Gaelic Games

Mayo will vote against Proposal B at special congress

County released a statement on Friday confirming their intentions

Mayo will vote against Proposals A and B at Saturday’s congress. Photo: Ryan Byrne/Inpho

Fri Oct 22 2021 - 10:47

Mayo delegates will vote against Proposal B at Saturday’s special congress, the county board has announced.

A statement on Friday morning confirmed that delegates have been mandated to vote against Motion 18 (Prposal A - the eight-team provincial championship) and Motion 19 (Proposal B - the league based championship).

Proposal B has been gathering strength throughout the week with Wexford chairman Micheál Martin the latest to speak in favour of it but the decision by Mayo will strike a blow to hopes of securing the 60 per cent majority needed for it to pass.

Mayo join Galway, Fermanagh and Armagh in saying they will vote against Proposal B while Cork, Tipperary, Clare, Leitrim, Sligo, Roscommon, Down, Wexford, Westmeath, Louth, Kildare, Offaly and Meath had all said they will vote in favour.

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Football championship proposals

Proposal A

- League to remain in the spring. Provincial championships retained in four groups of eight teams. The bottom six teams in Leinster (based on that year’s league finish) to play off with two of the losers switching to Munster and the third to Connacht.

- The bottom two in Ulster to play off with loser going to Connacht - giving four ‘provinces’ of eight counties, each divided into two groups of four.

- Three matches, one home, one away and one neutral venue, with the top teams in each group playing provincial finals and the second and third teams across the eight groups, playing each other over two knock-out rounds.

- The four survivors play the counties that lost the provincial finals with the winners going up against the provincial champions in All-Ireland quarter-finals.

- The bottom team in each group proceeds to the Tailteann Cup, the eight competing to play off knockout quarter-finals.

Proposal B

- Provincial championships to be played on a round-robin basis in February and March and have no link to the All-Ireland championship.

- The All-Ireland will be played on a league-based format with the national league moved to the summer. The four hierarchical divisions that would otherwise constitute the 2022 AFL will be played between April and June.

- Proceeding to the 10 knockout All-Ireland places will be the top five counties in Division One, the top three in Division Two and the table toppers in Divisions Three and Four. The latter two counties will play preliminary quarter-finals against the second and third counties in Division Two.

- The remaining eight teams are drawn together in the All-Ireland quarter-finals on a seeded basis, ie first in Division One v one of the preliminary quarter-final winners, second placed against the other preliminary quarter-final winner etc.

- The second-placed team in Division Three gets a bye to the quarter-finals of the Tailteann Cup with the remaining 13 teams plus New York drawn together in preliminary quarter-finals. The seven winners plus the team with the bye play off a knockout championship.