Sport

Brendan Crossan: The Tailteann Cup has some convincing to do before it even starts

Fermanagh were one of the first to enter the Tailteann Cup after exiting the Ulster Championship to Tyrone
Fermanagh were one of the first to enter the Tailteann Cup after exiting the Ulster Championship to Tyrone Fermanagh were one of the first to enter the Tailteann Cup after exiting the Ulster Championship to Tyrone

WERE the All-Ireland Qualifiers really that bad? With a couple of nips and tucks, the back door format generally served the inter-county game well for the best part of two decades.

It wasn’t perfect but what Championship format is.

The Tommy Murphy Cup was thrown into the calendar for a few years during the ‘Noughties’ and was later abandoned due to a deep sense of apathy.

Is the GAA about to embark on another misadventure?

Next month we have the inaugural Tailteann Cup swinging into action, but it already feels doomed before it begins.

The fact that the GAA is still fine-tuning aspects of the new competition doesn’t bode well either.

A lot of teams that will compete in it will feel they have a decent chance of winning it. Maybe it will capture the imagination of the players and public alike, but it’s a big ask.

For the last decade or more, we've had pundits making noise on TV, the airwaves and in print about the need for a second tier competition in football.

It was based on the flawed premise that players and teams must have a realistic chance of winning the competition they are playing in.

If this was such a wise approach why haven't other sports bodies across the globe not done the same?

Take soccer’s World Cup finals as an example.

Since its inception in 1930, the World Cup has arguably been the most successful, most prestigious sports competition.

Nations such as Tunisia, Panama, Egypt, Australia and Paraguay have qualified for the World Cup finals in recent times - but they didn't stand a chance of winning the tournament.

The joy in a tournament that is not heavily seeded or streamed is the unforgettable, career-defining journeys that teams embark upon and their occasional ability to spring a surprise that will glow forever in the World Cup archives.

If the GAA’s approach is emphatically right, why shouldn't FIFA create a soccer equivalent of the Tailteann Cup and see how far it gets them?

Imagine one day if soccer's world governing body decided to slice their competition into two tiers where the top 16 teams compete for the famous Jules Rimet trophy - a piece of 18-carat gold that’s been handled by greats such as Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and Diego Maradona – and the bottom 16 teams play in a new-fangled 'B' tournament.

Let’s call it the Sepp Blatter Cup.

The World Cup would immediately lose its global appeal. TV companies would run a mile from the Blatter Cup and there would be international retirements galore from the so-called lesser nations because players would see no value in competing in a lesser competition.

Throw as many team holidays and Allstar awards at the new competition and it would still not replace the prestige of playing in the World Cup.

The strong teams would get stronger and the weak ones get weaker, and in some instances might fall off the cliff altogether.

GAA players are graded throughout their careers – at club and national league level. Playing in the Sam Maguire is a player’s one opportunity to pit himself against the best in their sport.

Currently, all the Tailteann Cup serves to do is leave county teams waiting around for weeks on end, with no promise of extra games.

At least in hurling, the GAA have teased out and implemented a better Championship format. For instance, in the Joe McDonagh teams are playing week on week.

It’s a Championship package the GAA were able to sell and get buy-in.

There is not great buy-in with the Tailteann Cup.

Meanwhile, the hurlers of Down, Antrim, Carlow and Kerry haven’t stopped, as the Fermanagh footballers are kept waiting for six weeks for their opening game in the inaugural competition.

That’s a lot of expense to county boards too without a game in sight.

Gaps like these leave open the possibility of players wanting to do something else with their time, whether it’s travelling or returning early to their clubs.

Another trick the GAA missed was not plagiarising the Joe McDonagh Cup whereby this season’s two finalists earn wild cards back into the All-Ireland SHC series in that same season.

It means the carrot for players, managers, county boards and supporters is immediate.

The Tailteann Cup, by contrast, is riddled with disincentives.

There is this overwhelming sense that the GAA is trying to separate the ‘wheat’ from the ‘chaff’ and all eyes will be fixed on the ‘A’ side of the All-Ireland series as Tailteann Cup panels are steadily ravaged by absenteeism and apathy.

Players within squads will have different opinions too.

Some will walk. Some will see it as an opportunity to build for the following season. That in itself presents challenges for managers and coaches.

Tensions could well emerge among those who stick around and those who return to their clubs, decide to travel or spend more time with their families rather than clock up another 40 training sessions to play Leitrim in front of 300 people.

Which brings it back to the original question: Were the All-Ireland Qualifiers as we once knew them all that bad?

We had some great Saturday nights in Mullingar and Newry. We had some bad ones too.

Did some of the noisier pundits who kept beating the drum for a second tier in the football Championship infect the thinking among the GAA's decision-makers?

Was the Tailteann Cup their best effort?

Must you play in a competition that you have a realistic chance of winning?

Ask any player from Antrim or Fermanagh would they rather be staring down the barrel of the Tailteann Cup or getting ready for an All-Ireland Qualifer?

Be careful what you wish for. The Tailteann Cup is here now. Brace yourself...