What Changes Will The Next 10 Years Bring??

Looking back over the last 10 years there have been some changes within the GAA - most notably we've had Rules 21 seemingly confined to the history bin, Croker has been opened up to other sports, the qualifiers, the acceptance of the GPA and Antrim and Galway joining the Leinster Hurling Championship.

It just got me thinking of what significant changes the next 10 years will bring to the organisation. Whilst the next 10 will be no less challenging than the 125 that have gone before, you cant help but feel there will be significant and possibly controversial changes afoot.

We seem already to have opened the door to pay per view GAA - Setanta sports seem to have set the ball rolling with this regard. We are already been asked to subscribe to see NFL and NHL games whilst RTE show meaningless Champions League Games.

I can see the League being done away with as a meaningful competition - i think the trend has already been set that the league serves little or no purpose and is certainly not much of an indicator of what will happen come championship time - unless of course your Kerry. And in its place we may see some form of 'league' being introduced for the championship were counties will be split into groups and will play each other home and away with the top 2 progressing to an All Ireland quarter final or such likes.

But probably the biggest single factor which will dominate the next decade is money. In Tyrone we have already started looking for funding for the Garvaghey project estimated to cost circa £7million. Only today Derry County Board has announced plans for an Academy which wont come cheap. More and more clubs are 'investing' large sums of money in new 3G pitches, indoor pitches, clubrooms gyms etc. Personally i feel this is a dangerous road to be going down, instead of leaving a legacy of facilities and pitches for use by generations to come i feel the only legacy being created is one of long terms debt and misery for many clubs & counties who have lost all grasp of reality. Will we spend the next decade reading of clubs and counties looking to be bailed out by GAA HQ - I fear we will.

The GAA has come a long way, I can see Antrim being the team of the decade in football. Well I hope they do, either Derry or Antrim and I'll be happy

Interesting question Boc. If you asked 5 years ago I would have said some form of professionalism was inevitable but the economic downturn has dented that severely at the moment. I can however see some moves this way in the next 10 years.

Looking at it from a playing point of view I think there is a large anamoly at the moment in the GAA. Hurling as a game - rules, discipline etc is in fine fettle. The marketing of the games and the encouragement and opportunities for the weaker counties is not. The league has hardly been promo'ed at all. The product is marvellous but the efforts to grow it are awful.

In complete contrast, football as a product is poor enough to be honest but the marketing etc is top class. The GAA have tinkered with rules etc over a number of years with varying degrees of effectiveness (I would not say success!). I do not like the way physicality is being removed from the games. There are also too many grey areas and discipline is a minefield.

In truth we have had poor championships over the last two seasons. That is not taking away from Tyrone or Kerry who were/are both excellent champions. I refer to the quality of the overall tournaments. I would love to see more emphasis on the skills of the game and less on the athleticism. There are still some wonderful players out there and I love to see them displaying their skills more than I do seeing muscle bound players who can run through a brick wall all day.

I feel there is real change needed but a lot of this must be in the mindset. I really think football people have to ask themselves what way they want the game to go. Its not an easy problem to solve. And in truth refereeing must surely become at least semi-pro at some stage.

Cavan will reach the heights again in Football again, FACT!

Lock the thread!

Some very good points raised so far. Counties are going mad with expansionist schemes (FFS Leitrim are embarking on a "center of excellence in Annaduff".. . Huge clubhouses adorn the country, scarcity of players doesn't enter the equation. Skills of the game forsaken for stamina training...all B/S.
We will have to revert to the open draw to stimulate the game and abandon the qualifier system. It has served it's purpose and now merely holds up local champo matches. What's the point of playing champo matches dragging into the Winter? Players want to play and train over the Summer months, relax and have a holiday with the bird/wife sometime between May and Sept.
Better,or should I say a better and more uniform policy for referees will have to be adopted and enforced. Discipline must be addressed and the under-age structure must be given much more consideration. Professionalism must be resisted and we will have to go back to the bedrock of the game, ie. the clubs.
You could rant on forever I suppose, but another gripe with me is getting younger blood onto County Boards and eradicating some of the dinosaurs who vegetate therein....

True Boc there will be changes and some surprising. Who would have thought 10 years ago that soccer and rugger would be played in Croke Park?Yes there will be a new format in the championship but probably not for 4 to 5 years. Kerry-Tyrone grip will be broken for a few years and we may have a few different counties sharing Sam, which would do the game no harm. Then Kerry will probably win a couple under the new format. There will be more amalgamation of clubs due to emigration. By the time the ten years are up I think the GAA will be as strong as ever sponsored by the only Bank in the country ie Lenihan Bros.

Perhaps We'll see the eradication of the provincial football championships as a progression and the league too, with 4 groups of 8 counties playing in football instead and the provincials played as separate competition to Sam. It would even the whole thing out maybe?.

Also hopefully My county will upgrade it's centre of Mediocrity too.

What I'd like to see ove the next ten years is for the second tier of hurling teams to catch up with the first tier.

Oh ya and for Galway hurlers to win a Senior All Ireland.

Sebastian wrote:
Also hopefully My county will upgrade it's centre of Mediocrity too.

Why Seb??? It's working perfectly!!! (ok - sorry!)

clash-of-da-ash wrote:What I'd like to see ove the next ten years is for the second tier of hurling teams to catch up with the first tier.

Oh ya and for Galway hurlers to win a Senior All Ireland.

Clash - you are asking for a lot there. First for Galway to make it to the top tier and then to go on and win Liam ....

i think we may see the game go semi pro ( i wouldnt like it one bit ) our plyers get more like thier soccer counter parts everyday - look at most interviews they say plenty without telling us anything.

the provinicals may go as well the interpros will get their final nail (as if one province playing non county players didnt help it along last yr) in thier coffin

clubs will have to survive without hte county players and will turn to somethin resembling the rubgy league or saturday football of the soccer version

croker and other gaa grounds may be opened up to allow ireland to apply to host some sort of international tournament - with govt help , you know bring the tourists back and help kick start irelands ecomony.

we will have rte losing the right to cover some championship matches which will go pay per view

dublin will win sam

kilkenny will lose a hurling match

oh and we will have agaa kiss n tell in the irish sunday star (better than endless stories of gangland warfare in limerick!)

or none of the above will happen as our committees are filled with backward looking dinosaurs

The GAA will develop "Celebrity Spats".. The first one will involve Cody and Morrissey.

I hope there will be less strikes and disputes over who the manager is, its not good for the game. I'd also like manager's wages to be taxed and declared and reduced. Clubs also need to keep a close look on their expenses and cut as much costs as possible such as gym memberships and paying for a physical trainer etc.

Proposed Developments: County Training Facilities

Located off the N4 at Annaduff Outdoor 2 x All-weather training fields All-weather sprinting track Open 60' x 30' handball alley Large indoor facility which includes 2 x handball alleys Large car & bus park Indoor: lower 3 unisex dressing rooms (incl. treatment room, 12-15 person shower area & roilet facilities) 3 x auxiliary rooms & 1 Lift Access to 2 - 40' x 20' covered handball alleys Indoor: upper 1 unisex dressing rooms (incl. treatment room, 12 person shower area & toilet facilities) Weights room Large viewing stand at rear of handball area General Purpose room Kitchen & dining area Meeting Room Photos Site map | Side view 1 | Side view 2 Overlook 1 | Overlook 2 | Overlook 3

Sheer madness .....

I presume thats the current Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada Boxty? A stone's throw from Notleys and another throw from some 2nd cousins and some departed in the local graveyard!

Jayo Cluxton wrote:I presume thats the current Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada Boxty? A stone's throw from Notleys and another throw from some 2nd cousins and some departed in the local graveyard!

That's the vision of the proposed "center of excellence" in Annaduff, adjacent to your mentioned locations.
Stone, solid madness..Leaves Kevin Costner's "Field of Dreams" in the shade....If we build it they will come stuff.. ....Only in Leitrim..

Boxty i agree its pure madness by a select few who have evidently lost the run of themselves.

In Tyrone the facilities will include 6 pitches - WTF would anyone want 6 pitches side by side for when there are any amount of great pitches dotted throughout the country. The county Board have asked clubs to set up standing orders to contribute £5000 each, at a time when clubs are struggling to keep their own heads above water. They even wanted club members to tramp the country selling tickets to raise funds - totally undermining clubs if you ask me.

Thus weekend Mickey Harte boards a plane with a posse from Club Tyrone begging caps in hand to ask the good people of Philadelphia to fund part of this ambitious project - talk about a cheek, by all accounts Philadelphia dont even have their own pitch!!!!!!!!!!

Its interesting that the most successful counties in terms of All Ireland titles dont have these centres of excellence or any of that bullshit!!!!!!!!!!!

It has been an interesting decade of GAA alright but hopefully the next one will be too. Less strikes, less diving (and if you do dive straight red and four week ban), more than four counties winning an All Ireland in the decade, more developement of grassroots and no more back door would be my hopes for the decade.

On the back door, I do not believe it is a bad idea but it is killing provincial championships. Also, I believe in the next ten years the Leinster football championship will regain the standard which it once obtained with 5 or 6 teams challenging every year.

GAA Abú!

So Derry are getting a 2nd ground That was one of the best things of being from the City, The GAA ground close to you. Hopefully I'll be living in south Derry by the time it opens, Not sticking around in this place not a hope sir

up.the.oak.trees wrote:So Derry are getting a 2nd ground That was one of the best things of being from the City, The GAA ground close to you. Hopefully I'll be living in south Derry by the time it opens, Not sticking around in this place not a hope sir

Ah Derry City's not that bad UTOT, i haven't a bad word to say about the City or her people (both sides of the water)

Where in the "promised land" will you shift to anyway?

I predict that in 10 years time Croke Park will be renamed The Joe Canning Stadium

mossbags wrote:I predict that in 10 years time Croke Park will be renamed The Joe Canning Stadium

And if that happens I predict a riot from Henry Shefflin.

The SSS has a nice ring to it.

bald eagle wrote:

up.the.oak.trees wrote:So Derry are getting a 2nd ground That was one of the best things of being from the City, The GAA ground close to you. Hopefully I'll be living in south Derry by the time it opens, Not sticking around in this place not a hope sir

Ah Derry City's not that bad UTOT, i haven't a bad word to say about the City or her people (both sides of the water)

Where in the "promised land" will you shift to anyway?

I want to live in the country, I dont think city life was ment to be for me. Just something about it, Im more of a person who likes the country side not the busy city life. Nothing wrong with the people its just the same old thing every day, Dog dirt on every path, Chewing gum on the ground then your shoes, Graffiti on almost ever wall and fence, Even though Im pointing out the negatives there are some advantages

Hopefully the next 10 years will bring a mass improvement in the quality of refereeing. Really and truly, I've never seen as worse refereeing in all my born days. The Ref in the Club Football final par example, the lad hadn't a clue about the rules. Even the ref with Mayo and Derry, no idea! I won't even try to turn back the clocks to last year in the Quarters, because that's burned into my mind already.

Video evidence is something that should be introduced. A clock like the Ladies have should also be introduced, so it records the exact injury time that should be allocated.