IT HAS taken three years to arrive at the proposed Intermediate 'A' and 'B' structure for the county hurling and football championships, but two clubs will attempt to alter those plans at a County Board meeting tonight (Tuesday).

Shamrocks are asking that the decision to divide the championships into 'A' and 'B' be rescinded and replaced with a single Intermediate championship comprising all 24 teams. They want four groups of six teams each, with the top four in each qualifying for the knockout stages and the remaining eight competing to retain their status.

They are supported in calls for 24-team championships by Naomh Eanna who also advocate four groups of six, with the 12 teams who were due to play in the 'A' grade being seeded one, two and three in ech group. They want the 12 teams who were scheduled for 'B' action to be seeded four, five and six, with the top team qualifying for the quarter-finals and the second and third team in each group partaking in a play-off round to determine the other four places. Under their proposal, the bottom team in each group would contest the relegation semi-finals.

However, not all Intermediate teams are in favour of those proposals as RappareesStarlights, surprisingly relegated in football last year, want the two divisions of 'A' and 'B' as originally agreed by the Board to be retained.

While debate on whether there should be 12 or 24 teams at Intermediate 'A' level is therefore guaranteed, the numbers may also be an issue in Senior as three clubs are seeking to include District teams in the top flight.

St. James' lead the charge but have not offered any thoughts on how District teams would be accommodated, merely seeking to give the County Board powers to come up with a suitable format.

Likewise St. John's Volunteers are of a similar viewpoint, while Fethard's motion is slightly different in that they want District competitions confined to Intermediate and Senior clubs to be played in 2012 with a view that next year the winners of the 2013 competition will be allowed to participate in the Senior championships.

A decision on District involvement will likely have to be taken before there is debate on the two motions tabled to deal with the structure of the Senior championships if they are confined to the 12 club teams in both codes. CastletownLiam Mellows want two groups of six each, to be made up of one finalist from the previous year, one beaten semi-finalist, two beaten quarterfinalists and two of the remaining contenders.

They are calling on four teams from each group to qualify for quarter-finals to be played on a 1 v. 4 and 2 v. 3 basis, with the bottom two contesting relegation semi-finals.

Ferns St. Aidan's want the finalists from 2011 seeded number one in each group and the beaten semi-finalists seeded number two, with the remaining places by way of an open draw.

In the Intermediate grades they want the beaten finalists and the relegated Senior teams to be seeded.

St. Fintan's want the Junior 'C' championships to be run on the same basis as Senior and Intermediate, but Oylegate-glenbrien want this grade abolished for 2013, with the 2012 winners promoted to Junior and the remaining teams returning to their respective Districts and competing in the grade currently known as Junior 'D'.

Horeswood want a geographical divide for the All-county Leagues while the C.C.C. committee, mindful of the need for extra days to complete championships with two groups of six as opposed to four groups of four, are asking clubs to agree on a reduction of teams in each league division from eight to six.