GAA Football

For me, I’d trace it to the back door system. The biggest winners of the back door system were the top counties who could lose at provincial level, and beef up over a series of games in the All Ireland Series, before finally meeting provincial champions who often sat on their hands for 3-4 weeks between games. It also meant a vast increase in the number of games per season, and the novelty of playing counties like Waterford in football just didn’t appeal to bring out the crowds. Dublin’s advantages are a separate issue, as for five years before they won’t their first All Ireland and 10 before the started to dominate the AI Series, they were winning Leinster (albeit by tighter margins). Today, Kildare just about scraped over the line against Wicklow. There is no question about Dublin’s abilities, but that doesn’t explain the shocking decline in Leinster amongst counties outside of Dublin.

For me, I’d trace it to the back door system. The biggest winners of the back door system were the top counties who could lose at provincial level, and beef up over a series of games in the All Ireland Series, before finally meeting provincial champions who often sat on their hands for 3-4 weeks between games. It also meant a vast increase in the number of games per season, and the novelty of playing counties like Waterford in football just didn’t appeal to bring out the crowds. Dublin’s advantages are a separate issue, as for five years before they won’t their first All Ireland and 10 before the started to dominate the AI Series, they were winning Leinster (albeit by tighter margins). Today, Kildare just about scraped over the line against Wicklow. There is no question about Dublin’s abilities, but that doesn’t explain the shocking decline in Leinster amongst counties outside of Dublin.