Players dropping out for Championship

[Redhand Santa]

Kildare

Dan Flynn still out
Niall Kelly back from his traveling still not confirmed he will be back
Aaron Masterson has dropped out
James Murray has dropped out

Masterson was last years All-Ireland u20 winning captain.  We don't have the depth to lose Dan Flynn, in my opinion the best full forward in the country last year, Niall Kelly and Masterson, one of the best young midfielders in the country.

I don't blame them, zero craic playing inter-county football.

Bit of a generalisation there. Plenty of lads love being involved with the county. A lot of the enjoyment will come from winning big games and sense of achievement. If the manager has any sense he'll let them enjoy the good days with a few beers. Some managers are too serious no doubt but there's still plenty of enjoyment from playing your sport at the top level and pulling on your county jersey no doubt.

They have been institutionalised from a young age. It's all they know. The penny is already dropping for lots of players. The sacrifice for the have-nots is too much to try and keep up with the haves. There's a reason why a lot of players sooner play with their clubs than their county!

What is so different to playing county football than playing any sport to a decent level? There is plenty of lads willing to do it and I'm sure they enjoy the craic of being part of a team and enjoy playing the game.

I'd imagine they don't actually train that more often as a team than a club rugby player does for example. In Tyrone the county team train on the pitch on a Tuesday and Thursday and have gym on a Wednesday then have a game or train once at the weekend. Would that really be that different to any other sport?

A lot of the complaining seems to come from people not involved.

I know it's a one off case but I was fairly recently talking to an ex county footballer and he told me if he was to do it again he wouldn't have played county football. He said there Is zero per cent fun in it, said the only buzz was the couple of weeks before the championship games. Said there was no element of enjoyment what so ever. He said he'd have stuck at club football and enjoyed pints after wins, instead of recovery sessions, food & ice baths after a win playing county football.

Anecdotal but there are hundreds of these type of stories out there.

Of course there is. Not everyone is suited to top level sport. But that's not to say that the hundreds who are playing county football and hurling don't enjoy it. Plenty of young lads enjoy training and enjoy being part of high profile teams.

The problem at the minute is the gap between the top teams and the rest has widened. It's more difficult to give time to something if you can't see any glimmer of success. My own county have done reasonably well recently and as a result there isn't really anyone missing that would be a first team player other than Mark Bradley who was working away this year.

The whole structure of the county season needs looked at to make the games more competitive and worth while.

[Redhand Santa]

And what about other sports? What would division one club rugby players be training in the week? I wouldn't have great knowledge of it but I was under the impression they were training at least 4/5 times a week (not all collectively)?

[marty34]

Clubs should just play games - a double round league of 12 games - 24 matches a season.

Do a preseason, then ban training after league starts!!!

Why train 7 times for 1 game: poor training/match ratio.

Why do they need all this training anyway? How fit can lads get?

[Keyser soze]

There have always been players who get disillusioned with not getting enough game time. it makes headlines if it's a county player but it happens at club level too and I would imagine at the same ratio but without the same publicity. I have known lots of guys who couldn't hack the commitment of training or indeed the pressure of playing senior club football.

They were happy enough to go play soccer as there was zero pressure and no training, these players are not much use on a panel of 25 whoa re prepared to put the work in so if that's what they want wish them all the best as the group is better off without them.

Cannot believe Dinny that you have said you would discourage your son form playing county. Though might be better to wait until he's asked before making such a big decision 

[Itchy]

Clubs should just play games - a double round league of 12 games - 24 matches a season.

Do a preseason, then ban training after league starts!!!

Why train 7 times for 1 game: poor training/match ratio.

Why do they need all this training anyway? How fit can lads get?

How exactly do you enforce a ban on clubs training? Come back down to planet earth will ya.

[Dinny Breen]

And what about other sports? What would division one club rugby players be training in the week? I wouldn't have great knowledge of it but I was under the impression they were training at least 4/5 times a week (not all collectively)?

Most of them get paid believe it or not well reimbursed for expenses.

They would train collectively twice a week, no collective gym sessions. 18 AIL fixtures set in stone. Easy to play no other commitments bar the 2 games for the 25 who are selected to play for the Irish Club team.

[marty34]

Hard to enforce but why all the training?

How fit can lads gets?

Just do a preseason - then play a match every week.  Then let the lads have a life by going for a beer at the week-end or going to their pal's wedding.

Why all this training from Dec -August - twice a  week, in the gym once once a week (maybe more) for what???  Some lads can't kick the ball overthe bar from 30 yardsbut they could lift 2 dugouts about their head and throw it over the crossbar.

Gaa needs to get back to basics.  People give out about the county scene but the club scene is just as bad.  Paying outside managers £20k for a year then they piss out to a club in a neighbouring county the following year.

[Dinny Breen]

There have always been players who get disillusioned with not getting enough game time. it makes headlines if it's a county player but it happens at club level too and I would imagine at the same ratio but without the same publicity. I have known lots of guys who couldn't hack the commitment of training or indeed the pressure of playing senior club football.

They were happy enough to go play soccer as there was zero pressure and no training, these players are not much use on a panel of 25 whoa re prepared to put the work in so if that's what they want wish them all the best as the group is better off without them.

Cannot believe Dinny that you have said you would discourage your son form playing county. Though might be better to wait until he's asked before making such a big decision 

I said I wouldn't encourage him, I would never discourage him. For an amateur sport I think things have swung too far towards professional and the reward is not worth the sacrifice.

[trailer]

Dump the weaker counties into their own competition.
League becomes championship. Burst it out over 10 weeks max.

Less games but better games, less training. Not as big of commitment. Happier players.

Tis simple.

[toby47]

Club football should not be played on a Sunday

[Redhand Santa]

And what about other sports? What would division one club rugby players be training in the week? I wouldn't have great knowledge of it but I was under the impression they were training at least 4/5 times a week (not all collectively)?

Most of them get paid believe it or not well reimbursed for expenses.

They would train collectively twice a week, no collective gym sessions. 18 AIL fixtures set in stone. Easy to play no other commitments bar the 2 games for the 25 who are selected to play for the Irish Club team.

County players are getting expenses, gear, water etc. I'd imagine a county player wouldn't be that much worse of than a club rugby player in terms of what they get back. And the top players would get to play in front of much larger crowds and have much greater exposure than a club rugby player.

Would club rugby players not be expected to do 2 or 3 gym sessions on top of the 2 training sessions a week? And pre season would start late July with the season running to the following May? I'm not seeing how it's such a better lifestyle.

[seafoid]

And what about other sports? What would division one club rugby players be training in the week? I wouldn't have great knowledge of it but I was under the impression they were training at least 4/5 times a week (not all collectively)?

Most of them get paid believe it or not well reimbursed for expenses.

They would train collectively twice a week, no collective gym sessions. 18 AIL fixtures set in stone. Easy to play no other commitments bar the 2 games for the 25 who are selected to play for the Irish Club team.

County players are getting expenses, gear, water etc. I'd imagine a county player wouldn't be that much worse of than a club rugby player in terms of what they get back. And the top players would get to play in front of much larger crowds and have much greater exposure than a club rugby player.

Would club rugby players not be expected to do 2 or 3 gym sessions on top of the 2 training sessions a week? And pre season would start late July with the season running to the following May? I'm not seeing how it's such a better lifestyle.

The vast majority of county players are pawns in a funding system designed to suit a handful of counties. The commitment/reward relationship is asymmetric as the Dubs go for the 5 in a row.

[Angelo]

Martin O'Reilly now also gone from Donegal. That's Carroll, MacNiallais, Mark McHugh, Martin McElhinney, Stephen McBrearty, Darrach O'Connor and O'Reilly who have opted out for Donegal this year. I'd imagine a few of the squad may not rate Bonner that highly.

In MacNiallais' case, he's just been through a very long club season and the loss of some close friends in that car accident.

The rest barely featured last year so I guess they just weren't willing to make the commitment. I'm sure if they were getting a game, things might have been different, at least for some of them.

Maybe so but it's hardly a good indication if they aren't willing to stay and battle for a place. A lot of those lads you'd expect on a Donegal match day 26 if all fit and available, to me that indicates a lack of faith.

[Rossfan]

The number of drop outs is often related to lack of faith in management right enough.

[From the Bunker]

Players are not stupid. They see up close how much of their time will be lost just to pander to the Croke Park machine. Croke Park showed last year that they cared not for Donegal (or it's people) when they made them play away to Dublin. It's hard not to blame a young guy to spend his valuable youth travelling, Meeting people and enjoying life. Things you can only really do in the freedom years of your twenties.