Leinster Championship 2020

[sid waddell]

If only the Laythrums would work harder they'd get a team from their 3,000 players that would bate the best of Dublin's 39,000.
But they're too busy trying to keep things going in their 20 or so small clubeens.

But Lietrim were always shite. A Cinderella county. Don't even field a camogie team. Thats life in a county with less people than Bray. And I would suggest they overachieve.

The question is why counties like Meath with a pedigree, structure and no other major sports teams have given up. Thats a question of work ethic at commiittee level and down. Where is there plan? Where is their training guide for kids and GDO's?

People badly need to look at the historical performances of teams and they need to understand the realities of representative sport

There is no system in which Leitrim or Longford or Fermanagh will win trophies unless a freak generation of players comes along

Success for these counties will always be measured in relative terms, as it will for, say, the Irish soccer team

That is not an argument for abolishing the Irish soccer team no more than it is for abolishing Leitrim, Longford or Fermanagh

It took until 1960 for Sam to cross the border, the Anglo-Celt was only very rarely won by a six county team until the 1950s, was that an argument for having the six county teams amalgamate?

The reason you have a county team and not a regional team is because the county is your identity

Look at how amalgamated regional teams have worked in Welsh rugby, they haven't worked at all

[Baile Brigín 2]

If only the Laythrums would work harder they'd get a team from their 3,000 players that would bate the best of Dublin's 39,000.
But they're too busy trying to keep things going in their 20 or so small clubeens.

But Lietrim were always shite. A Cinderella county. Don't even field a camogie team. Thats life in a county with less people than Bray. And I would suggest they overachieve.

The question is why counties like Meath with a pedigree, structure and no other major sports teams have given up. Thats a question of work ethic at commiittee level and down. Where is there plan? Where is their training guide for kids and GDO's?

People badly need to look at the historical performances of teams and they need to understand the realities of representative sport

There is no system in which Leitrim or Longford or Fermanagh will win trophies unless a freak generation of players comes along

Success for these counties will always be measured in relative terms, as it will for, say, the Irish soccer team

That is not an argument for abolishing the Irish soccer team no more than it is for abolishing Leitrim, Longford or Fermanagh

It took until 1960 for Sam to cross the border, the Anglo-Celt was only very rarely won by a six county team until the 1950s, was that an argument for having the six county teams amalgamate?

The reason you have a county team and not a regional team is because the county is your identity

Look at how amalgamated regional teams have worked in Welsh rugby, they haven't worked at all

If amalgamated teams don't work, why do people think splitting teams in two or four will?

I have as much personal affinity to the concept of Fingal as I do the Northern Hemisphere or Leinster.

[caprea]

The problem with splitting Dublin is where do they play. There are two football stadiums in Dublin. Parnell and croker. Both in the north city.

You can't build an identity if a south Dublin team doesn't have a stadium. Doesn't work. A new stadium would have to be built.

As for amalgamated team won't work because they didn't work in wales. Well that's a load of waffle. It's a different sport in a different country. Straw clutching.

[Eire90]

Theres more to the gaa than senior football all ireland championship

[sid waddell]

The problem with splitting Dublin is where do they play. There are two football stadiums in Dublin. Parnell and croker. Both in the north city.

You can't build an identity if a south Dublin team doesn't have a stadium. Doesn't work. A new stadium would have to be built.

As for amalgamated team won't work because they didn't work in wales. Well that's a load of waffle. It's a different sport in a different country. Straw clutching.

It would be even more difficult than in Welsh rugby to amalgamate counties in GAA, for the simple fact that in Ireland people have an identity formed not just by a club or a team that has been around for 130 years, but by actual counties which have been around for hundreds of years

A Cavan idenitity is as important to Cavan people as an Irish identity and the Cavan football team is the embodiment of that identity

When that identity is destroyed or heavily diluted, people just won't care anymore

That's what happened in Welsh rugby, even in Irish rugby there is a lot of hostility towards the provinces from some club people

Rugby League in England tried amalgamations of clubs back in the 1990s, it bombed - Castleford and Wakefield refused to lose their identities, there was no way Widnes and Warrington would play together

A Team Ulster in hurling was once mooted to compete in the All-Ireland hurling championship

Ulster does have an identity, it has by far the strongest collective identity of any of the provinces, and the idea appeared to make some sporting sense, but the idea was dismissed out of hand because even in hurling, the counties and players were very hostile to the idea of losing their county teams, even if in hurling, most Ulster teams were competing at a very low level

If a hurling Team Ulster was dismissed, then the BMW Bandits (incorporating Roscommmon, Leitrim, Longford and Westmeath) in football is sure as hell going to be dismissed

This kind of stuff might fly in the AFL or NRL (and even there the merger practice is despised, ask fans of Fitzroy or Balmain Tigers) but on this side of the world it's anathema

And merging small junior clubs is not in any way comparable to merging counties

[sid waddell]

If only the Laythrums would work harder they'd get a team from their 3,000 players that would bate the best of Dublin's 39,000.
But they're too busy trying to keep things going in their 20 or so small clubeens.

But Lietrim were always shite. A Cinderella county. Don't even field a camogie team. Thats life in a county with less people than Bray. And I would suggest they overachieve.

The question is why counties like Meath with a pedigree, structure and no other major sports teams have given up. Thats a question of work ethic at commiittee level and down. Where is there plan? Where is their training guide for kids and GDO's?

People badly need to look at the historical performances of teams and they need to understand the realities of representative sport

There is no system in which Leitrim or Longford or Fermanagh will win trophies unless a freak generation of players comes along

Success for these counties will always be measured in relative terms, as it will for, say, the Irish soccer team

That is not an argument for abolishing the Irish soccer team no more than it is for abolishing Leitrim, Longford or Fermanagh

It took until 1960 for Sam to cross the border, the Anglo-Celt was only very rarely won by a six county team until the 1950s, was that an argument for having the six county teams amalgamate?

The reason you have a county team and not a regional team is because the county is your identity

Look at how amalgamated regional teams have worked in Welsh rugby, they haven't worked at all

If amalgamated teams don't work, why do people think splitting teams in two or four will?

I have as much personal affinity to the concept of Fingal as I do the Northern Hemisphere or Leinster.

At least 10-15 years more evidence is needed before a splitting of Dublin should even be considered, if Dublin won 15 in a row you might think about it

Even then I expect any split would be twofold and strictly along Northside-Southside lines with the Liffey being the divide, it certainly wouldn't be Fingal-South Dublin-DLR- Dublin City etc. as there is no identity there whatsoever, whereas there is somewhat of a Northside v Southside rivalry

Even then I wouldn't know which team would be "my" team as the place I come from, despite being just south of the Liffey, is not really associated with the southside but with the west of the city, while my father is a northsider and I nearly associate more strongly with the area where he grew up than with the area where I grew up, which was comprised of faceless enough housing estates, anywheresville

I also generally prefer to see northside clubs do well in the championships than southside ones

"Southside" to me means Stillorgan and Dundrum and Blackrock, and I have no affinity to those areas at all

[caprea]

The problem with splitting Dublin is where do they play. There are two football stadiums in Dublin. Parnell and croker. Both in the north city.

You can't build an identity if a south Dublin team doesn't have a stadium. Doesn't work. A new stadium would have to be built.

As for amalgamated team won't work because they didn't work in wales. Well that's a load of waffle. It's a different sport in a different country. Straw clutching.

It would be even more difficult than in Welsh rugby to amalgamate counties in GAA, for the simple fact that in Ireland people have an identity formed not just by a club or a team that has been around for 130 years, but by actual counties which have been around for hundreds of years

A Cavan idenitity is as important to Cavan people as an Irish identity and the Cavan football team is the embodiment of that identity

When that identity is destroyed or heavily diluted, people just won't care anymore

That's what happened in Welsh rugby, even in Irish rugby there is a lot of hostility towards the provinces from some club people

Rugby League in England tried amalgamations of clubs back in the 1990s, it bombed - Castleford and Wakefield refused to lose their identities, there was no way Widnes and Warrington would play together

A Team Ulster in hurling was once mooted to compete in the All-Ireland hurling championship

Ulster does have an identity, it has by far the strongest collective identity of any of the provinces, and the idea appeared to make some sporting sense, but the idea was dismissed out of hand because even in hurling, the counties and players were very hostile to the idea of losing their county teams, even if in hurling, most Ulster teams were competing at a very low level

If a hurling Team Ulster was dismissed, then the BMW Bandits (incorporating Roscommmon, Leitrim, Longford and Westmeath) in football is sure as hell going to be dismissed

This kind of stuff might fly in the AFL or NRL (and even there the merger practice is despised, ask fans of Fitzroy or Balmain Tigers) but on this side of the world it's anathema

And merging small junior clubs is not in any way comparable to merging counties

Why do you think people are extremely choosy about identifying with a region team in the GAA or rugby league in England or rugby in Wales while Irish people can support Liverpool, man utd, Chelsea rabidly while having no connection to the areas of those clubs?

[Farrandeelin]

Where is HQ throwing money at Meath Co Board to stop them all turning to soccer and rugby?

Have Meath had any plans or strategy papers rejected or not supported? Has any county?

You remind me of the soccer heads whinging about the Grab Alls while doing hee haw themselves.

Fermanagh had a plan rejected I believe. Oh that's right...the script writers should have "tried harder".

[larryin89]

Splits and amalgamations , not a hope would supporters of county football take to that , just get the wealth spread evenly,  cap spending .

[Eire90]

was the backdoor introduced to give smaller teams a 2nd game or a chance to give the big boys chance incase they slipped up.

[seafoid]

The Dubs are on their third team
They can do this indefinitely.
But nobody will watch it.
For the rest

The height of mediocrity is the challenge
Crawling through the entrails of imbalance

https://youtu.be/kqB-wf49Xsc

[BennyCake]

was the backdoor introduced to give smaller teams a 2nd game or a chance to give the big boys chance incase they slipped up.

Let's not kid ourselves. It was introduced to bring in more revenue for the GAA

[caprea]

Splits and amalgamations , not a hope would supporters of county football take to that , just get the wealth spread evenly,  cap spending .

Would make very little difference. The reason Dublin are all powerful is mainly down to population. Spending money in schools or clubs to hire GPOs to teach kids the basics of the game wouldn't have the massive affect that we are seeing.

[seafoid]

Splits and amalgamations , not a hope would supporters of county football take to that , just get the wealth spread evenly,  cap spending .

Would make very little difference. The reason Dublin are all powerful is mainly down to population. Spending money in schools or clubs to hire GPOs to teach kids the basics of the game wouldn't have the massive affect that we are seeing.

It's population potential leveraged by money.
Population imbalances also exist in the 6 nations but England doesn't get all the TV money.

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/1081313/Six-Nations-prize-money-full-breakdown-revealed
Guaranteed money pot before prize money is included is as follows:

Italy: £15.6m
Wales £15.6m
Scotland £15.6m
Ireland £15.6m
France £18.5m
England £19m


Rugby administration focuses on continuity.
Football  administration is insane.

[Tubberman]

Splits and amalgamations , not a hope would supporters of county football take to that , just get the wealth spread evenly,  cap spending .

Would make very little difference. The reason Dublin are all powerful is mainly down to population. Spending money in schools or clubs to hire GPOs to teach kids the basics of the game wouldn't have the massive affect that we are seeing.

The bigger population didn't make them dominant pre-2011. Cork are the next biggest population and they don't dominate at either code.