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hear the Derry clubs looking back into juvenile and reserve leagues, be a good move for everyone that.

Agreed! There's a vast contrast in ability level within the leagues so this helps even it out a bit more. I think the external counties in our senior hurling leagues are badly needed kept too! I heard tell there was discussions as to whether they should be "kept in." Would be disastrous if they were removed! Eg St Galls and Sarsfields in Div 2 sit well at their level- if we remove the Down teams (for example) from Div 1, you end up with a lot  of mismatches in Div 1 and a waste of time for everyone concerned.
I'd actually suggest pushing to get Slaughtneil etc into our league also to help push our top 4/5 teams on!

Looking at some of the coaching development coming out from the Ulster Council and Gaelfast and was wondering what stipulates a Gaelfast club?

Cost of doing a Level 2 course is £60 if a Gaelfast club but £100 if you aren't from one..

Just asking

Possibly the clubs in Belfast (incl Bredagh and eBelfast)? Ask them? Lol

I have asked for this also. Could anyone summarise the KPIs

Dont have it in front of me but roughly

primary school coaching programme
nursey school coaching programme
coach education with clubs
run super games
secondary school blitz programme
cul camps programme
Go games
development squads

thats from memory, what the actual targets are within those i have no idea

Got our one from our secretary,  that looks about right.
The document in summary:
First page is some facts from April 2021 staff returned;
92 primary schools in 2021 1869 lessons
4872 kids coached per week
203 club support sessions


New man overseeing, thanks to those who left for service
A view to pilot something like the Dublin model
application to BCC for 6 more coaches
Bit about Cul camps
Club support & coaching resources (actually looks well)
Review on Go Games & Super Games activity
Coach Education review
Page at the end from the coaching officer

Probably didn't do it justice but I'm not typing the whole thing out here 

look at Atrim twitter - its wasn't Gaelfast it was the Markets Development Association & St Malachys the club

OK I've just did what you hadn't the stones for, and asked one of the coaches.
Gaelfast are running the sessions in the school and pulling kids to the club sessions again which they're running alongside the club, MDA and school.
But that mustn't be right because you saw it on Twitter...

casement held up by residents again!!!!!!
Any good new out there for city gaels?
looks like Gaelfast is drifting out to SW again think i saw them at randalstown recently

What does that mean BGM, drifting out to sw?

Gaelfast meant to be a mostly Belfast initiative but seem to spend more time out of Belfast in Strong GAA areas in SW than in Belfast areas with little GAA going on

1) Would you ever grow a set and air your queries/complaints with them?
2) I've just seen a video today of them in the Markets assisting St Mals revive their juvenile.
3) Do you want the county staff to cut all ties with SW and NA? Surely you're not stupid enough to think that'd be the case? As far as I know, from previous conversations with the old Director, the money for Gaelfast has went to staffing Belfast, and there was historic agreements that fund staff for SW/NA.

Casement being shut has affected kids wanting to play GAA in belfast for the last 10 years - it USed to be a dream to play there instead of an eyesore. Fair play to the SW boys who have dug deep and  kicked on. Building works starting at Casement even and Gaelfast cranking up would fairly lift morale in Belfast GAA

A lot of Gaels outside Belfast don't want to go to Casement, its a nightmare location

While Croker is in a dream location? Perhaps Casement should be moved to the m2 at Randalstown to make it a bit handier?

Mid Ulster possibly. It's supposed to be Ulster's stadium not Belfast's

Correction- It's supposed to be Ulsters stadium... in Belfast. Thats what the huge investment from DfC has been assigned for. Three stadia in Belfast- one soccer, one rugby and one GAA.
On a more related topic, I hope it helps drive the GAA activity in Belfast. I hear the residents are putting a case in today? Must be near the 90 days?

Carryduff and Bredagh both have progressed in the Down senior championship in recent years and based on underage this looks set to continue. Neighbours St.Brigids are also making strides and have pushed on massively at senior mens this year. St.Endas have now a huge population to pick from and are doing superb work at underage. East Belfast have just set up also which is great to see. GAA in Belfast is thriving as far as I can see.

The issue is the traditional strongholds of Pauls, Sarsfields, Jonnies and Galls etc. They all seem to be in decline.

I think this, and the other comments on other pages about Belfast "dying" are completely short sighted, as is with the thoughts that Gaelfast can change the whole scene in 3 years- amidst a pandemic and with people on furlough. New man in there now and I'm keen to see what he can do.
What we see now at senior level is a lack of effort from many of these clubs 5-15 years ago. Clubs recognised that and moved to change that! St Paul's have a set of good minors due to come through and there is a steady flow of players thereafter, with even some success below. Sarsfields have massive numbers at the young age. Davitts reconnected with their schools about 6/7 years ago and continue that now, the senior teams will see these benefits in a number of years. To me, A club state of play isn't how their senior team is performing it's that their financially secure, have a thriving membership base and facilities to boot. Worry about winning championships after that.
You don't necessarily need parishes in Belfast but you can't expect school children to just join a club either. Forge links with local schools and build that pipeline. I saw Gaelfast was offering funding to fund club personnel to go into local schools, forge a link and recruit, that's the right idea in my opinion.
Dublin clubs have full time coaches that recruit solely for them, unless a huge amount of cash turns up, that won't be the case here. That is a problem in the initial funding application for Gaelfast, should've asked for the whole hog and see what we got after that.
I do think it's time for Gaelfast and the county to step up and let us know the plan! But I'm confident in the people there working on it, much more so than some of the halfwits that post on this board

But then you're part of the problem?? You are "the county." You're a club member in the county, you vote for club delegates, county delegates and you were actually part of the county underage set ups. Until we all change things and stop bitching we won't get anywhere together. Surely the young lads should benefit from games vs the best in other counties, training with the best in our county.

I do agree with one point tho, focus on club  underage and get it right. Kids are 11-12 and 14-15 by the time they hit secondary schools and then county teams. Sure if they've not had a proper foundation of coaching in place then what will one a week sessions in schools or county give them?

It would be great to see St Marys become a force in Gaelic Football, they have the staff etc there that could deliver, but are they willing too? What support do they need? Financially, facilities, fixtures? Would our club coaches allow it or would they complain about the young lad being out so many times with the school or make a young lad run about that evening again? Should Gaelfast look at it? Are they looking at it? But then again where does it work if it's not the teachers involved.

Clubs, Schools and county all need to support each other if we are to get anywhere, not telling people to have zero confidence in the other. I don't know who you are or your expertise in taking teams, but I fancy my chances with the lads who have qualifications in developing players and experience taking teams.

[Unfortunately the leadership is not there to create the culture and environment required to develop the conveyor belt of Good rounded footballers capable of competing at inter County level.]

This won't be a surprise to anyone who has been around juvenille football in Antrim for a reasonable number of years

The whole setup is in the dark ages relative to the vast majority of progressive counties.

We have had a few bright spots most noteably last year's U20 and the same group @ Minor.

Unfortunately the leadership is not there to create the culture and environment required to develop the conveyor belt of Good rounded footballers capable of competing at inter County level.

It is the whole process and structure that is broken not just the final years @ U17 & U20

To move forward and be competitive in a Senior context this really needs a total Reset and not a patch up.

We may get the odd bright spot where we get lucky with a group of players, a good coaching setup gets real buy in or a school does really well but that seems to be the way of it .....

Hope to get lucky

Have to agree with this! As someone who was involved in volunteering for both hurling and football Dev squads at different times over the years, there's always something stopping teams progressing the way they should, and it always seems to be buy-in, or lack of! I'm all for getting the best seniors out to play, and they are our "window" for young lads looking in, but what point is there investing money into the seniors if they haven't the foundations already in place?
I've spoke with a number of people involved in the minor set ups of the past, and the lack of support and resources available to these young lads is beyond shocking.
I'd love to see a proper pathway in place for teenagers to come through where they are educated about the technical, tactical and physical aspects of the game.
Being with the squads before, I'd learned a lot from the county coaches Alfie for football and Dominic for hurling (they are now Gaelfast too I think) but it always seemed like resources were holding us back from being able to do exactly what we needed to do. This has to change!

As club people we need to take a level of responsibility for the county performances too! How many football teams have we at minor-senior that actually compete in Ulster club over the years? How many schools? Same for hurling- we play B all Ireland in that?  it's clubs that build the foundations in players before they get to school level so surely if we get it right with our teams then it makes it easier to work with players at county/school?

Easy to point the finger at Gaelfast but they don't hold the purse strings and judging by how the director left, they don't seem to be given the freedom to call the shots either! Either things change the right way or we'll be no further up the road in a decade. Leadership is key!

Def should be better, but there is some obvious things that need to be built on, including trying to improve on structures already in place.

For example, schools football,St Mary's Magherafelt, St Patrick's Maghera, St Pius X Magherafelt, St Ronan's Lurgen, provide good college pathways for Aghagallan, Tir na Nog, Creegan, Cargin, Moneyglass, Portglenone, and potentially Rasharkin etc. Gaelfast should be focusing on Randalstown, St Pats Ballymena, etc for country football (I'm sure there are others)

In hurling, Garrontower, St Louis Ballymena, Cross and Passion and St Patricks Maghera are providing a pathway, we should be looking at supporting them even further

Same story in the city.

SO there are fragments on foundations that can be strengthened and improved

Excuse my ignorance but are they not already supporting them? I don't know enough about Gaelfast to say but I think I'll get the productivity cap on here and do a bit of digging. Better to find out than assume I suppose

[Unfortunately the leadership is not there to create the culture and environment required to develop the conveyor belt of Good rounded footballers capable of competing at inter County level.]

This won't be a surprise to anyone who has been around juvenille football in Antrim for a reasonable number of years

The whole setup is in the dark ages relative to the vast majority of progressive counties.

We have had a few bright spots most noteably last year's U20 and the same group @ Minor.

Unfortunately the leadership is not there to create the culture and environment required to develop the conveyor belt of Good rounded footballers capable of competing at inter County level.

It is the whole process and structure that is broken not just the final years @ U17 & U20

To move forward and be competitive in a Senior context this really needs a total Reset and not a patch up.

We may get the odd bright spot where we get lucky with a group of players, a good coaching setup gets real buy in or a school does really well but that seems to be the way of it .....

Hope to get lucky

Have to agree with this! As someone who was involved in volunteering for both hurling and football Dev squads at different times over the years, there's always something stopping teams progressing the way they should, and it always seems to be buy-in, or lack of! I'm all for getting the best seniors out to play, and they are our "window" for young lads looking in, but what point is there investing money into the seniors if they haven't the foundations already in place?
I've spoke with a number of people involved in the minor set ups of the past, and the lack of support and resources available to these young lads is beyond shocking.
I'd love to see a proper pathway in place for teenagers to come through where they are educated about the technical, tactical and physical aspects of the game.
Being with the squads before, I'd learned a lot from the county coaches Alfie for football and Dominic for hurling (they are now Gaelfast too I think) but it always seemed like resources were holding us back from being able to do exactly what we needed to do. This has to change!

As club people we need to take a level of responsibility for the county performances too! How many football teams have we at minor-senior that actually compete in Ulster club over the years? How many schools? Same for hurling- we play B all Ireland in that?  it's clubs that build the foundations in players before they get to school level so surely if we get it right with our teams then it makes it easier to work with players at county/school?

Easy to point the finger at Gaelfast but they don't hold the purse strings and judging by how the director left, they don't seem to be given the freedom to call the shots either! Either things change the right way or we'll be no further up the road in a decade. Leadership is key!