Football

Only a matter of time until two-tier Championship in football says Laois ace Colm Begley

Laois footballer Colm Begley, who works for the Gaelic Players' Association (GPA), arrives at Dublin airport yesterday morning prior to their departure to the GAA/GPA PwC Allstars tour in Philadelphia. Picture by Sportsfile
Laois footballer Colm Begley, who works for the Gaelic Players' Association (GPA), arrives at Dublin airport yesterday morning prior to their departure to the GAA/GPA PwC Allstars tour in Philadelphia. Picture by Sportsfile Laois footballer Colm Begley, who works for the Gaelic Players' Association (GPA), arrives at Dublin airport yesterday morning prior to their departure to the GAA/GPA PwC Allstars tour in Philadelphia. Picture by Sportsfile

LAOIS stalwart Colm Begley believes it is only a matter of time until a tiered Championship is introduced – even if there will never be unanimous support from the playing population.

As it stands the O’Moore men would likely be contesting the second tier competition having flitted between Divisions Three and Four in recent years, yet the 32-year-old still feels it is worth “trying something new”.

GAA president John Horan is a strong advocate for the introduction of such a system and, following a meeting of Central Council last weekend, director general Tom Ryan said he believes there is a broad support for a second-tier football championship.

A recent Gaelic Players’ Association (GPA) poll showed that 60 per cent of its members are in favour of a two-tier Championship but Begley - who was recently appointed as a programme co-ordinator with the GPA – is well aware that there are plenty of hurdles yet to be overcome.

“There’s definitely more positivity towards looking at it and I just don’t think we’re there yet in terms of how it’s going to be formatted,” said Begley, who is in Philadelphia as part of the GAA/GPA PwC Allstars tour.

“We’re still trying to change it; I know the GAA are looking at different ways as well. In fairness to them they’ve realised that it’s not something we can fast-track through. I would be in favour of it, I think down the line that’s the way it’s going. How we format it, I’m not sure.

“It’s all about trying to get the same respect for whatever competition it is as what we get for the main one. I think that’s the concern among players. It has to be thought about, how you’d market it, how you’d push it, what incentives would be for it.

“But I think players realise that we’re not all on the same level. We all want to go for the Sam Maguire, that’s great, but sometimes we’re not there yet.

“There definitely is a lot more interest in it from players, probably not 100 per cent from all players, I don’t think you’ll ever get that, but it’s probably worth looking at it and trying something new and giving it a go.

“I think down the line it will go to that tier one and tier two.”

And, having played Aussie Rules football for Brisbane Lions and St Kilda during the early part of his career, Begley believes there are lessons to be learned from looking Down Under.

He continued: “The AFL have a league competition and they play their games and the top eight go into the finals, like your ‘Super 8s’ or something.

“You could play Division One and Division Two, this is thrown out off the cuff now, and then the top two teams who win will play off against the bottom two teams in the tier one competition and relegation and promotion. That’s a very extreme look at it, changing it totally off the mark.

“They’ve got different proposals at the moment that they’re putting forward, a small step towards that with the senior championship format that we have now but you go into a secondary competition after that.”

The heads of the GAA and the GPA have already come together this week, with GPA chief executive Paul Flynn requesting an urgent meeting with John Horan in light of plans to trial new playing rules through the National League.

However, following that get together on Wednesday, a joint statement was released confirming that the rules would be reviewed at the next Central Council meeting on January 19 – before the Leagues get under way.

And Begley insists that, despite the change in the trial timescale, their members are willing to give the new rules a fair crack.

“Obviously the League is a massive competition, probably the primary competition for a lot of players. So the concern for our members was that these rules were going to be put into the League no matter what happened in pre-season. 

“Our viewpoint with that was that after the pre-season competition was that they would be reviewed and looked at. We have around 50 games in the pre-season competitions overall and that they'd be looked at individually to see whether they worked to improve the game. 

“And the GAA told us that on the 19th of January there will be a review for it. We're happy enough with that, that's all we can ask for. 

“I think the GPA, the players aren't against the new rules being put in place. These rules could be fantastic and if they are, then brilliant. 

“But it's only a month and a half to the League, and they're only being introduced now. It's very hard for players to these new rules and implement them properly and change tactics if needs be.”