Dublin have beaten Westmeath by 31 points in the Leinster football championship. What's that, you want a 'B' Championship in which teams compete on merit rather than by quirks of a geography decided centuries ago by English men, none of whom came from a hurling stronghold?
Pffft, what a considered and practical approach: it will never pass Congress. Instead, here are seven other ways of making the Championship fairer when it comes to slaying the might of the Dubs. (Some more considered/practical than others).
Nominate a Dublin club side to compete in the Championship
Kevin Heffernan's great Dublin side of the mid-70s mostly consisted of St Vincent's players, so how about we formalise the process in the modern era, and have a single club compete under the Dublin banner? Play the Dublin championship off, with the winners representing the county in the All-Ireland championship.
Play the Dublin U-21s in the Senior Championship
Con O'Callaghan and co. have won the final every U-21 football title, and we think they could compete pretty well at senior level.
Split Dublin
You've heard this one before. "They want to be the 33rd team. Really, they asked for that".
Tour the Dubs in every province
We quite like the idea of dropping the Dubs in a different province year, on a rotating basis. We quite like the idea of a bonus heavyweight clash every summer: imaging Dublin/Kerry, Dublin/Tyrone, Dublin/Mayo at least twice a year? The inevitable playing of these games at Croke Park would also add some badly-needed fume to June.
Change the Championship to a Railway Cup, with Dublin a separate, fifth entity
Okay, the Dubs would probably still beat a composite Leinster team out of the gate, but the other challenge would be fascinated. Imagine a Connacht team with the backbone of Mayo, garlanded by a couple of extra scoring forwards, like Sean Armstrong and Diarmuid Murtagh? Or a Kerry team with the added class of Michael Quinlivan and, er, possibly somebody from Cork?
Take on all of Leinster, on a one-by-one challenger basis
It may be time to have each of the Leinster teams take a shot at the Kings. Begin with the lowest ranked side, and have Dublin face each one on a weekly basis until they lose a game. In the unlikely event of a Dubs defeat, the side that inflicts it will be conferred with the Leinster title. If the Dubs are still standing at the end of 10 games, then send them straight into the All-Ireland semi-finals.
Pool all sponsorship
While none of the above will happen anytime soon, the pooling of sponsorship funds is at least potentially realistic, MLS-style. Dublin are a commercial juggernaut, having signed a €2 million sponsorship from AIG: one of the 13 official partners listed on the Dublin website. While all counties are perfectly entitled to earn as much as they can, the pooling of all commercial sponsorship funds at provincial or national level, with an even distribution of funds across counties, would partly bridge the chasm, at least.
Let us know your ideas. Email [email protected], or tweet @ballsdotie.
