Kerry boss Peter Keane says he favours knockout football over the drawn out ‘Super 8s’ format.
Kerry play their first knockout game of the campaign in Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final against Tyrone after topping their group at the last eight stage.
Keane said: “There are pluses to it, such as bringing the first game to the home patch of the provincial champions. Could the argument be made that the provincial champions should get the added benefit of having two games at home?
“There are other fellas talking about the games being taken out of Croke Park because you don’t have the crowds for it.
“Looking at the television over the weekend, there was definitely more of an atmosphere at Castlebar. Killarney was electric in the Mayo game. There is obviously tweakings going on.
“Personally, I loved the cut and thrust of championship years ago where if a team were beaten, they were beaten and they were done.
“You are now in a situation where you are creating an environment where the rich will get richer and the poorer will get poorer, and you are giving more chances to the bigger and better counties to stay involved for longer than the weaker counties.”
Keane described the one-week turnaround following their win in Navan on Saturday as “not ideal”.
He added: “It is what they have done in bringing forward the All-Ireland from mid-September to the beginning of September. There is a knock-on effect.
“They are doing it to give more time to club fixtures. I’m not necessarily sure that works because, at the end of the day, there are only two counties involved in an All-Ireland final.
“They are the only two counties who are going to have an issue with fixtures. It is not as if it is affecting the 32 counties. It is only affecting two of them. If you had another week to prepare it would be better, yeah.”
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