GAA on Steroids: Welcome to College Football in the States

Damien Cullen has written an interesting article today in the Irish Times. He observes the fanaticism surrounding NCAA college football and remarks that as an amateur game it is akin to the GAA. Of course, this is tremendously over-simplified but he does dance around and basically avoid a significant point. College football in the States began at about the same time as the GAA. The structure of college football is complicated but you need only to know one thing to understand the importance of each week: if your team loses a single game, they cannot be champions. In this format, the entire season is a single elimination tournament. Sure, your team might have another 10 games to play but if they lose their first game, the season is lost. It is this format that supports six stadiums which hold over 100,000 people, 112 teams (in the top division), 3-day tailgate parties, and most importantly a loyal fan-base.

The GAA could learn a lot from the NCAA, particularly as we take a few months off before the launch of a league campaign which is basically a terribly boring tune-up for the summer. Excitement for every fan is created by design in the NCAA. Can the GAA make the same claim?