Special Congress: Ulster chief Brian McAvoy says Proposal B's adoption would be 'Brexit-like' change for GAA

Brian McAvoy says the Ulster Football Championship would be devalued forever if a decision to remove its link with the All-Ireland series is taken next weekend

Ulster GAA chief executive Brian McAvoy has warned that the adoption of Proposal B at the association's Special Congress this weekend would be an almost Brexit-like moment for the GAA.

The plan would see a league-based championship with the provincial series not linked to the All-Ireland SFC.

"That just totally devalues the provincial championships," said McAvoy.

"This is a seismic change for the GAA. To use an analogy, this would be almost of Brexit proportions."

Speaking to BBC Sport Northern Ireland, McAvoy rejected the contention that the adoption of the GAA's Calendar Review Task Force Committee's Proposal B would only be for a three-year trial period, with an option for the association to then revert back to the current model.

"You will replace what you have, imperfect as it is, with something much worse," added the Ulster GAA boss.

"It won't take too long for people to realise 'what have we just done here?'. This isn't a three-year trial as some people are trying to say. This is a permanent change."

Proposal A gaining little traction

Delegates will be presented with three proposals on Saturday at the gathering held to attempt to chart a path towards a fairer and more competitive football championship structure.

In addition to Proposal B, Proposal A calls for the redrawing of the provincial map with a number of counties effectively switching province so that four groups of eight would compete in a new championship.

However, Proposal A appears to have gained little traction in the run-up to next weekend's Special Congress while the remaining Proposal C effectively means retention of the current system.

McAvoy insists he does want change and believes a round-robin system could be adopted for the provincial championships to ensure more games but believes that "casting aside" the current model would be an historic mistake.

Under Proposal B, there would no longer be a separate National Football League during the Spring with the provincial championships instead taking place during February and March and with no link to the All-Ireland series.

"It moves the provincial championships from the good weather in June to February and March with the winners going nowhere," added the Ulster GAA chief executive.

"Secondly we have a good competition in the Allianz Leagues which serve a very good purpose as a stand alone competition. They are being diluted, in fact almost being cast aside with this new league championship where the emphasis will be championship rather than league. You have taken out two of our greatest competitions in one fell swoop.

"Why can't we do what they do with the Munster and the Leinster Hurling Championships? Restructure the provincial championships and give more meaningful games to teams because at the minute you are not allowed have round robins. We could restructure them and keep the link in whatever form to the All-Ireland series."

Ulster GAA chief executive Brian McAvoy says the adoption of Proposal B would severely hit the province's coffers

'We're not going to get a Croke Park bailout'

In the build-up to the Special Congress, there has been much debate about the financial implications of the adoption of Proposal B.

Task Force member Conor O'Donoghue said that research undertaken by him in a private capacity estimated that Proposal B could generate an additional 10m Euro for the GAA because of extra games provided for under the plan - including the Spring provincial matches.

The GAA's financial department took a different view in a submission to county board treasurers last Thursday by saying that the acceptance of Proposal B would instead lead to a "negligible drop in gate receipts".

For his part, McAvoy says the adoption of proposal B would see Ulster GAA's income reduced by around 700,000 or 800,000 Euro.

"That's less money for coaching, games development, media development initiatives, health and well-being, schools, clubs, infrastructure and people are telling me this proposal is a good idea," added the Ulster GAA chief.

"You don't need any guess work to say if I take the Ulster Championship for example, there's a big difference between the Ulster Championship in May and June with a link to the All-Ireland series against an Ulster Championship in the middle of winter in February and March, with no entry into the All-Ireland series.

"You can't be charging because the competition is devalued.

"There's no guess work there. We're going to take a financial hit. There is going to be less money in the our coffers. We are not going to get an extra bailout from Croke Park.

"We have done our own stats and our own research. We stand to reduce our own income by 700,000 or 800,000."