece about the National Hurling League which stated that the structures would not be revisited until 2015. In it Alan Milton from Croke Park warned against ‘constant chopping and changing’ of the league format and that a ‘sea change’ in opinion would be required to change it.
Well here we are in October facing more changes to the league structures, what has inspired this ‘sea change’?
Reading the views of the Cork County Board Chairman, Bob Ryan in today’s Examiner the ‘proposals’ are presented as a fait acompli, Ryan said he;
“was pleased with the new development and paid tribute to the role played by GAA president Liam O’Neill and director general Páraic Duffy. “We welcome this change,” he said. “It’s a good thing, it will allow this Cork team to continue its excellent progress by getting good quality games against the top teams. It gives the top teams seven games each and those games will help them ahead of the championship.”
“What I would like to put on record is how grateful we are to the uachtaráin, Liam O’Neill, and Páraic Duffy, the ard-stiúrthóir. They have taken our suggestions on board. They have brought it to Central Council now and hopefully they will vote it through.”
The about turn is surprising, Wexford are not opposed to change at all but we believe these proposals are the wrong ones. Wexford do however agree with Cork, that more games against top opposition would be beneficial and would help with our championship preparations – hence our opposition to these changes.
Also speaking in today’s ‘Examiner’ Limerick Co Chairman, Oliver Mann articulates more views which we share that “more high profile games [means] bigger attendances and that then leads to a boost in finances for ourselves and the hospitality industry in Limerick. Substitute Wexford for Limerick and this applies to Wexford, Antrim, Offaly…
We’ve been bombarded by emails from supporters and clubs expressing anger and suggesting alternatives. In response the County Chairman has called an Emergency meeting of the Wexford County Board for next Wednesday night 9th of October. All clubs are urged to discuss the matter in advance and mandate their county board reps to advocate a position.
This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Friday, April 19, 2013
No change to structure of hurling league before 2015
By Diarmuid O’Flynn
Friday, April 19, 2013
Regardless of what proposals may be brought to Central Council regarding a change to the current structure of the Allianz Hurling League, Cork, Limerick, Offaly, Wexford, Antrim and Laois will all play in the lower division in 2014.
GAA communications manager Alan Milton yesterday confirmed any efforts to change the league formats would have to go before Central Council — but not before 2015.
“We haven’t heard anything yet from any county, but if anyone wants to propose changing the current format they can bring it to Central Council, that’s the forum for any such discussions,” he said.
“Because it’s not a rule change it doesn’t have to go before Congress. There’s no urgency though, the current structure will be in place for 2014 and that will not change. The earliest that anything can happen is 2015, and that’s if the appetite is there among the counties.”
Despite the mounting dissatisfaction with the current structure, which was only introduced in 2012 and tweaked for 2013, the complaints from several high-profile managers that the lack of games doesn’t allow for experimentation and the complaints from several high-profile counties about lost revenue, that appetite for change may not be shared elsewhere.
“Central Council has only recently come to the end of a lengthy and very thorough debate on this,” he said. “I don’t know if there was ever before such deliberation in the GAA on a competition and its structure, certainly not in recent times.
“Any county is entitled to bring it up again, but whether or not there’s an appetite to tackle it again, I don’t know.”
However, contrary to the common notion the format was created by officials in Croke Park, it was in fact a structure voted in by the counties themselves.
“Every county has representation on the Central Council and as with all other GAA matters, every county voted on this,” Milton explained.
“It’s the same if it’s a proposal dealing with football only. Every delegate from every county has a vote, that’s how Central Council operates, as a unit. There were three separate formats up for discussion, one from the Hurling Development Workgroup committee, one from the CCC and one from the Management Committee. The first two proposed the six-team groups, the Management Committee proposal was for an eight-team division.
“So seriously was the discussion taken that the vote was actually postponed on the first occasion to allow the delegates more time to tease out the different proposals. I think everyone appreciated that this was a big decision, a big call, and no-one wanted it rushed.
“When the vote was taken, they decided on the current set-up. The hope at Central Council was that this decision would put the issue to bed for a number of years, that the new structures would be given a chance to bed in, that we would get some degree of consistency in the competition, of permanency.
“We were trying to get away from the idea of constant chopping and changing. It was a very democratic forum, the way this structure was introduced.”
Judging by the reaction from the bigger hurling counties now, however, it’s certainly drawn out a majority of detractors. However, the current format has its defenders and there are positives emerging.
“It could be argued that already it’s working. When you look at how it all ended up in Division 1A, everything coming down to the final round of games, that generated huge interest.
“But something everyone seems to be overlooking is just how competitive all the other divisions have become — that was one of the ideas behind this structure. Next year you’re going to have Laois back up in Division 1B and with Cork, Limerick, Offaly, Wexford and Antrim, it’s going to be a competitive division again.
“The bottom line is that if any county wants to revisit this they can start the process, they’re entitled to do that, but it will take a sea change from the current opinion.”
http://www.irishexaminer.com/archives/2013/0419/ireland/no-change-to-structure-of-hurling-league-before-2015-228872.html
