Championship 2014 Proposed Format

5 Divisions 8 Teams per Division where Possible CCCC to adjust Lower Division Numbers where needed Div 5 to be 12-a-side Q/F’s in all Divisions – 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6, 4 v 5 (Match 1 to 4 in sequence) Lowest placed team to play at home in Q/F and to pay Referee S/F’s Match 1 v Match 3 Match 2 v Match 4 S/F’s and Final Neutral Venue

3 Divisions Premier, Roinn 1 and Roinn 2 Premier Division consisting of 8 Teams Roinn 1 consisting of 16 Teams Divided geographically into 2 x 8 Team Sections “A” and “B” Roinn 2 consisting of remaining teams both 15-a-side Section “A” and 12/13-a-side Section “B” (U16 to be 12-a-side, U18 to be 13-a-side) CCCC to adjust Roinn 2 as appropriate 15-a-side and 12/13-a-side teams to be kept in separate groups

 Premier Division Top 4 to S/F’s Team in position 1 v 4 and 2 v 3 S/F’s and Final Neutral Venue

Top 4 in each Section to Crossover Q/F’s, 1A v 4B, 2A v 3B, 3A v 2B 4A v 1B, Q/F’s named Match 1 to Match 4 in same sequence Q/F’s to be played at a Home Venue Teams 1A, 2A, 1B and 2B to get Home Venue Home Team to Pay Referee S/F Winners of Match 1 v Match 3, Match 2 v Match 4 S/F’s and Final at Neutral Venues

Bottom 4 in each Section to Crossover Q/F’s, 5A v 8B, 6A v 7B, 7A v 6B, 8A v 5B Q/F’s named Match 1 to Match 4 in same sequence Q/F’s and S/F’s to be played at a Home Venue Teams 5A, 6A, 5B and 6B to get Home Venue in Q/F’s S/F Winners of Match 1 v Match 3, Match 2 v Match 4 Match 1 and Match 4 Teams get Home venue in S/F’s Home team to pay Referee Shield Final to be at neutral venue

Top 3 Teams from 15-a-side section “A” plus Top team from 12/13 –a-side” B” into S/F’s All S/F’s and Final to be played 15-a-side S/F’s 1A v 1B, 2A v 3A If Top team in the 12/13-a-side section are unable to field a 15-a- side team then 2 nd placed team to play in S/F etc S/F’s and Final at neutral Venue

 Teams in 4 th to 11 th position (Max) in 15-a-side section “A” to Q/F’s  If less than 11 Teams in 15-a-side group 12/13-a-side Section “B” Teams to be promoted to the Q/F’s as needed (Selected on finishing positions)  All Q/F’s, S/F’s and Final to be 15-a-side  Q/F’s and S/F’s to be played at a Home Venue  Final at Neutral venue  Q/F and S/F draws to be made by CCCC after the last round of league section with Top Placed team v Bottom Placed team etc deciding Q/F matches.  Top placed Team to get home advantage in Q/F’s

. It was the view of the meeting that in Roinn 2 at both juvenile and minor that if a 12/13 a -side team is able to field fifteen for a semi final, then they shouldn't be in the 12/13 a side division in the first place Another potential problem in roinn 2 would be if the two sections were unbalanced. Could we have a situation where there are only three or four 12/13 a side teams and maybe eleven or twelve 15 a side teams? (Or vice versa) Change 12 a side at under 14 and under 16 to 13 a side

. Amalgamations – The present rules state (bearing in mind we operate on a 5 Division basis) that Amalgamated teams should be graded in Div 1 or Div 2 (some exceptional cases have been reviewed and teams were placed in Div 3) but generally this is the rule which is upheld. We need to seek clarity on how this will work if there is a reduction to 3 Divisions. Will amalgamated teams be considered to be Div 1 standard automatically

 There is the obvious problem with 13 aside. We propose the Following A panel of 17 players be submitted at the start of the year. A certain number of these players should come from the previous age group ie u16 go up to u18. The referees could submit the player names with the score.

 Regarding the Premier Grade we do feel that a Shield Section should be introduced to U14, U16;  Top Team into Cup Semi Final  Bottom Team into Shield Semi Final  6 remaining Teams into Quarter Final  Winning Teams from Quarter Final qualify for Cup Semi Final  Losing Teams from Quarter Final qualify for Shield Semi Final

We would favour shield competitions being included in Premier Abolish 12 a side competitions - teams to be either 13 or 15 a side

For U16 & U18 Roinn 2 and for U14 we propose the following Teams be divided into groups of 6 initially (on a best efforts basis based on information & previous results available to Co Board). Every team plays 5 matches (clubs who indicate in advance of Co Board grading that they can only field 13 a side be allowed to play their games 13 a side). Results of initial 5 games to be reviewed by Co Board and teams to be regraded into "championship" groups (ideally groups of 8 but would need some flexibility with this depending on the number of teams involved). Regrading to be based on the results recorded in the initial 5 games. Championship to be completed on a knock out basis with a knock out shield for 1st round losers

The only area of concern to us in Realt na Mara, Ballygarrett is that due the number of extra games to be played in particular in the minor grade. We would request that a level of leniency be afforded to clubs who have difficulty fielding teams prior to the break for exams. In previous years these matches have been fixed for Sunday mornings and many small clubs have difficulty getting a full compliment of players for these games for a variety of reasons

You have to be realistic in your planning, and I think you are, Playing numbers are worrying for most clubs especially u The one point I stress is to keep geographic distances as close as you can within levels of team grades. When a team is likely to be well beaten by another club AND the match is an hours drive away, the choice of giving a walkover becomes more attractive- and we do not want that.

We do feel a little more needs to be done for clubs struggling for actual numbers in the 12/13 a-side to keep them playing, help them amalgamate if needed and also in the grading of teams who have sufficient numbers to be pushed up and not nudged. 1. Our first proposal would be to give Roinn 2 Section B equal status with Section A, like in Roinn 1 Section A & B. Roinn 2, Top 4 in crossover Q/Fs and a Shield with Bottom 4 crossover Q/Fs. 2. Our second proposal would be to allow 12/13 a-side Q/Fs, S/Fs & Finals, if the Roinn 2 Section B team cannot field a 15 a-side team. The information given at grading stage and also in the team sheets during league stage should provide enough information to show a team have sufficient numbers to play 15 a-side.

Our third proposal would be to ease the County Boards decisions made early in a year at grading stage which is on paper, to include grading later in the year of actual playing time. We would suggest this could be done in the 2/3 weeks preceding the start of championships and would also act as warm up matches, focusing all teams. This could be done over 2 blitz days of short matches with groups of 4 teams of similar paper grading play a game, with the second game winners v winners and losers v. losers. The 2 nd blitz day would put the winners of 2 groups together and losers of 2 groups together. Team numbers will also be found out prior to Championship and teams be encouraged to amalgamate if struggling, dropped to 12/13 a-side or pushed into 15 a-side.