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Cargin seem to be bringing through 2-3 every year for the last 10 years.
That conveyor belt will always benefit without ever showing huge changes at once.

St Galls won their championships but were backboned with boys from across may 6/7 years of talent. They were outstanding and gave them great success. But when the age range of those players reach 30+ then it's important to look back and see what has continued to come through.

In that sense Cargins 2/3/4 players every year breaking into positions, making debuts, getting league time, playing plenty of football at D1 or both reserve teams has the ability to create more longevity for them at the top or very close each year.

Not really. I expect UC to nominate Corrigan this week and that will be the end of the matter. Shouldn't have required any debate or discussion at all.

Any idea what the capacity will be set at?

Put it this way, my son plays soccer and at u-11 there's 10 leagues of ten teams in South Belfast league.

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So start now at U12/11/10 or wherever suits clubs. They play reduced sized pitches anyway and match numbers in go games. Maintain that through to U14 league and allow feile to be free rein selection & 15 a side.
But if the kids get games week after week and are playing they will continue to show up.

Years ago (I'm talking 90's) North Antrim played U12 & U14 on Saturday afternoon one after the other.
There's no reason not to aspire to play U11 at 12 on a Sunday and U13/14 at 1:15.
There's no reason why with increasing numbers from U10 down in most clubs why they can't play U10,11,12,13&14 all on a Sunday between 10-1pm as long as numbers align and fixtures can be matched up.
Take away the feeling of needing to win, (and that goes for teams who win easy also and should show a sensible attitude to how long they play the strongest players) then clubs may be able to field at all ages and give 40-50 kids a game each Sunday.

Imagine knowing every Sunday around Belfast most GAA grounds have 2-3 games for 2-3 hours. That's a huge amount of numbers.

Are there too many clubs in Belfast? Or could it be argued that there is not enough games for the kids to play?

I have no idea on soccer club numbers but would be interested to know how many there are between Lagmore and Divis.
And then how many in north Belfast.?

I think that over time clubs have played games and because in GAA in general there is a big focus on winning all games that the same players become subs all too often.
It is they who are the first to drift away.
We also have subs who watch players from years below them play ahead of them, again another kick in the teeth for a 13 year old who may walk away.

I don't believe games should be deemed challenge games but if a club has for example 12 U14s, 8 U13s and 3 U12s then surely the U14s should be prioritised.
The U13s and U12s could be joined by other U12s to field at U13 level.

Soccer seem to play in single year groups therefore giving more kids more chances at games.

What I used to find was club managers were more focussed on winning the U14 league than ensuring 80-90% of those in that group made it to minor and beyond. The best way to ensure that is to have them play.

I've seen U14 feile implement rules to ensure subs are made in each half. And then I watched 2 teams in a county final remove 2 players each after 40 seconds of the half to be replaced by better players.
The kids see this, and it must have been highly embarrassing for them.

I also watched an U14 manager during feile warm a squad of 18 up and then when the referee asked about two of the players playing the second half (I think the rules had changed from the prior example) tell the ref they were injured. Again the kids know this - they are not daft.

Overall it's a cultural thing. 

However I believe if you provide games on a regular and consistent basis e.g. U14 hurling Friday at 6:30pm and the clubs focus on playing those in that age group and focus on playing and improving and not winning you may see a change.

Can anyone let me know the last time the football leagues in Antrim ran from one year to the next with no outside change (structure or team requests).

From the outside a 16 team D1, 10 team D2, & 8 team D3 look ridiculous. And the opening round results don't help the claims that the current structure is suitable.

Fair enough Gael. We need to be united in this. Footballers problem today could be hurlers problem some other day. We are the same county.

True and hopefully they will come out. My only hope is that if UC hold strong and we end up with the farce of not fielding then there's allowances made to play Taitleann.

Rest as in the sound of silence! Maybe they put out a statement backing footballers I must have missed!

I think you are linking silence to not giving a toss very easily and while I understand where you come from I think your frustration is colouring your view.
It would be great if the hurlers came out with a statement and they maybe yet in time,  but they have a few things to focus on of their own, namely fighting off relegation and anything taking away from that may be considered losing their focus.

You have your view on that Gael, and I hold another. Fair enough. But to say coming out with a statement in support of their footballers would suddenly take away their focus, I can't reconcile that. The two things are stand alone surely. Yes/No?

Yes they are but once the hurlers make a statement there will be a media focus on it and no doubt questions coming or interviews requested around it.
That's what they'll be looking to avoid. My guess is after Sundays game they may say something.

All opinion obviously but I still think your initial view on not giving a toss is misplaced - not purposely certainly but through frustration with the whole scenario. Ideally the whole county to be out backing Corrigan is what's wanted and there's a hurling gap there so I see where it comes from.

Rest as in the sound of silence! Maybe they put out a statement backing footballers I must have missed!

I think you are linking silence to not giving a toss very easily and while I understand where you come from I think your frustration is colouring your view.
It would be great if the hurlers came out with a statement and they maybe yet in time,  but they have a few things to focus on of their own, namely fighting off relegation and anything taking away from that may be considered losing their focus.

Ulster Council should be ashamed at the way they've gone about this, it's a PR disaster for them, and it's hard to have any sympathy the way they've played this.

Had they said from the get go it's about the money and made a solid case, you never know what might have been agreed, but anyone with half a brain could see through that.

Would love the Antrim hurling community to show some support, to date it's obvious they don't give one toss. Maybe now it will be easier as the Antrim board have finally stepped up.

How is it obvious to date they don't give a toss?
The hurling manager was asked and passed it over, he has his own focus. Neil McM was asked on tv, sort of side stepped it but got attacked for not coming out in full support as if he agreed with the move.
That's 2 who didn't row in behind publicly.
Where's the rest of the 'obvious' you refer to?

Can anyone update on the football league structures and formats now that some fixtures have been released?
How many rounds? What's the planned promotion/relegation regulations? For each division?

I know I have no involvement or way to be involved but a 16 team, 10 team and 8 team league seems so disjointed it is almost humorous.

It's not the ten year investment though, what about the next ten year set of kids and the ones after that, Offaly are in a unique part of the world were exposure to top class hurling is available they have history also.. they probably took their eye off the ball which left them in the doldrums for a bit.

My point is we in Antrim (being short sighted) don't or haven't really invested in the grades up from well before under 12.. you gotta be hitting lads from the ages of 6 upwards, investing in 12 year olds is great but I think we could be better.

Walk the streets of Belfast and you'd do well to see kids dandering about with hurls, striking the ball against gable walls and the like.

More needs done, plenty have the passion for it but their really needs ( there probably is one ) a fully laid out 30 year plan that brings about better players..

Clubs have to look at how they can improve the pool of players and training, I still think there are too many clubs in Belfast, a condensed set of hurling teams at senior level will produce more competitive teams

 

Gaelfast is a disaster tbh, and also no trophies below u13 now? It happens at all other sports why not gaa?
Ive seen kids leave for soccer because they want to play for trophies, they all keep the score anyway and kids need to know what its like to lose and also win well before 13/14 years of age.

More often than not its left upto mentors at clubs to sort games out which isnt good enough.

Why do you consider Gaelfast a disaster?

What exactly do they do?

Kids need into the game early, at schools etc yet i can count on one hand the amount of times gaelfast has been in my lads school who are p7 and p6.

More underage tournaments and exposure to games should be taking place, all my own opinion.

I'm not sure on the exact facts but the fly on the windscreen analogy is a good perspective.

In west Belfast alone there must be over 30 schools. I'd hazard a guess and say across the whole county there are 100 schools. Gaelfast have 10 staff or thereabouts.
Now I'm no mathematician but to say the spread of resources is thin would be an understatement.
The principle of what they are trying to do is correct but the gradient they are up against is near impossible.

Don't forget they spend a lot of time on coach education which is aimed at empowering those in clubs and schools to develop their own resources to improve coaching.

It's not the ten year investment though, what about the next ten year set of kids and the ones after that, Offaly are in a unique part of the world were exposure to top class hurling is available they have history also.. they probably took their eye off the ball which left them in the doldrums for a bit.

My point is we in Antrim (being short sighted) don't or haven't really invested in the grades up from well before under 12.. you gotta be hitting lads from the ages of 6 upwards, investing in 12 year olds is great but I think we could be better.

Walk the streets of Belfast and you'd do well to see kids dandering about with hurls, striking the ball against gable walls and the like.

More needs done, plenty have the passion for it but their really needs ( there probably is one ) a fully laid out 30 year plan that brings about better players..

Clubs have to look at how they can improve the pool of players and training, I still think there are too many clubs in Belfast, a condensed set of hurling teams at senior level will produce more competitive teams

 

Gaelfast is a disaster tbh, and also no trophies below u13 now? It happens at all other sports why not gaa?
Ive seen kids leave for soccer because they want to play for trophies, they all keep the score anyway and kids need to know what its like to lose and also win well before 13/14 years of age.

More often than not its left upto mentors at clubs to sort games out which isnt good enough.

Why do you consider Gaelfast a disaster?

So the format was maybe set but the continuity of moving from 24-25 was t straight forward as clubs got to decide if they would take up promotion?

I'm not picking at anyone here but surely the focus should be on creating a league, and maybe championship structure that when one season finishes can move into the next without what is becoming an annual winter of questions into structure, team status etc.

Can there not be a level of continuity found. I'd say players are tired even before the games begin.

What way has the format changed since last year?

I'm not sure. I'm not one with my any link to find out but going by the chat here on the board it certainly has not been plain sailing from one season into the next. And I'm not even sure thing have been finalised yet.

When was the last time Antrim had two years (in either code) where the format didn't change?? League and/or championship.

Year the titanic sank

Going by the thread on here you would think that.
But my guess at the moment would be it could be 5/6 years at least that between league and championship there have been changes year on year.
Surely that in itself should flag an underlying fundamental problem