CCCC present counties with new format proposals for senior football championships

The GAA's Central Competitions Control Committee has collated a number of proposals to tweak the inter-county football championship structures and presented them to counties, who will be asked to report back with feedback.

The discussion document that has been formulated comes as part of the ongoing review of the current structures, with the CCCC continuing to receive feedback on proposals that could potentially change the competition’s framework.

Proposals include the possible addition of a third tier to the All-Ireland championships as well as the potential to play the provincial championships at the start of year rather than after the Allianz Football League.

Following consultation with counties in the past number of months, issues have been raised regarding the current football championship structure and its place and effect on the calendar.

With this in mind, the discussion paper has been drawn up to assess the likely impact of certain tweaks and investigate whether they could solve some of the issues that have been highlighted.

Included are calls for a gap week to be provided between the league finals and start of the provincial football championships.

The lop-sided nature of some games - especially those in the early rounds - of the provincial series has been raised.

Queries have been made as to whether the value of the provincial championships could be further weighted by providing a greater reward for the provincial champions.

Feedback has also indicated that minimising the break in the calendar between teams exiting the provincial championships and their first game in the Tailteann Cup/Sam Maguire would be welcomed.

Further examination of the condensed nature of some stages of the championship season has also been