Down Club Hurling & Football

[Smurfy123]

Johny that's the point I was trying to make in previous posts
Lads playing under 14-16 club
Under 14 development etc
Is this not making players walk away as they are involved in to many teams
Ograandun you are a good poster but I have to disagree with you abou training the lads and no football for 3 weeks
Kids get bored unless playing matches
In the point you get 2 soccer matches a week
We get 1 every 4/5 weeks
4 week Break in minor football?
No wonder we can't get a minor win Johny
Let young lads play 30 matches a year and then we woukd start producing good players

[OgraAnDun]

30 matches a year? Take a good minor player, who's playing MacRory or equivalent plus county football. 30 club matches, minimum 4/5 MacRory matches plus a couple of challenge games, 2-4 games in Ulster Minor League, another 3/4 challenge matches, then at least one game in Ulster MFC. Throw in 5 or 6 games (maybe more) for a senior or reserve team and that's around 45 games in a year. Then we can add in another 3 at least for the club U21s.

Is it any wonder players are burning out or walking away? The above player would then be training 2x a week with his club, 2x a week with the school and when it's over, another 2x a week with the county. Some senior teams might want him to train with them too.

When I was playing minor, I think we had about 20 competitive games over the season plus another 6 or 7 challenge matches. That was perfect, had pre-season, had a good run of league games then a break in the middle (which some boys genuinely needed to study - what if you're looking to do medicine and have 5 exams in one week?). Then back to finish the league, few weeks break then championship for the next two months. During the exam break, you havechallenge games and anyone who wants football plays for one of the adult teams - and there's no pressure about missing a game or training with an exam the next day. I think getting rid of the exam break would be a mistake, it's not like lads don't look at a football for 6 weeks, there's just no competitive minor or U16 games.

Some very good underage players in this county disappear because of chronic injuries that playing extra games would not be helping, in my opinion.

[SamFever]

I wouldn't disagree or agree with any of what's being discussed here but it's this type of discussion that should be taking place at Club and County level to try and put our finger on where it  is all going wrong.Somewhere in it all there is reasons and if they can be found then maybe the solution could be found also.
   The problem is that the people up the food chain think that their and the usual Down way is suffice but not nowadays.

[Brick Tamlin]

Jesus the grammar in here is atrocious.
The schools have a lot more to answer for than just football-related issues.

[SamFever]

Jesus the grammar in here is atrocious.
The schools have a lot more to answer for than just football-related issues.

your write in wot u sey.

[Smurfy123]

Ur 100% rite
This needs 2 stop

[wobbller]

 The soccer has kept everyone away from the board. Tut Tut.

[OgraAnDun]

The soccer has kept everyone away from the board. Tut Tut.

The grammar is slipping as posters rush their posts during the breaks in play for "injuries".

[interested]

Are this week's games starred?

[SamFever]

Are this week's games starred?

Don't think so

[Ed Hardy]

See gaelic life are reporting Alan Davidson called into the panel, along with few others. Any word on who else has been brought in?

[cut the crap]

We have major problems but they all can be fixed but it will take a strong leader who can stand up to our current county secretary,we need someone who can literally join up the dots between development squads , school programmes, county coaches and underage club coaches, and it would also help if we could establish a central location where we could co ordinate this from, not a centre of excellence because we don't have the funds for the latter, but a location where we can train underage squads regardless of weather conditions and would not be reliant on individual clubs, there is such a place and it has been used before and has room for potential expansion, but to get this expansion would require a huge commitment.

[cut the crap]

Alan Davidson played in an in house match and by all accounts done very well scoring 2. 04 , we might have a player, maybe just maybe

[SamFever]

We have major problems but they all can be fixed but it will take a strong leader who can stand up to our current county secretary,we need someone who can literally join up the dots between development squads , school programmes, county coaches and underage club coaches, and it would also help if we could establish a central location where we could co ordinate this from, not a centre of excellence because we don't have the funds for the latter, but a location where we can train underage squads regardless of weather conditions and would not be reliant on individual clubs, there is such a place and it has been used before and has room for potential expansion, but to get this expansion would require a huge commitment.

So are you just putting B'kinlar out of Down Football tp use their pitch?

[Smurfy123]

Does anyone else think the circus surrounding Davidson is an embarrassment or is it just me?
10 days before our championship game we are bringing in 5 new players and one that had joined Antrim last week until Down blocked the moved now we have brought him in
Do the 5 lads that have been brought in just now slot into the system that we have been apparently working on so much since the league ended?This Davison story now is going to hit the papers for the next few days
When have you ever seen Mickey Harte bringing in 5 new players after a defeat?Never
Things just seem to be done on a week to week basis with Down whereas all the big teams have a plan set in stone from Jan 1st
I hope the Davidson move is worth it for Eamons sake and that he can hit his 2-4 against Longford and not in a game behind closed doors
I hope the 5 new lads brought in prove me wrong
Opinions???