SHANE CURRAN was going well on The Sunday Game last weekend until he over-stretched himself when he compared a two-tiered Championship format with Fianna Fáil’s once-cosy relationship with the Catholic Church, and made some foggy mention of the “aristocracy”.
Holy Mary, Shane.
By the time he got around to making the very valid assertion that the GAA needed to properly resource marginal counties, such his own native Roscommon, a lot of The Sunday Game viewers were probably still reeling from his FF-Catholic Church analogy.
In fairness, Curran's albeit meandering point silenced fellow pundits Ciarán Whelan and Dessie Dolan who singularly desired tighter All-Ireland quarter-final games than what we got last weekend. Didn't we all.
Curran’s analysis also might have made some people re-appraise the angle from which they view things.
So far, the debate over Championship change has been elite-driven.
In the roughly packaged two-tiered Championship format being proposed, the strong would become stronger and the weak would become weaker.
At the risk of sounding a bit like Shane Curran, such proposals are inherently Darwinian and, dare I say it, 'Thatcherite' in nature.
It's a case of 'Ask not what your Association can do for you, ask what you can do for yourself.'
There is nothing altruistic about these proposals.
The welfare of the weaker counties is not being properly thought through.
For the GAA, the starting point of the debate should be trying to make the weak stronger.
If the problems are as serious as, say, Jim McGuinness believes they are then the GAA needs a revolution.
It needs a root-and-branch review of why few counties can catch the runaway trains of Dublin, Mayo, Donegal and Kerry.
If the Championship was split into two groups of 16, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that many county teams in the lower bracket would suffer irreparable harm.
If the lower 16 teams were aiming to win a ‘B Championship, there would be a real chance of de-investment in county teams by respective county boards.
Backroom teams would be slimmed down. There would be a coaching brain drain.
B Championship counties would be unable to attract the best managers.
More players would head to the USA to play their football.
There'd be empty press boxes.
The better players might pass up the opportunity to play for their county if all that was on offer was ‘B Championship football in the summer.
In today’s Irish News, Fermanagh’s double Allstar winner Barry Owens said if faced with the prospect of being denied regular access to the Sam Maguire Cup during his career he might never have played for his county.
Foisting ‘B Championship status on half of the country would also lower the prestige of the provincial Championships.
And there are financial considerations for the GAA to consider before they decide to take a hammer to the current Championship format.
Former Waterford manager Niall Carew cited the example of his side facing Clare in the Munster Championship a couple of seasons ago, with the winners going forward to play Kerry.
“We played Clare in the Munster Championship with the winners facing Kerry,” he said.
“There were over 2,000 at the game in Ennis. If that was in a ‘B’ Championship match, there would be 200 at it.”
Carew posed the question: how would a 'B Championship "grow the game" in the weaker counties?
Owens, who retired from the inter-county scene a couple of seasons ago, was in Croke Park to watch his native Fermanagh take on Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter-finals last weekend.
He said: “You saw the amount of young people from Fermanagh in Croke Park on Sunday; you wouldn’t have half that amount in a ‘B Championship. People wouldn’t bother going to the games.”
In other words, how would the next generation be inspired?
Rather than deriding counties like Fermanagh for celebrating ‘moral victories’ like they did last Sunday, their players and management should be commended for wanting to play against the best.
Playing in a 'B Championship is akin to players playing in their comfort zones.
What self-respecting player wants to do that? Only by playing against the best can true sporting excellence be realised.
That's why the GAA needs to come at this from a different angle and should resist the temptation of merely moving furniture around the room, and making things worse.
Players are graded for most of their careers. That’s what leagues are for. The All-Ireland series gives everyone a chance to dine at the top table.
Like in every sporting competition, the best teams find themselves in the latter stages and on the winner’s podium.
We can safely assume that the Republic of Ireland will never win the World Cup or the European Championships.
They simply don’t have the players. Does that mean they shouldn't compete?
Colombia were never quite good enough to win the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. They reached the quarter-final stages. But they played sublime football and were one of many glowing narratives that emerged from a memorable tournament.
Every year our soccer club Newington competes in the Irish Cup. The Irish Cup is a big deal to amateur footballers.
There’s a buzz about training in the build-up.
Players get the chance to dust off their suits. A pre-match breakfast is a well established tradition on such days.
And if you draw one of the big Irish League teams, you can be sure the media will come knocking for quirky stories and interviews.
It's also an opportune time for junior clubs to knock doors for a bit of sponsorship.
In 2012, we beat Irish League side Glentoran. (I may have mentioned this before.)
It was your regular David and Goliath scenario. It was the greatest day in the club’s history. We released a commemorative booklet afterwards and made roughly £1,500.
We were never going to win the Irish Cup. But it didn’t matter.
A few weeks later in the next round, Dungannon Swifts gave us a football lesson at Stangmore Park. We lost 3-0.
Ask any Newington player about their career highlight and you'll get the same answer. That career highlight didn't include a winner's medal.
For people to talk about Championship formats in the GAA is to miss the point. The Association can make the All-Ireland series more competitive if it wants to. They need to resource the weaker counties. There is no other medicine.
