Antrim Hurling

[theskull1]

The ONLY thing Dunloy weren't happy with was the away games at the very start (wasn't it 4 in a row). I think that's a fair enough complaint

[johnneycool]

The ONLY thing Dunloy weren't happy with was the away games at the very start (wasn't it 4 in a row). I think that's a fair enough complaint

Yeah, I think we'd three or four away as well, and that could have been looked at a bit better. Home one game, then away the next can't be that hard to implement.

[maxpower]

I really liked the league last year.  Meant in the run up to Champipnship we were playing teams of a high standard.  The games where decent too considering the standard of pitch and the weather.

If that could be sorted for next that'd be just grand!!

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

the league was grand the way it was. all this tinkering and changing of it serves no purpose.

cushendall have changed the format of it so many times over the past number of years and its ended up being scraped one year later. im not picking on them as a club but seriously stop coming up with these daft ideas.

leave the leagues as they are. 10 teams, 2 way league, reserve games played the same day. 2 up, 2 down.

championship is a knock out, no seeding. its pure luck who you draw and thats the best way.

It was the county who changed it to a 10 team league. Have you difficulty in understanding this?

no. have you difficulty in understanding my concerns about a club wanting a certain league format yet not sticking to it and then wanting to change it again next year? what happens next convention? will they want that changed again?

some one said the football hasnt been changed and no one moans about it. do the same as they do. leave the league set up alone!

[Megaman]

so is C'dall the only club ever  to put a motion in to change the format?

At convention is C'dall the only ones allowed to vote it in.

Never been but im guessing other clubs have to vote as well. 

So by your reckoning if things are shite just leave them alone.....and your not allowed to change your opinion on things!!!!

[johnneycool]

What's the Dalls problem with the league in its current format?

[Two Hands FFS]

What's the Dalls problem with the league in its current format?

I'd imagine they'd prefer if to go back to the 8 team 2 way league it was 3/4 years ago. They were competive. Less of a gap between top & bottom.

[johnneycool]

What's the Dalls problem with the league in its current format?

I'd imagine they'd prefer if to go back to the 8 team 2 way league it was 3/4 years ago. They were competive. Less of a gap between top & bottom.

Aye, but top and bottom only played each other once, they still play the top teams twice, once at home so I'm not sure their complaints would stand up to scrutiny.

The only teams they really stuffed were ourselves and St Galls. They got a serious testing from the other three teams who ended up in the bottom half.

[Two Hands FFS]

the league was grand the way it was. all this tinkering and changing of it serves no purpose.

cushendall have changed the format of it so many times over the past number of years and its ended up being scraped one year later. im not picking on them as a club but seriously stop coming up with these daft ideas.

leave the leagues as they are. 10 teams, 2 way league, reserve games played the same day. 2 up, 2 down.

championship is a knock out, no seeding. its pure luck who you draw and thats the best way.

It was the county who changed it to a 10 team league. Have you difficulty in understanding this?

no. have you difficulty in understanding my concerns about a club wanting a certain league format yet not sticking to it and then wanting to change it again next year? what happens next convention? will they want that changed again?

some one said the football hasnt been changed and no one moans about it. do the same as they do. leave the league set up alone!

No I don't. I explained before that C'Dall preferred the 8 team league. The county changed it to a 10 team league. C'Dall knew it wouldn't be possible to change it to a 8 team league for the following season (2014) due to the teams that were going be promoted/relegated. They knew it would be a struggle to get 18 games played cos of the round robin. We were never going to get 18 league matches played so that's why they suggested the split. That was only 13 games.
Now the proposal is to go back to the good 8 team league that was in place before the county changed it.

[Two Hands FFS]

What's the Dalls problem with the league in its current format?

I'd imagine they'd prefer if to go back to the 8 team 2 way league it was 3/4 years ago. They were competive. Less of a gap between top & bottom.

Aye, but top and bottom only played each other once, they still play the top teams twice, once at home so I'm not sure their complaints would stand up to scrutiny.

The only teams they really stuffed were ourselves and St Galls. They got a serious testing from the other three teams who ended up in the bottom half.

It was a two way league. 14 games

[johnneycool]

What's the Dalls problem with the league in its current format?

I'd imagine they'd prefer if to go back to the 8 team 2 way league it was 3/4 years ago. They were competive. Less of a gap between top & bottom.

Aye, but top and bottom only played each other once, they still play the top teams twice, once at home so I'm not sure their complaints would stand up to scrutiny.

The only teams they really stuffed were ourselves and St Galls. They got a serious testing from the other three teams who ended up in the bottom half.

It was a two way league. 14 games

And last year they got 13 games, with only two mismatches and got all the big home gates against their local rivals.

The upside of the bottom section of the league should not be underestimated and will only serve the whole of Antrim hurling (and Down    ) in the longer term better IMO.

Methinks they're throwing the baby out with the bath water if they want to revert to a 8 team league, it just doesn't make sense.

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

The league was poor this year. too many away games at the start of the season for ourselves was just really bad planning. there wasnt a game of senior hurling seen in our pitch for over a month yet the footballers were there every other week.

megaman i agree that if its shite then change it. the reason its going to be changed for next season is because this season didnt work. 10 teams with 18 games is maybe too many games esp at a dual club.

8 teams home and away will def work. the only bother i have is the league being restructured to suit the county team. the 1% as everyone talks about now. i dont see what benifit it is to have a league set up to suit a county team whenever A) the county will cancel the games to suit themselves and B) a league structured that teams play without their county players then decided to cancel games themselves.

the 8 team set up worked before. you have say loughgiel, ballycastle, cushendall, st johns, ballycran, Dunloy, portaferry and St Galls. 1 up 1 down. maybe even stretch it to having 2nd from bottom in a two leg play off with 2nd in div 2 to see if they go up or down?

im happy with 8 or 10 if im honest

[Jeepers Creepers]

I think it has been discussed on here before at the disregard some clubs show the league, so does it matter what format it takes?

[Megaman]

Yeah, totally agree DR,  but wht then complain when clubs what it changed.

ive already said and it only my opinion that the disregard started some 20 years ago, when certain mangers stopped county players playing in leagues etc.  This has never been rectified over the years and this disregard is now the norm

IMHO we have to get all players playing in all league games, get a settled league format and take it from there, it wont change attitudes over night but i believe over time it will make things better.

As Jeepers touched on, it nearly doesn't matter what format there is at the minute, the leagues will be poor enough.

I know you will disagree DR, but in recent times the best league season i can think of was 1999 (and im not talking about how the championship turned out) the league games that year where competitive mainly cause they determined semi-finals but also cause they where played with all players.

[Hurler24]

Tbh I though the main problem with the league this year stemmed from the championship draws. If the four big teams had not been meeting in championship in the first round I think we would have seen a much better top section of the league. Due to them knowing they were meeting in the first round no team really went for it thus I feel league lost the competitiveness and then as a result championship was dead as league games werent up to the usual tempo. Seeded championship draw and current league format is the way forward I think

TBH you're full of shit...... Cant just keep changing the leagues cause it doesn't suit the big boys or because championship didn't turn out like it should, pure bullshit. Teams/players/management shouldn't go out and play that way (don't think they did) cause the draw was bad. Loughgiel walked the past 4 championships and not one complaint big two not in final, we have ones complaining! The football leagues have stayed the same for past twenty years and no complaints. Difference between top two teams and rest  would be greater than the hurling teams.

Let it go as it is, teams should be playing their level best in every game

How can you not have noticed the games between the big four not being as competitive as previous years? I know for a fact Ballycastle rested players against all three of the other Antrim teams in the top section. The only time a full team was seen in the run up to championship was against Ballycran(in ballycran) and in a friendly against St Vincents in Dublin. I also don't recall the other teams playing full teams against us either. Nobody wanted to show their full hand so close to championship. Fact of the matter is the championship draw was lopsided and the winner was only ever coming out of one side. The other side was closer to intermediate standard than senior. the lack of a seeded championship draw therefore clearly caused a detrimental effect to the league.