The man behind the wire: Opportunity to vote again on Offaly football championship format should be taken

IT is certainly possible, if not probable, that clubs will avail of the opportunity to have a second vote on the format of the Offaly football championships for 2024.

There was a mixture of disbelief and anger when the format was agreed last year with every club qualifying out of the groups into the quarter-finals in the Senior, Senior “B”, Intermediate and Junior Football Championships.

The format makes the group stages a dead rubber with nothing real at stake and the really big losers are supporters who won't get to see genuine championship fare until the quarter-finals. Teams may still want to be win games and there may be some decent football played but with no penalty for losing, there is just not enough at stake to provide genuine, competitive championship fare.

It allows clubs to cater their training schedule towards the quarter-finals near the end of August and it gives players carte-blanche to go away during the summer, either for weeks at a time or holidays whenever they want.

That, of course, may not be necessarily a bad thing. A huge travelling bug is now prevalent among young people. It is almost a part of initiation into adulthood that many young people will sample life for a year or two in foreign countries.

Not everyone has that instinct but it is becoming a big feature of life for a lot of clubs. Being a county player is no longer enough to hold young people at home. Two members of last year's Offaly senior hurling panel, Adrian Cleary (Shinrone) and Paddy Clancy (Belmont) have gone to Australia. Goalkeeper Paddy Dunican (Shamrocks) opted out of the county football panel to go abroad a couple of years ago and has not returned home to live yet. His Shamrocks club mate Shane O'Toole-Greene was on the Offaly senior football panel last year but has gone to Canada.

It is a path being taken by many and only the really committed or those that settle into careers or serious relationships at an early stage are more likely to stay at home. And even those don't guarantee anything as people leave stable, decent jobs to go abroad. It is a desire born out of adventure, rather than necessity, even if there is the potential to earn more money abroad.

If going to America or wherever for a couple of months in a summer gets that out of their system, it is better for clubs than losing players for a year or two, if not more permanently.

That, however, can't dictate your format for your championships, though it was a factor is some clubs voting in favour of the new system at the County Board meeting late last year.

Travel all boils down to personal choice. If it is something you really want to do, it must be done but your GAA career is also a blink of an eye and young people also have a burning desire to fulfil their potential in football and hurling.

Some clubs like the idea of the new system as they know they will be playing in a quarter-final – but if they are relegated, competing in a quarter-final that was not earned on merit will not bring one iota of satisfaction to anyone.

And that is the problem with the new system. You could win your three group games and be relegated or lose them and win the championship. There is just too little at stake in the early rounds. The format has disappointed a lot of players and it has certainly infuriated supporters who want to be entertained but may not get that in the early rounds.

It was discussed at a County Board meeting last week where both Ferbane and Durrow delegates spoke against it. We know of other clubs who are very much against it, while some are in favour of it – the ones who are in favour of it are very much coming from a place of self preservation, and nowhere else.

There is an opportunity to get the format overturned. A motion can be put forward to the next County Board meeting seeking a change. It must get a three fifths majority to be overturned and then must be approved by Central Council – secretary Colm Cummins told last week's meeting that it would not be guaranteed that Central Council will agree the change.

More likely they would but irrespective of that, it would be a good thing for a club to put forward a motion and have a new vote on it.

Clubs are responsible for the format that was agreed and they have the power to change it. There have been complaints that clubs didn't know this was coming up at the last meeting but they can be dismissed. Colm Cummins is meticulous in the way he does his business and ensures rules and regulations are complied with. You can be absolutely sure the correct procedures were applied and clubs were notified of the proposals five days in advance of the last meeting.

The problem was that the vast majority didn't have meetings to discuss it. Delegates voted according to their own opinion at the last County Board meeting – we know of cases where delegates voted for the format but their club is now vehemently opposed to it.

That should not happen and a motion for change gives an opportunity to have a vote with everyone's eyes open and club committees making the call, rather than an individual.

The Management Committee also voted en-bloc for it at the last County Board meeting. They had approved the Competitions Control Committee recommendation at a meeting and they stood with this but it would be good to give them an open vote on any new motion.

There were at least a couple of officers who are against the format but didn't speak at the Management Committee meeting. That of course is wrong but it was surprising to see the Management Committee so wholeheartedly endorse a system that is anti-football in some respects.

As Ferbane's Brian Flynn said at last week's meeting, they have provided four extra games in the championship but rendered twelve of them meaningless in the process.

There are other ways of creating an extra game. A few years ago, Offaly had a system where the groups criss crossed and you played the teams in the other group – giving you four instead of three group games. It didn't work as there was a major imbalance in the groups in senior football and it was discarded after one year. Perhaps it should have been given more of a chance. It did create the possibility of a team qualifying with no points from their group and a team losing out with more in an another one but at least there was uncertainty about it. There was something at stake in every game and you didn't have all eight teams going into the quarter-finals.

From a supporters' perspective and probably a players' one as well, it was a way better system than the new one. Last year's system with two groups of four and the top three qualifying for the knockout stages was also better and certainly had more for spectators – and Offaly GAA does have a duty to entertain supporters as well as providing games.

They hope to have a ten team Senior Football Championship next year and if the national county fixtures schedule allows that to happen, it will satisfy the desire for an extra game. In the mean time, is it really worth writing off the group stages for one year?

Hopefully a club will put forward a motion for change. It doesn't mean it will be passed. A three fifths majority is not easy to get, especially if the Management Committee stick to their guns, which is very possible, but clubs will still have the power in their hands. Let them listen to their members and vote accordingly. And if they decide to stick with the championship format as agreed, so be it. That must be accepted but at least they are doing so with their eyes open and not half closed, as appears to have been the case at the original meeting.