I was just looking at twitter there and I see Antrim minor footballers getting hammered. It put me thinking what is the problem up there. Antrim has a very large population, if you look at the local threads on here you will see lots and lots of posts on Antrim GAA so clearly there is interest. On the field of play Antrim at all levels are very poor. We even had one prominent Antrim poster critical of how my own county are improving underage. So what's wrong in Antrim?
Pastie baps/glue-sniffin/joy-ridin/ridin/Celtic
Do you contribute to the Antrim cause yourself, eg train underage etc.
Quote from: hardstation on March 28, 2015, 01:50:11 PM
Yes
Good for you. It's a shame the most populous county in Ulster can't get it together though. Any idea where its gone wrong given you are involved.
Big parts are football only, big parts are hurling only. Population in north isn't always reflective either as not always gaa supporting.
The Antrim school system needs to be sorted. My own alma mater St Marys CBGS traditionally the best footballing school in the county played O'Doherty cup which is "C" colleges this year, which is unacceptable. Other schools such as St Louis Ballymena and St Malachys are starting to pull their weight but until all the aforementioned schools are playing MacRory regularly Antrim football will not be able to compete. The talent is definitely there but the county board has no ambition or money to bring in the structures that are required to progress.
You can't look for one problem that if sorted would solve the problem.
I personally think the apathy/lack of interest in the average Antrim GAA supporter/parent saps the drive needed to compete with the stronger counties. The coaching manpower, the support, the money and drive isn't there in the right quantities.
Hard to compare county boards when you've no clue how other counties organise
This could turn out to be a 250+ page thread
Quote from: theskull1 on March 28, 2015, 05:52:55 PM
You can't look for one problem that if sorted would solve the problem.
I personally think the apathy/lack of interest in the average Antrim GAA supporter/parent saps the drive needed to compete with the stronger counties. The coaching manpower, the support, the money and drive isn't there in the right quantities.
Hard to compare county boards when you've no clue how other counties organise
That's the impression I always got from Antrim too. Even if half their population has no interest in GAA they should not be stuck in Div 4 in football and relegated to the 3rd tier in Hurling.
Antrim needs the Sam treatment as the dubs got. Cold hard cash.
Quote from: rrhf on March 29, 2015, 08:08:41 PM
Antrim needs the Sam treatment as the dubs got. Cold hard cash.
Antrim don't have a cold hard, concerted plan on how to go about it unlike the Dubs.
There really does seem to be a lack of basic organisational structures in Antrim for anyone to row in behind even with a full time secretary.
All the development in Hurling (we're now under the same structures as Greater Belfast somehow!) and its all a bit piecemeal for my liking. a blitz here and a blitz there seemingly organised off the cuff, which is a start, but no forward thinking, no step by step approach to a long term goal, well if there is then they're not sharing it with anyone and its a well guarded secret.
From my experiences of the Dublin model, a youngster is guaranteed a blitz every weekend, hurling one weekend and football the other, that's just the basics which don't need money to set up, just someone to pull it all together and organise the clubs accordingly.
Here's the main targets from a 'Belfast Strategy document 2009- 2014, how many were hit?
Coaching, Games and Participation
•At least 10 GAA Community Coaches for the Belfast Urban Area
•An increase in games participation of at least 20% by 2014
•A specific Belfast Continuing Professional Development programme for volunteerclub coaches
•Cross Club summer and Easter coaching camps
•City Based Development Squads
•Enhanced Club-School links through new coaching initiatives and programmes
•Programmes to attract new participations who traditionally would have no involvement in the GAA
Physical Development
•Belfast GAA Urban Centre of Participation and Excellence that includes at least three new full-size pitches for club use in North and West Belfast
•At least two new full-size GAA pitches for use in the South and East Belfast
•Redevelopment of Casement Park to an appropriate standard for the main GAAs tadium in Ireland's second city.
Club Governance
•New group comprising of Belfast GAA club officials, Antrim, Down and Ulster GAA officials to drive the development of the GAA in Belfast
•At least two Development Officers to support Club officials in administration governance and ongoing club development
•A new Brand and Identity for the GAA in Belfast
•A "joined-up" club led approach to the overall development of the GAA in the City
•A strong GAA presence and linkage with all local government and relevant public bodies in the city.
•Specific Belfast GAA Club Development Seminars and Volunteer training events.
As Sambo McNaughton once said on a radio discussion on Antrim; 'We don't need a Brian Cody, we need a Ned Quinn' and he was bang on the money.
Seems hardstation has more to say on other counties than his own. Maybe Antrim is full of people like him?
Quote from: Itchy on March 30, 2015, 06:57:45 PM
Seems hardstation has more to say on other counties than his own. Maybe Antrim is full of people like him?
there are a lot of barflies in Antrim, talk a lot and nobody wanting to put the effort in, as Skull has mentioned sooooo many times too many things being done by the same people all the time eventually they start to get fed up and pack it in.. I'd say that would be the same for most clubs regardless of the county, as for development squads and the like, its hard fecking work, no money, kids don't even want to head off to Kilkenny for tournaments and down to Kerry for games. Organising it would be a head melt, that's why players/coaches tend to put more effort into their own club rather than the county, easier when you are a successful county, harder for the likes of Antrim..... But success must start somewhere
http://m.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/hurling/antrims-disaster-sparks-fears-over-future-of-hurling-in-ulster-31146844.html
This is what Sambo has to say. 20 supporters at their match and Antrim in the 3rd tier of hurling. Seems Antrims GAA folk are not able to fund and promote the game themselves despite their huge population (even allowing for 50% being unionist). I imagine central council in croke park will have to pump in the dough now.
I'm not intending to offend Antrim Gaels with my observation but I believe it's relevant to this thread.
My in laws are Belfast GAA people. There is a massive difference in my GAA tradition and that of my in laws. Belfast folk have an opinion on everything, they have an answer to all ills, but they are low in action. They don't fundraise, support underage, coach or support their clubs properly in numbers. For me there isn't a "real" GAA culture or tradition. Their clubs and grounds are clustered due to the troubles and are in the same state they were in 30years ago. I could go on but don't want to offend the good Antrim people who do care for the GAA.
1940 pages on the antrim hurling thread. Crazy they can't get their act together but maybe as you say too many Wafflers and no doers.
Antrim is the only county in Ulster that attempts ( badly ) to be a dual county. That means a relatively equal division of all funding for all teams and development squads. I suspect that Antrim puts much more funds into developing football than Tyrone or Down does into developing hurling. In very rough terms most teams in North Antrim are hurling only, most in South Antrim are football only and Belfast has more commitment to dual clubs. This leads to a lack of a united county feeling in my opinion with clicks in all areas on various issues and a serious them and us attitude. A house divided against itself will fall and Antrim has been divided against itself for as long as I care to remember.
I don't think Antrim hurling has been ruined by football, there is little indication of footballers making a serious effort either. Antrim has a decent population to make a go of both codes, as Dublin has.
Antrim has the third highest number of clubs in Ireland, behind Dublin and Cork. It takes a lot of effort to maintain those clubs from the people interested in GAA and given the historical lack of success in either code in Antrim the club versus county issue is much more relevant in Antrim than in more succesful counties. By the way I did not say that football was ruining hurling I was making the point that financial and administrative resources in Antrim are spread much thinner than any other county in Ulster due to the fact that Antrim attempts to be a dual county while no one else in Ulster does.
Antrim competes internally on 3 fronts:
- football v hurling
- club v county
- city v country
A few years ago they ran an initiative called the saffron sweep and they raised over £250,000...then they fucked up Dunsilly....there are people on the county board who take the seat as some kind of badge without actually doing anything...they haven't been able to generate consists commercial support from business in the city or across the county for that matter.
yet despite all of this there is some serious potential - St Galls and loughgeil prove that...if they ere to get the same level of support from Croke park that Dublin ir Cork did, then things might change....but the first change needs to come from within
I always wondered has the lack of access to RTE around Antrim contributed to the apathy towards county football. The youngsters aren't getting to see the best in action in front of big crowds week in/week out.
With Virgin/Sky and the internet where they can now get RTE this may change.
Quote from: TheOptimist on April 17, 2015, 11:37:48 AM
I always wondered has the lack of access to RTE around Antrim contributed to the apathy towards county football. The youngsters aren't getting to see the best in action in front of big crowds week in/week out.
With Virgin/Sky and the internet where they can now get RTE this may change.
eh?
Couldn't get RTE on the old aerials or Freeview around Belfast... in my years there anyway
100% correct!
The country counties like Armagh and Tyrone take RTE access for granted. In Belfast it's a struggle, you have to go out of your way to get it. So you have generations growing up without a REAL sense of what GAA is all about. I loose RTE radio coming up the M1 around Moira too. Some Antrim people don't even know what they're missing, I'm not saying RTE is everything but at least it would give people a sense of GAA identity. BBC and UTV are a pathetic joke as for print media? Worse again. You have the Irish News which is a good GAA paper but there isn't that All-island connection that they should have with national media!
Antrim are stuck out on their own and a fractured media infrastructure simply compounds the matter
It was harder to get in the 80 and 90s but it was still available as far up as the glens(perhaps more readily than belfast i don't know?).
In RTEs digital broadcasting now there are big blackspots up near the glens area where it is very difficult / nigh on impossible to get via the digital broadcast. (sky will get you it mind you - freeview i'm not so sure)
youd be waiting a while to see antrim on RTE esp footballers . maybe 30 seconds squeezed in at the end of the sunday game
Antrim should start a scheme in West Belfast with reduced price wirelesses with marked dials of stations where the matches are on instead of just radios with Athlone indicated on them so people can listen to the games and this may encourage them to get involved.
Quote from: TheOptimist on April 17, 2015, 01:56:09 PM
Couldn't get RTE on the old aerials or Freeview around Belfast... in my years there anyway
Well I was able to watch a Munster hurling final in Ballycastles old Portacabin years ago. Can't think of a club further North East and they were able to get RTÉ even then!!
Quote from: rosnarun on April 17, 2015, 02:17:24 PM
youd be waiting a while to see antrim on RTE esp footballers . maybe 30 seconds squeezed in at the end of the sunday game
Ah, to be fair to Antrim; Belfast was always on RTE over the last 30 years....... The News section that is! ;)
RTÉ is transmitted in Belfast, but a lot of people didn't bother spending the extra £20 to get a TV to receive it, while still blowing about republicanism and the like.
Is it true there are more GAA clubs in west belfast than the whole of co. Fermanagh?
Antrim should take hope and inspiration from Tipp and their U.21 footballers. Good underage structures, development, progression and good coaches is the "Secret" to their success.
Quote from: stiffler on April 17, 2015, 06:58:27 PM
Is it true there are more GAA clubs in west belfast than the whole of co. Fermanagh?
Time to split Antrim into Belfast and the rest.