It is my opinion that the GAA needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. The current set-up of competitions at county level, such as the O'Byrne cup, the national league, the championship and the qualifier series in football represent a piecemeal series of competitions representative of an amateur organisation.

In football, the fact that a provincial winner, such as Dublin, could lose one match in the quarter-final or semi-final of the All-Ireland and another team, such as Kerry, lose a match in the provincial series and go on to win the All-Ireland could only happen in a backward country such as Ireland. The national league should be scrapped and a competition combining league and championship introduced in both football and hurling.

Given that the provinces are unlikely to relinquish their control, a league system would be appropriate in each province played on a home and away basis with the top four teams in each province (allowing for a competitive province such as Ulster in football and Munster in hurling for example) entering a straight knock-out seeded All-Ireland series.

The competition should run between March and October when the weather is most amenable. Competitions such as the McKenna Cup could act as warm-up games. This format would allow all counties a fair run, raising standards across the board and the potential revenue generated from the media, sponsors and supporters could allow the GAA to become professional at county level, ending the current controversial issue of 'pay for play'.

Ryan Padraig Kelly

Alexander Gardens

Armagh,

Co Armagh