By John Harrington

The GAA has confirmed that the Football Championship structure proposal motions would be implemented on a three-year temporary basis if passed at Annual Congress later this month. 

After those three years are up, the there would be another vote at Annual Congress in 2021 on whether to retain the structures for the foreseeable future or not. Under current rule, that vote would also require a two-thirds majority.

The Football Championship structure proposals are contained in three separate motions that will go before Congress. Each motion will be voted on separately and are not dependent on the success or otherwise of one another. 

The first motion seeks to present a modest adjustment to the championship format that would produce a more exciting senior football championship within the current provincial championship structure and in a way that should not have a negative impact on the playing of county club championships.

This would add eight extra matches to the provincial and All-Ireland senior football championship programme. However, when one allows for the abolition of the Allianz League semi-finals, the increase in the overall annual inter-county senior football programme is reduced to six matches.

Also, tighter scheduling and a revised policy on replays, covered in the second and third motions relating to the championship structures, can bring improvements to the situations that affect the scheduling of club fixtures and the availability of inter-county players to clubs.

The first Championship restructure motion seeks to replace the quarter-final stage of the Championship with a group stage contested by the four provincial champions and the four round 4 qualifier winners. Pitting the eight best teams in the country against one another in this way would increase the number of high-quality matches at the height of the summer when playing conditions are optimal.

The new structure would provide a more exacting pathway to the All-Ireland final: the finalists will have had to compete with three of the best teams in the country at the group stage, followed by a semi-final with a top-four team that came through the same test. This will have the effect of ensuring that the finalists will have been equally tested and that the two best teams in the country contest the All-Ireland final.

Both All-Ireland Semi-Finals would be played over the one weekend which should generate greater excitement and also ensure both teams have the same period of time to prepare for the All-Ireland Final.

The second motion relating to the All-Ireland Football Championship structures seeks to have the All-Ireland hurling and Football Finals played in Croke Park on or before the last Sunday in August on dates determined by the Central Council. 

If the third motion, that which concerns replays, is passed, the only championship matches that would accommodate replays would be the provincial and All-Ireland Finals.

Another motion of note that will go before this year's Annual Congress will seek to restructure the All-Ireland Hurling Championship so that the Christy Ring Cup winners will qualify for the All-Ireland Qualifiers in the current Championship year. 

In other words, if the motion is passed, whoever wins the 2017 Christy Ring Cup will then compete in the 2017 All-Ireland SHC Qualifiers. 

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