BY CHRIS MCNULTY
DONEGAL’S GAA clubs are to gather tonight in Jackson’s Hotel for the annual regulations meeting, to discuss a number of propsed new regulations, most of which are in relation to the All-County League.
In all, there are 54 regulations that have been submitted by eleven clubs.
Tonight’s meeting will not make decisions that will be cast in stone. Rather, the meeting will inform clubs of the implications of these regulations with clubs convening again next Monday for the monthly sitting of the county committee, at which the propsals will be voted on.
Chairpersons, secretaries, managers and county committee delegates are all invited to attend this evening’s meeting.
The meeting will hear wide-ranging proposals from a number of clubs, including one from the reigning Donegal SFC champions, Glenswilly, to overhaul the structure of the All-County League. Glenswilly have proposed that Division 1 be extended to comprise fifteen teams in 2014, made up of the nine teams already in the top flight plus the top six teams from last year’s Division 2.
Within that structure, they propse that the teams each play 14 games (seven home, seven away) with the fixtures reversed for 2015. Their proposal would see Divisions 2 and 3 become twelve-team Leagues, teams playing each other on a home and away basis with Division 4 comprising the teams currently in Division 5.
There is another proposal submitted that would see sweeping change to the League. Ardara have suggested that the senior football league comprise the sixteen teams who are in the senior championship. They propose that each team get a home game against the others once in two years (playing a total fifteen games per year in the League).
Both Four Masters and Naomh Muire have tabled proposals calling for an end to promotion and relegation play-offs.
The clubs are suggesting that the bottom two teams in Leagues be relegated with the top two gaining promotion.
Another proposal from the Four Masters club asks that all club games be played on Saturday evenings ‘as soon as is practicable, allowing county players train with the county team on Sundays’.
Killybegs have mooted the idea of the Intermediate Championship be played on a round robin basis, similar to the way the SFC is run off at present while Kilcar have asked for an ammendment to the SFC rules and have asked that teams who meet in the group stage be kept apart at the quarter-final phase. In 2013, Kilcar played Glenswilly and Malin play St Eunan’s in quarter-finals having met previously in the groups.
Ardara have called for a return of the Division 1 League final, to be played out by the top two teams in the division, while Ardara are one of a number of clubs who appear open to the possibility of playing midweek League games with teams within a certain proximity.
Carndonagh, meanwhile, have put forward a suggestion that the admission fee for all games be set at €5.
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