Three senior clubs could be relegated in 2016

The pressure could be on the senior clubs in the 2016 championship with three set to be relegated if new proposals are sanctioned.

GAA club delegates will attend the first Co Board meeting of the yeasr at Dunganny next Monday night with the business of the adjourned annual convention to be dealt with first.

The main item of interest will be proposals from the Competitions Review Committee, but that matter has been allocated a special meeting on Monday 18th January.

That will allow clubs to discuss and debate the proposals which will see the championships redued to four-team groups and the introduction of a JUNIOR E grade which will add a seventh tier to the championships - SFC, IFC, JFC, Junior B, Junior C, Junior D, Junior E.

The main proposals are as follows:

1 The creation of a new Junior E grade

2 A reduction of the number of teams in each championship grade to 16

3 Teams to be placed in four divisions of four

4 The top team in each division to qualify for the quarter finals to be played at its home venue if deemed suitable by the CCC.

IF NOT

A venue nominated by that club (provided it is also deemed suitable by the CCC) taking account of criteria such as public safety, car parking, ticketing facilities etc.

The home quarter final will provide an additional prize to a team which tops its group and might end up playing a quarter final against a team which finished third in its group.

5 Teams finishing second and third in each division to qualify for a preliminary quarter final

6 The bottom team in each group to play-off in two semi-finals and a final to determine which team is relegated.

7 ‘Second Teams’ in a Championship to be fixed to play each other before playing ‘First Teams’ where possible.

INTERIM PROPOSALS

The survey and the submissions received showed an overwhelming preference for 16-team championships in all grades.

Discussions with the clubs showed a desire for this to commence in 2017. In order to achieve this, promotion and relegation in the 2016 championship would be as follows:

SFC
Three teams relegated, one promoted from IFC

IFC
(three teams relegated from SFC, one promoted from JFC), five relegated to JFC and one promoted to SFC

JFC
(five teams relegated from IFC, one promoted from JBFC, seven relegated to JBFC and one promoted to IFC

JBFC
(seven teams relegated from JFC, one promoted from JCFC) nine relegated to JCFC and one promoted to JAFC

JCFC
(nine teams relegated from JBFC, one promoted from JDFC) 11 relegated to JDFC and one promoted to JBFC

JDFC
11 teams relegated from JCFC, 16 teams relegated to JEFC and 1 promoted to JCFC

JEFC
16 teams relegated from JDFC

OR

It is also possible to achieve seven grades of 16 on a more gradual basis by relegating three teams from each grade over a period of five years as follows:

          SFC IFC JFC JB     JC     JD

2016 - 18  18  18   18      18     22

2017 - 16  18  18   18      18     24

2018 - 16  16  18    18     18     26

2019 - 16  16  16   18      18     28

2020 - 16  16  16   16      18     30

2021 - 16  16  16   16      16     32