Derry GAA reveals "opt-in" Football and Hurling Championship format

There had been plenty of speculation surrounding the fate of this year's club championships but after consultation with club, a spokesperson for Derry GAA said they hoped the calendar would maximise the 11 weeks available for club competition. It was also revealed the competitions would be run on an 'opt-in' basis with no club facing any fines should they no wish to compete, given the extraordinary circumstances facing Gaelic Games and sport in general this year.

Clubs have until Friday 18th June to indicate they wish to compete in the adult competitions and on or before Friday 26th June for the underage competitions, allowing draws to be made shortly after these dates. Derry GAA also stated clubs will retain all gate receipts from home championship fixtures, a measure designed to alleviate the financial strain clubs are currently under.

According to the revised calendar, the senior hurling competition will get the senior competitions underway on the weekend of August 1st/2nd with the Senior, Intermediate, Junior and reserve football competitions due to start the following weekend (August 8th and 9th).

The format for the senior hurling will see the eight teams drawn into two groups of four with the top two in each group playing off and the winners advancing to the senior final with the two losers dropping into the Intermediate final. The bottom two in each group play off with the two victorious teams going into the junior final, thus ensuring at least four fixtures for every club.

In the senior football championship, the 16 teams are randomly drawn into four groups of four with teams getting one home match, one away and one at a neutral venue. All 16 teams will qualify for the knock-out stages but the draw will see teams seeded depending on their final placings from group stages. An open draw will see the teams finishing first facing those in fourth and the second placed sides taking on the third placed sides, with no repeat pairings from the group stages.

The Intermediate Football championship follows a similar pattern with the 12 teams drawn randomly into three groups of four with each team again having one home match, one away and one at a neutral venue. Unlike the senior Championship though, the top three teams and the best placed runner qualify directly to the quarter finals leaving the remaining eight to play off for the final four quarter final berths. This will be done in two pots with the next top four placed teams from the groups in one pot and remaining four in the other.

The Junior football Championship sees the nine teams drawn randomly into two groups with teams playing either three or four games depending on which group they are in, with each club again getting one home match, one away and one neutral, unless the club in in the group of five when they will have two games at neutral venues.

The hurling final has been pencilled in for the weekend of September 19th/20th while the senior and intermediate football deciders will take place on October 10th/11th and the Junior final the weekend of October 17th/18th.

"On behalf of Derry GAA, we thank and congratulate all our clubs for the excellent work they have performed within their communities during this global pandemic," read a County Board statement issued to clubs.

"It is often said the GAA is the heartbeat of our community, but this period has provided a timely reminder. In this time of adversity, the clubs have provided real leadership through service to others. The efforts of many GAA volunteers in providing direct and indirect assistance to the most vulnerable, supporting public agencies and fundraising for charitable causes has reinforced the community role of our association.

"Ultimately we are a games based association and given the recent societal changes and guidelines from the relevant authorities, we have been asked to provide a schedule of games for our membership for the remainder of the 2020 season. We would like to stress from the outset that any club not wishing to participate at either underage or adult level is entirely free to do so. There will be no penalty of any kind for wishing not to return to play at this time.

"Participation in the proposed scheduled outlined below is on an opt-in basis. We ask that clubs consider the games programme and provide CCC with a formal indication of your willingness to take part in the adult competitions on or before Friday 18th June and underage competitions on or before Friday 26th June, allowing draws to be made shortly after these dates.

"In putting together a fixtures schedule to maximise the 11 weeks available for club games we have examined and trialled several models. When exploring each model we took into consideration the following: Potential pressures on Covid-19 officers; Potential pressures on volunteers; Player Welfare issues on returning from a long layoff and managing training and professional workloads; Dual players who play in both codes for one club and players who play in both codes for two clubs; Pressures on pitches – training and games for underage and adult fixtures in both hurling and football, as well as availability to our sister organisations of Ladies Football and Camogie; Availability of match officials and Financial pressures on clubs.

"We would once again like to thank clubs for all of the work in the community during this global pandemic and say thank you in advance for all the work that is required within the return to play roadmap."

The underage competitions will begin in the first weekend of August but Derry GAa stressed the initial emphasis will be on getting young members back playing.

"The aim is to provide activity for players, with the emphasis on participation NOT competition during the return to play period. The format of these championship competitions will be league based with a knock-out element in the latter stages including semi-finals and finals. In some instances, quarter- finals may be required.

"We would strongly encourage clubs to ensure players play at their own age grade first and give as many of our players game time. This will be reflected in our regulations which will include the use of unlimited substitutions in every game."

The full list of Championship formats is as follows:

Revised Senior and Senior Reserve Football Championship

• 16 teams drawn randomly into 4 groups each containing 4 teams. Each team will have 3 games – 1 Home venue, 1 Away venue and 1 Neutral venue with the Reserve games played

before the Senior game.

• All 16 teams will qualify for the knock-out stages and the draw will see teams seeded from the group stages. An open draw with 1 v 4 and 2 v 3 with no repeat pairings from the group stages.

• Quarter Finals – Open draw (avoiding repeat pairings if possible)

• Semi Finals – Open Draw

• Final

Revised Intermediate and Intermediate Reserve Football Championship

• 12 teams drawn randomly into 3 groups each containing 4 teams. Each team will have 3 games – 1 Home venue, 1 Away venue and 1 Neutral venue with the Reserve games played before the Senior game.

• The top 3 teams and the best placed runner up will qualify directly to the Quarter finals. The remaining 8 teams will play off for the last 4 Quarter final spots. This will be done in two pots next top 4 placed teams in one pot and remaining 4 in the other pot in an open draw with no repeat pairings

• Quarter Finals – Open draw (avoiding repeat pairings if possible)

• Semi Finals – Open Draw

• Final

Revised Junior Championship

• 9 teams drawn randomly into 2 groups. Teams will play 3 or 4 games depending on which group they are in. Each team will have at least 3 games – 1 Home venue, 1 Away venue and 1 Neutral venue with 2 Neutral games in the group of 5.

• The top 4 teams in each group will advance to the quarter finals

• Quarter finals – 1 v 4 and 2 v 3

• Semi Finals – Open Draw

• Final

Revised Hurling Championship

• 8 teams in 2 groups of 4. These groups will be based on last season’s league standings because the league was linked to the championship in this season also. Each team will have

3 games – 1 Home venue, 1 Away venue and 1 Neutral venue.

• Semi Finals and Final

• The top 2 in each group will play-off (1v2) with the two winners advancing to the Senior Hurling Final and the two beaten teams advancing to the Intermediate Championship Final

• The bottom two teams in each group will play off (3v4) with the two winners advancing to the Junior Hurling Final.

Recreational Reserve Championship

• All teams will be in one group and will play each other once with the top 4 teams advancing to the semi finals

• Semi Finals – 1 v 4 and 2 v 3

• Final

Competition Regulations

• Regulations will be circulated prior to play recommencing, and we will always be bound by the GAA Return to Play Roadmap.

• All dates are included in the calendar on the final pages of this document.

• All knock-out games will be played to a finish on the day.