O’Keeffe proposes tweak to Waterford SFC group games

After a run of low turnouts in 2013, county secretary Timmy O’Keeffe believes that the round robin stages of the senior football championship should be held on a home and away basis over a two year trial period.

The end of year returns revealed the current lack of appeal in the group games. Gaultier v Ardmore recorded the lowest figure of €110 on the gate. Ballinacourty v Ballinameela (€153) and Clashmore v Gaultier (€180) only fared marginally better. Four other games failed to break three hundred euro.

“It is very noticeable that interest in the league section games of the senior football championship is at an all time low,” O'Keeffe noted in his report to convention. “ As can be seen in the analysis of the senior football championship gate receipts further on in this booklet, of the 23 games shown at 8 different venues, 19 of them recorded a gate receipt of €520 or less. These games, played at neutral venues, not alone are not attracting the neutral supporter, they are not even attracting supporters from either club! Perhaps it would be worth considering that these league section games could be played on a home or away basis on a trial period for two years. The idea would be that the groups drawn for 2014 would be for a two year period, 2014 and 2015. Each team would then be guaranteed five home games and five away games over a two year period.”

He feels that this measure will revive interest in the early rounds of the championship. “In addition to improving gate receipts, playing the games on a home or away basis would bring the game back to the people of the parish and in so doing would give the senior football championship a much needed boost."

He believes that every club ground should be able to cope with hosting these games. “Of course, each club pitch would have to be of a minimum standard and issues like stewarding, collecting gates, scoreboards, parking, etc. would have to be worked out but most club grounds are now of a high standard and with goodwill and hard work these issues could be resolved. “