Ballaghaderreen - what is the gig?

[Turlough O Carolan]

Good too see you are still about, Turlough. I was beginning to worry that you were not going to rise re-appear and join in the annual moanfest that you Rossies regale us with; without fail, the bleating and baaing begins in the run up to the championships.
For some people the rise of mayfly on the Moy heralds the arrival of summer, while for others it's call of the cuckoo or the spectacle of swallows skimming across the meadows.
But I'm of a more prosaic turn of mind. When the sheepophiles resume their clamouring to get back what they never had to begin with, I know championship time is just around the next bend.
Mind you, this year the moaning  has begun earlier than usual- must be that there's feck all else to worry the lot of ye.
I know that getting reason from a Rossie is like getting milk from a bull but in the cause of good fellowship and harmony between our peoples, I'm prepared to have another lash at pointing out the (GAA) facts of life to all who have eyes and are willing to listen.
There was, and is, no compelling reason for the Ballagh GAA club to change anything it does. Either they are right to stay out of politics or they are not.
I suggest they are.
However, if the membership of this club decided to change its present policies in any way, I feel they would be quite entitled to do so.

Lar, good to see the Mayo trait of being wide off the mark is alive and kicking.

No one is suggesting the Ballaghaderreen GAA club transfer back to Roscommon. However Mayo and the Connacht Council have in the past prevented a second club from being formed - to be affiliated with Roscommon. A ladies GAA club affiliated to Roscommon was also ruthlessly treated.

On the flip side, Roscommon County Council has ploughed huge grants into the redevelopment of the Ballagh club's pitch.

Would you be happy if you lived in Mayo but were told you could not represent Mayo, nor could your sons, or your grandsons? That's the way Roscommon people in Ballaghaderreen are treated.

The reality is the town is in Roscommon, has been for over 100 years, yet we are still being asked to respect the county border created by Queen Elizabeth and hav to listen to nonsense about the Brits moving the town.  Indeed, I am surprised Michael Ring is not asking us to apologise to the Royals for disrespecting their county border. The red above the green, how are ya.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Lads, sorry to butt in here, but can someone clarify for me. A player who plays for Ballaghadereen is NOT allowed to declare for Roscommon..is that the case?

There is a similar type scenario down here on the Kerry/Cork border in Ballydesmond (home club of Donnacha O'Connor amongst others). Ballydesmond, parrish is actually split by the border...most of is in Cork, but part of it is in Kerry. Now I'm not sure what arrangement the GAA have in place for this, but in a Munster Junior c/ship game a few years back there were players from Ballydesmond GAA club on opposing sides when Kerry played Cork! Niall Fleming, who plays with Ballydesmond and Duhallow in the Cork senior c/ship is from the Kerry side and declared for us..decent player too.
Now, given that similar situation, I cannot understand how a player with Ballaghadereen (which is in Roscommon after all) cannot be allowed to declare for Ros. Its a very strange scenario.

The current Mayo captain is from Ballaghadereen county Roscommon which makes it even a stranger scenario.

He is from the GAA county of Mayo not the administrative county of Mayo. Like what has been said before, based on the Sheepophiles argument,
Galway City,
Limerick City,
Cork City,
Waterford City,
Fingal,
Tipperary North Riding,
Tipperary South Riding,
South Dublin,
Dublin City,
Dun-Laoighaire-Rathdown,
Ards,
Ballymeana,
Ballymoney,
Banbridge,
Belfast City,
Castlefergus,
Castlereagh,
Coleraine,
Cookstown,
Craigavon,
Dungannon&South-Down,
Larne,
Limavady,
Lisburn,
Magherafelt,
Moyle,
Newry&Mourne,
Newtownabbey,
NorthDown,
Omagh,
Strabane

WELCOME to the All-Ireland series.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

The red above the green, how are ya.

Its Green and Red, or the Green above the Red.

[ross4life]

So what have we learnt from this wonderful informative thread?

(1) Loughglynn,Gorthaganny are two separate villages in Co Roscommon.
(2) The Earley's grew up in Roscommon kicked their first football here, wore their county colours with pride.
(3) Forget the past this is the present for the record Ballaghaderreen is officially a Roscommon town (many miles inside our border actually) it was when i and others here was born forever will be Long after we're dead & gone.
(4) The sheepophiles stuff is rather tiresome at this stage, lay of the rhubarb crumble guys.

[Tubberman]

So what have we learnt from this wonderful informative thread?

(1) Loughglynn,Gorthaganny are two separate villages in Co Roscommon.
(2) The Earley's grew up in Roscommon kicked their first football here, wore their county colours with pride.
(3) Forget the past this is the present for the record Ballaghaderreen is officially a Roscommon town (many miles inside our border actually) it was when i and others here was born forever will be Long after we're dead & gone.
(4) The sheepophiles stuff is rather tiresome at this stage, lay of the rhubarb crumble guys.

Same time, same place, same arguments next year?

[Rossfan]

Dungannon&South-Down,

Bejasus that's some bit of gerrymandering there 
Nearly as bad as trying to claim Ballagh is in rhubarbland.

[Lar Naparka]

Dungannon&South-Down,

Bejasus that's some bit of gerrymandering there 
Nearly as bad as trying to claim Ballagh is in rhubarbland.

Bejasus yerself, ye took yer time arriving. I was beginning to think you had bottled it!

[Rossfan]

Dungannon&South-Down,

Bejasus that's some bit of gerrymandering there 
Nearly as bad as trying to claim Ballagh is in rhubarbland.

Take an oul peek at page one buck 

Bejasus yerself, ye took yer time arriving. I was beginning to think you had bottled it!

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

So what have we learnt from this wonderful informative thread?

(3) Forget the past this is the present for the record Ballaghaderreen is officially a Roscommon town (many miles inside our border actually) it was when i and others here was born forever will be Long after we're dead & gone.

What about all the new counties I have mentioned, they are no different from amendments to older counties. If Athlone keeps expanding West should those areas become Westmeath. What about the areas of Clare that Limerick City wish to acquire, or the areas of Kilkenny that Waterford are asking for. If one of the new counties in the old Dublin were to acquire parts or Meath, Kildare or Wicklow what is you opinion on those? Why does Tipperary North and South Ridings with their own county councils share one team, while Meath and Westmeath have their own teams?

[Syferus]

Why would obfuscating the point ever be a proper argument? Every situation has different dynamics.

The key one here being that Ballagh has been a Roscommon town for longer than the state itself has existed.

[ross4life]

MGHU how about sticking to the topic of a thread for once? the OP wanted clarity, he got it Ballaghaderreen is in Co Roscommon but people from the town can only play for Mayo under ancient GAA laws.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Why would obfuscating the point ever be a proper argument? Every situation has different dynamics.

The key one here being that Ballagh has been a Roscommon town for longer than the state itself has existed.

The town has spent longer in Mayo and also longer not in Roscommon than it has within.

When will the folk from the Connacht county without a coast (what self-respecting county has no coast) realise that the GAA counties and the administrative counties are not the same, or else the 6 counties of the North bar Fermanagh would cease to exist, goodbye Dublin, Tipperary and Galway/Waterford/Limerick in their current forms.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

MGHU how about sticking to the topic of a thread for once? the OP wanted clarity, he got it Ballaghaderreen is in Co Roscommon but people from the town can only play for Mayo under ancient GAA laws.

Ballaghaderreen is in the GAA County of Mayo.

[Lar Naparka]

Lar, good to see the Mayo trait of being wide off the mark is alive and kicking.

I respect your superior expertise in this field.

No one is suggesting the Ballaghaderreen GAA club transfer back to Roscommon.

I beg to differ. You and you alone are the only one who hasn't demanded this, never mind just suggest it.
What else could you possibly have in mind? With emigration and unemployment being what they are, it must be hard to keep one such club going, never mind two.

However Mayo and the Connacht Council have in the past prevented a second club from being formed - to be affiliated with Roscommon. A ladies GAA club affiliated to Roscommon was also ruthlessly treated.

I am genuinely curious here.
What were the reasons given for not letting a second club be formed? This time last year when this subject got its customary airing on the board, we were told that all other counties voted against the Rossie's proposals.
We also got the predictable "We wuz robbed" crap from some of your fellow-travellers but no one came up with a credible reason for the Connacht Council refusing the application.
I know nothing about the ladies club you mention. If it had been formed under the auspices of the Connacht Council, it should have been allowed operate as a bona fide unit of the Association. Don't know...can't comment further.

The reality is the town is in Roscommon, has been for over 100 years, yet we are still being asked to respect the county border created by Queen Elizabeth and hav to listen to nonsense about the Brits moving the town. 

What the hell???
Tell me, Turlough, which of us is making a big deal out of the border?
You are the ones who claim that since Ballagh finds itself on the Roscommon side of "the county border created by Queen Elizabeth and hav to listen to nonsense about the Brits moving the town," this club must cease playing in Mayo and affiliate with the Rossie CB whether the members like it or not.

That's the Roscommon concept of democracy, is it?

[Syferus]

Are you even reading the posts, Lar? I never said Ballagh had to switch to Roscommon. I said the only solutions are a dispensation that lets Roscommon members of the club play for their county if they so choose or moving the club entirely, which is obviously the nuclear option.

A solution is needed - to say people haven't offered up ones besides moving the club is as fat a lie as I've seen. If Mayo people - particularly those at the club - continue to be so hard-line as to ignore common sense and allow Roscommon people in a Roscommon town not play for their own county they'll pay for it with the club. The only direction that the demographics of the club is going is towards more and more Roscommon members and in time they may not even bother with keeping the club in Mayo if the Mayo members continue fuelling the resentment.