The 1987–88 National Football League, known for sponsorship reasons as the Royal Liver National Football League, was the 57th staging of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL), an annual

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

tournament for the

Gaelic Athletic Association county A county is a geographic region within Gaelic games, controlled by a county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and originally based on the 32 counties of Ireland as they were in 1884. While the administrative geography of Ireland ha ...

teams of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Meath won the league, beating Dublin in a replayed final.

Format

Divisions

* Division One: 8 teams * Division Two: 8 teams * Division Three: 16 teams. Split into two regional groups of 8 (North and South)

Round-robin format

Each team played every other team in its division (or group where the division is split) once, either home or away.

Points awarded

2 points were awarded for a win and 1 for a draw.

Titles

Teams in all three divisions competed for the

title.

Knockout stage qualifiers

* Division One: top 4 teams * Division Two: top 2 teams * Division Three (North): group winners * Division Three (South): group winners

Knockout phase structure

In the quarter-finals, the match-ups were as follows: * Quarter-final 1: First-placed team in Division One v First-placed team in Division Three (South) * Quarter-final 2: Second-placed team in Division One v First-placed team in Division Three (North) * Quarter-final 3: Third-placed team in Division One v Second-placed team in Division Two * Quarter-final 4: Fourth-placed team in Division One v First-placed team in Division Two The semi-final match-ups are: * Semi-final 1: Winner Quarter-final 1 v Winner Quarter-final 4 * Semi-final 2: Winner Quarter-final 2 v Winner Quarter-final 3 The final match-up is: Winner Semi-final 1 v Winner Semi-final 2.

Promotion and relegation

* Division One: bottom 2 teams demoted to Division Two * Division Two: top 2 teams promoted to Division One. Bottom 2 teams demoted to Division Three. * Division Three (North): group winners promoted to Division Two. * Division Three (South): group winners promoted to Division Two.

Separation of teams on equal points

In the event that teams finish on equal points, then a play-off will be used to determine group placings if necessary, i.e. where to decide relegation places or quarter-finalists.

Format

Divisions

Round-robin format

Points awarded

Titles

Knockout stage qualifiers

Knockout phase structure

Promotion and relegation

Separation of teams on equal points

League Phase Results and Tables

Division One

Division One (A) play-offs

Table

Division Two

Division Three

Division Three (South)

Promotion play-offs

Division Three (North) table

Division Three (South) table

Knockout stage

Quarter-final

Semi-final

Final

References