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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Gavin Quinn

What is Proposal B and what counties are in favour of it?

The All-Ireland Football Championship could be set for an historic revamp this weekend ahead of a GAA Special Congress.

183 delegates will vote to determine the future of the game, with two proposals set to be debated on the structure of the football championship from next year.

In its simplest terms, one proposal is to return to the GAA's usual provincial and All-Ireland series with All-Ireland qualifiers but a new second tier Championship for eliminated Division 3 and 4 teams - which was supposed to begin in 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic.

The second proposal - Proposal B - will see a dramatic overhaul of the inter-county football season including provincial championships having no bearing on the race for Sam Maguire.

So ahead of Saturday's vote, we've taken a look at what Proposal B would look like if it was voted through:

What is Proposal B?

General view of the Sam Maguire cup (©INPHO/Cathal Noonan)

In short, the proposal would see a league-based Championship take place instead of the usual provincial system.

The provincial championships will be played out in spring and will have no bearing on the All-Ireland championship.

Each team will be guaranteed seven Championship games, adopting the same structure as the current national leagues.

The top five placed Division 1 teams, top three from Division 2 and winners of Division 3 and 4 will all progress to the All-Ireland series.

The Division 3 and 4 winners will take on 2nd and 3rd in Division 2 in Preliminary All-Ireland quarter-finals with the two winners progressing to the last eight.

Which counties are in favour of it?

The proposal has been backed by the likes of the Gaelic Players Association as well as GAA president Larry McCarthy, while several counties have come out in support of the proposal in recent weeks.

Those counties include Cork, Tipperary, Clare, Meath, Kildare, Offaly, Westmeath and Louth.

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