by Adam Moynihan

There will be no radical change for the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in 2022 after a motion to restructure the format of the competition failed at GAA Special Congress on Saturday afternoon.

Motion 19 (also referred to as 'Proposal B' or 'Plan B') proposed that the National League and All-Ireland Championship should become one competition, with the provincial championships being separated from the All-Ireland series for the first time ever.

The motion needed support from 60% of delegates but, contrary to projections, it fell well short of that majority. In the end, after an hour-and-a-quarter of debate, just 50.6% of voters opted for Plan B.

Plan A - four groups of eight "provinces" plus an All-Ireland series - garnered far less support. 90% of those present voted against that particular proposal, which was down as Motion 18 on the agenda.

The end result of the two failed motions is that intercounty football will revert to the status quo as it was before the Super 8s were introduced in 2018, with a qualifier or "back door" system in place. A second tier competition known as the Tailteann Cup will also be staged.

ARGUMENTS

Introducing Motion 19 to delegates at Croke Park, former GAA President John Horan described the proposal as a starting point.

"If we feel we need to improve it, that opportunity would be there," he said. "This proposal will mean more matches for our players and a better playing to training ratio."

CEO of the Gaelic Players Association Tom Parsons said the 'league as championship' model would spark life into Gaelic football, before reading the testimonies of some intercounty players who supported Plan B. Among them was current Kerry captain Paul Murphy, who was quoted as saying: "The time has come to try a new structure for our football championship."

Parsons added that some players are being "laughed at" while wearing county tracksuits after suffering heavy defeats.

Former GAA President and ex-Kerry GAA Chairman Seán Kelly also spoke out in favour of Proposal B, suggesting that it should be trialled for a period of three years.

"If you stand still, you go backwards," the Kilcummin native said. "This motion should be trialled for a maximum of three years and then reviewed. To turn our backs on the voice of the players does not make sense to me."

Michael Duignan from Offaly, Colm Collins from Clare, Seán Carroll from Sligo, Kevin O'Donovan from Cork and Declan Bohan from Leitrim all backed the proposal.

Representatives from Mayo, Donegal, Antrim, Cavan, Derry, Monaghan and Armagh argued against.

Mayo GAA Chairman Liam Moffatt raised concerns about the sixth place team in Division 1 not qualifying for the All-Ireland series while teams from lower divisions would.

Tiernach Mahon of Fermanagh GAA said that "this motion has the potential to destroy the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of Fermanagh people".

Meanwhile, Kerry GAA chair Tim Murphy called for Motion 19 to be voted on at Congress 2022 instead.

"It's a really strong motion with really good attributes and something we should really consider. But I would caveat that by saying it would be a travesty today if the motion is put to the floor and defeated. All the work of the committee would go to waste.

"The sense I get from the floor is that everybody is for change and for us to grow and evolve as an Association we have to accept that. I do feel the motion has huge attributes, but maybe we should go around to the provinces and invite in county officers and players to have their view. If we come back in 12 or 13 weeks with the same motion, then no-one can say we haven't discussed it properly.

"Perhaps bringing this motion to Congress 2022 is the best solution to the situation we find ourselves in."

Bringing the debate to a close, Horan again urged delegates to back the proposal.

His pleas fell on deaf ears, however - at least for 83 of the 168 people in attendance. 100 'yes' votes were needed for change, but Motion 19 received just 85.