Antrim Football Thread

[Milltown Row2]

Christ you lot would rather bicker about him and him than actually discuss football. Completely endemic of whats wrong with this county, politics and grudges

The lad made a post and people commented on it and discussed it. Settle Petal!

Reserve leagues are hard to call. Some clubs struggle to put out 2 teams and I think a 13 a side game would be better for reserve teams. Possibly a bit more common sense used with fixtures also. One problems could be refs for all these games!

Sure there's plenty of refs!

We had the reserves into lower leagues before, I thought it worked well, though we'd decent numbers

We had a div 4 and div 3 team as did Cargin, we also had entered a team in div 4 hurling and won the leagues two years in a row..

leagues shouldn't all be on a Sunday, games can be played Friday and Saturday nights come the summer, think other counties do this so be interesting to hear how it works

Nice to see you back, although I saw enough of you over the last few weeks. 

Same old faces with the whistle in both codes which doesn't do anybody any good.

Course starts in January, I'd be keen to see fresh new blood

[paddyjohn]

Christ you lot would rather bicker about him and him than actually discuss football. Completely endemic of whats wrong with this county, politics and grudges

The lad made a post and people commented on it and discussed it. Settle Petal!

Reserve leagues are hard to call. Some clubs struggle to put out 2 teams and I think a 13 a side game would be better for reserve teams. Possibly a bit more common sense used with fixtures also. One problems could be refs for all these games!

Sure there's plenty of refs!

We had the reserves into lower leagues before, I thought it worked well, though we'd decent numbers

We had a div 4 and div 3 team as did Cargin, we also had entered a team in div 4 hurling and won the leagues two years in a row..

leagues shouldn't all be on a Sunday, games can be played Friday and Saturday nights come the summer, think other counties do this so be interesting to hear how it works

Nice to see you back, although I saw enough of you over the last few weeks. 

Same old faces with the whistle in both codes which doesn't do anybody any good.

Course starts in January, I'd be keen to see fresh new blood

I've hung my whistle up pal. Oul hamstring couldn't take it anymore.

I much prefer a white coat these days

[Milltown Row2]

Yeah you've said that before.. I doubt it though.

Referees who do the fitness tests and pass the written tests do the championship games. That's why you have the same faces PJ. You being an aul ref would know that surely?

[paddyjohn]

Yeah you've said that before.. I doubt it though.

Referees who do the fitness tests and pass the written tests do the championship games. That's why you have the same faces PJ. You being an aul ref would know that surely?

Don't doubt me mate, you know nothing about it.

[Milltown Row2]

Yeah you've said that before.. I doubt it though.

Referees who do the fitness tests and pass the written tests do the championship games. That's why you have the same faces PJ. You being an aul ref would know that surely?

Don't doubt me mate, you know nothing about it.
[/quote

You're just an anonymous hackler on discussion board as far as I know, until I know you personally then I'll hold judgment.

[paddyjohn]

Yeah you've said that before.. I doubt it though.

Referees who do the fitness tests and pass the written tests do the championship games. That's why you have the same faces PJ. You being an aul ref would know that surely?

Don't doubt me mate, you know nothing about it.
[/quote

You're just an anonymous hackler on discussion board as far as I know, until I know you personally then I'll hold judgment.

Only you could take a simple comment and twist it. I thought your recent warning from the powers that be would of been enough.

[Milltown Row2]

Yeah you've said that before.. I doubt it though.

Referees who do the fitness tests and pass the written tests do the championship games. That's why you have the same faces PJ. You being an aul ref would know that surely?

Don't doubt me mate, you know nothing about it.
[/quote

You're just an anonymous hackler on discussion board as far as I know, until I know you personally then I'll hold judgment.

Only you could take a simple comment and twist it. I thought your recent warning from the powers that be would of been enough.

Warning? Now you're making things up now.  I was asked to not talk about games that I could be involved with, not fair as some people think I'd be biased, agsin no one at county level believes that refs would be biased, otherwise they wouldn't get games!

I did just that, senior championship is over now. I was still on the site btw

[paddyjohn]

Yeah you've said that before.. I doubt it though.

Referees who do the fitness tests and pass the written tests do the championship games. That's why you have the same faces PJ. You being an aul ref would know that surely?

Don't doubt me mate, you know nothing about it.
[/quote

You're just an anonymous hackler on discussion board as far as I know, until I know you personally then I'll hold judgment.

Only you could take a simple comment and twist it. I thought your recent warning from the powers that be would of been enough.

Warning? Now you're making things up now.  I was asked to not talk about games that I could be involved with, not fair as some people think I'd be biased, agsin no one at county level believes that refs would be biased, otherwise they wouldn't get games!

I did just that, senior championship is over now. I was still on the site btw

Right well now you've had your rant, can we discuss as adults?

How many nights a week were you out on average last season? And how many nights a week were you involved with the same club? my own club had Vincent Boyle 5 nights out of the 7 one week and 4 the next week. Now, how fair is that on my club and on Vincent? Surely you'd get scunnered coming to one club all the time. In no way am I criticising refs or the county board, I'm merely stating that extra reserve games could impact on refs. Reserve leagues are something that need looked at as it's been poor at times as last few years.

[CornerBackNo2]

If you're from a Belfast club Farset then they will have brought a manager in, I can't think of one which hasn't

This year fairly sure LD, St Pauls, St Teresas, St Galls, Rossa and St Johns aren't paying their senior football managers

I'm sure all have in the past though, and thats my point

St. John's have never paid a manager in any code.

[bogieman]

Warning? Now you're making things up now.  I was asked to not talk about games that I could be involved with, not fair as some people think I'd be biased, agsin no one at county level believes that refs would be biased, otherwise they wouldn't get games!

I did just that, senior championship is over now. I was still on the site btw
[/quote]


Why bite ?

[paddyjohn]

Warning? Now you're making things up now.  I was asked to not talk about games that I could be involved with, not fair as some people think I'd be biased, agsin no one at county level believes that refs would be biased, otherwise they wouldn't get games!

I did just that, senior championship is over now. I was still on the site btw

Why bite ?
[/quote]

Bite on what? I made the observation and it was twisted.

What was the outcome of the meeting does anybody know?

[whatwillbwillb]

Warning? Now you're making things up now.  I was asked to not talk about games that I could be involved with, not fair as some people think I'd be biased, agsin no one at county level believes that refs would be biased, otherwise they wouldn't get games!

I did just that, senior championship is over now. I was still on the site btw

Why bite ?

To be fair to the CCC they presented all the issues and Owen Elliott spoke very honestly about the constraints with Croke & Ulster before you even get basic fixtures on the calendar. I genuinely had no idea of the time & commitment involved so I tip my hat to them I certainly wouldn't be arsed or have the patience to do it. Joe E I thought spoke well with his contributions around player burn out etc however I personally felt he was using it as a platform for the up coming elections. It was a great idea to open it to all for anyone who had an idea or criticism to have there say, it was refreshing on that point alone. Some people unfairly imo had a pop at the start of the meeting around loyalty's i.e. Hurling/Football but that was dealt with and we got down to the problems fairly quickly. Thought there would have been a bigger turnout and disappointing to see to very few players in attendance.  I'm a fan of this approach and it should be a more regular event across all the issues in the county, whoever the incoming executive are they should take heed from what was a positive and constructive forum.

Bite on what? I made the observation and it was twisted.

What was the outcome of the meeting does anybody know?
[/quote]

[Belfast GAA man]

Warning? Now you're making things up now.  I was asked to not talk about games that I could be involved with, not fair as some people think I'd be biased, agsin no one at county level believes that refs would be biased, otherwise they wouldn't get games!

I did just that, senior championship is over now. I was still on the site btw

Why bite ?

To be fair to the CCC they presented all the issues and Owen Elliott spoke very honestly about the constraints with Croke & Ulster before you even get basic fixtures on the calendar. I genuinely had no idea of the time & commitment involved so I tip my hat to them I certainly wouldn't be arsed or have the patience to do it. Joe E I thought spoke well with his contributions around player burn out etc however I personally felt he was using it as a platform for the up coming elections. It was a great idea to open it to all for anyone who had an idea or criticism to have there say, it was refreshing on that point alone. Some people unfairly imo had a pop at the start of the meeting around loyalty's i.e. Hurling/Football but that was dealt with and we got down to the problems fairly quickly. Thought there would have been a bigger turnout and disappointing to see to very few players in attendance.  I'm a fan of this approach and it should be a more regular event across all the issues in the county, whoever the incoming executive are they should take heed from what was a positive and constructive forum.

Bite on what? I made the observation and it was twisted.

What was the outcome of the meeting does anybody know?

[/quote]Where there any proposals from CCC about how they might do things better next year?

[Milltown Row2]

Warning? Now you're making things up now.  I was asked to not talk about games that I could be involved with, not fair as some people think I'd be biased, agsin no one at county level believes that refs would be biased, otherwise they wouldn't get games!

I did just that, senior championship is over now. I was still on the site btw

Why bite ?

Bite on what? I made the observation and it was twisted.

What was the outcome of the meeting does anybody know?
[/quote]

I had written a post last night but my phone died!

Anyways the point of my rant to you was the,

"Same old faces with the whistle in both codes which doesn't do anybody any good." something that does not encourage people to stay refereeing or bringing in new faces

In relation to fixing the reserve leagues,

Finding a formula to put it into a workable fixture program is the hardest part.

Games should be fixed for Friday and Saturday nights along with the normal Wednesday and Sunday fixtures. This will help with in a few ways, more neutrals able to watch a number of games more exposure of players to county managers and a welcome increase at the gate, works great for a club entering 2 teams as the flexibility of getting two teams out over the weekend is easier than at the same day..
A robust grading system to ensure there is no senior players playing for the reserves (B) team needs to be monitored and clubs need to be honest also. This doesn't address the player who won't play for the reserves as he feels that's a step down to sitting on the bench, whereas if it was on a different day the senior manager will take that game in and see what's on offer rather than what he sees at the training pitch

Clubs at the start of the year need to know full well what's available team wise before entering teams in leagues and championships a panel needs to be 25 strong, injuries suspensions and holiday's (stags) will be able to facilitate the natural drop off over the season.. I've seen senior managers having to play most seasons at least once or twice in games that I have been involved, It should get to that though

Back, not in the too distant past, we did have the reserve teams playing in lower leagues as a stand alone team, I thought it worked well and we had 3 teams at senior level in total plus a Southy team, Cargin were able to have the same, so it allowed players (like myself) to play against senior teams of a different level to your own club. We did it at hurling also and our second team at the time managed promotion twice, we did it as the South Antrim league stopped one year and we asked to go All county and they said no problem...
As for not enough refs to do the games this will always be a problem as you have ejjits coming on during the game or after the game abusing referees, why anyone would put their name forward to be a ref is beyond me, I started refereeing about 10 years or more, I stopped a couple of times while I took our senior team (though did the odd juvenile games)
In my view there far more abuse to referees now than back then.. Believe it or not you have keyboard warriors hiding behind the computer naming refs' and verbally/bullying referees, this is something they find acceptable.. certainly criticism is fair enough as like players ref's won't get everything right but I seen it at the minor hurling final replay, the senior football final and some drunkard did it at the senior hurling final, I even had a scribe of note verbally abuse me after the Cargin v Lamhs game, I should have reported him but I give him enough stick on here

As for Vincent doing so many of your games that's one reason, he's probably close to the ground, I do a lot of St Enda's games as its nearby, and don't feel embarrassed at all, handier for me, the players generally know my style of ref'ing so not an issue

[outinfront]

Down football has:
All County FL 1-4
AC reserve football league (decent standard, possibly like Div3)
East Down/South Down reserve league (for weaker seconds teams and thirds teams)

Championship status aligned with league status and winners must move up a grade the following season.

I feel that structure works very well.