THE fact that an Ulster team could, under the new proposals, potentially be forced to play nine Championship games to win an All-Ireland is “an unchangeable fact”.
If a county was drawn in the preliminary round of the provincial Championship, they would face four games en-route to an Ulster title before three more games in the proposed new round-robin All-Ireland quarter-final system.
An All-Ireland semi-final and final would bring their total number of games to nine. However, the Munster champions could possibly emerge having played just two games in their provincial competition.
Answering that criticism, Páraic Duffy said: “There is an imbalance in both the number of counties and in the relative strength of counties within provinces. We must accept, therefore, that more games are required to win in some provinces than in others.”
“This is an unchangeable fact, so let’s move on from it. In addition, the Association’s members have made it clear that they wish to continue with the provincial system.
“This proposal, however, is fair in that each of the eight counties that qualify for the group stage will compete against three other of the best teams in the country.”
The GAA’s Director-General also said that the possibility of a county losing three Championship games in one year yet still winning the All-Ireland was such an “extreme outcome” that it was not a reason to uphold the proposed reform.
“This is theoretically possible but very unlikely. And it is a scenario that many counties are happy to accept in their own club championships. But there is another reason to reject this argument. ‘Hard cases make bad law’ goes the legal saying.
“Translated to this proposal, it means that one highly unlikely and extreme outcome would be a poor basis for constructing a Championship format that needs to cover a vastly greater range of likely outcomes.
“Nor is an extreme and unlikely scenario a good enough reason to scuttle the merits of this proposal.”
