GERARD O’KANE: There’s no right club championship format

A QUICK glance around the counties in Ulster will tell you about how each county championship is progressing and people’s thoughts on each of the formats.

The Tyrone Championship sticks out as an outlier as it is straight knockout. Tyrone people are immensely proud of this fact as they feel it reflects the true nature and spirit of championship football and anyone who disagrees feels their wrath very quickly!

However, just because they feel it works for them doesn’t necessarily mean they are right, nor does it mean they are wrong either. An argument against this would be as follows: given county players only miss five starred games and therefore they start their leagues later, is it also in the spirit of player welfare to run off seven or eight club league games inside 30 days to get it finished?

As the old saying goes, ‘it’s horses for courses’ and not every system or method suits everyone else so every county is entitled to their own way of working things.

I do admire the Tyrone County Board for sticking to their guns on this and I’d imagine any change would be met with fierce resistance but it doesn’t mean to say that a championship medal holds any more or less value to a club player in Tyrone than to a player in Derry or Donegal, etc.

If that was the case everyone in Tyrone would not recognise their All Ireland wins in 2005 and 2008 – and I for one am not telling them that they really only have two All-Irelands!

It also doesn’t mean that the quality is any better or worse in other counties due to the make up of the system. Group games or not, I have yet to be in a changing room where we didn’t go out to give our all to win a championship game whether it’s knock-out or not.

The quality of the best teams will always shine through and that is put to the test at Ulster Club level. No club can fluke or sneak a championship.

Yes, the draw can be kind in some ways but nonetheless, any team who comes out of their respective county definitely deserves it and a shot at Ulster Club. Whether it is straight knockout and it takes you four games to win, or it is a group or backdoor format and it takes six or seven, the intensity levels do not drop across the counties. Teams go out to win games full stop.

Also, the old adage that a tougher knockout club championship hampers teams at the provincial level is just plain wrong.

If there is a group stage system and a team plays seven games such as that in Derry, could this not mean that the Derry players have played more football over a prolonged period so would be more burnt out?

For me there are just different levels of quality and this is where Ulster Club comes in. It is the best club competition that exists in the club calendar. Pitting the best against the best is what it is all about. While the elements maybe don’t lead to free-flowing football, there is a certain character that is revealed about teams that seem to be able to go that extra mile and dig deeper.

As you get older and move through your career you look at the GAA in a different light and see it as much as a development tool for players. It’s a social outlet for those who are not hell bent on being the best version of themselves while also trying to provide an environment whereby those who do see GAA as their be all and end all to thrive and push themselves to the limit.

This can be an extremely difficult balance to achieve but one which is necessary within a club set-up. Not everyone in a club has football as their priority but it is still important to provide football across the board for everyone who seeks it.

So for those of you who are watching different club championships and watch one bad game and then lament that the system is wrong while looking over the fence and saying your neighbour’s system is better, there are positives and minuses to every version. Just enjoy the glut of club football we have at this time of the year. Whether it is being there at the game or watching on a stream, weekends are packed with football and it definitely makes for shorter weekends as the dark nights draw in.