Kilkenny county board and football

[seafoid]

The Kilkenny football head honcho was on that RTE interview and he said

-The county senior champions play Leinster intermediate so the standard is very poor
-The punters in the county have no interest in fuball

Presumably last year's all Ireland semi between Donegal and Dublin didn't lure them back 

[Jinxy]

There was no shortage of putrid hurling games last year Seafóid, so that door swings both ways.

[AFS]

Interesting letter in the Sindo today from a lad that played three years of minor football for Kilkenny around the turn of the millennium. He claims that after coming off with a head wound in a championship game against Carlow, he was left sitting alone, topless (the man that dropped him off asked for his jersey 'so that it could be washed') in the local A&E for several hours until someone from the Kilkenny county board got round to ringing his mate to go pick him up. Pretty disgusting stuff from Kilkenny if true.

[seafoid]

There was no shortage of putrid hurling games last year Seafóid, so that door swings both ways.

Sure Jinxy but I get the feeling fuball is in a bit of a rut at the moment and Donegal is one of the exhibits.
The Kildare match was hard to watch as well. 

Wait until Galway come back with a decent team.   

[trileacman]

"Hurling uses our pitches"

Huh? Hurling has as much a right to those pitches as football. It's a GAA pitch.

But you are right. Cavan got grief for abandoning senior hurling, rightly so, but at least they are trying to do something at underage. Kilkenny give the appearance of entering a team because they have to, and would really prefer not to. I mean if it's true that the Under 21s didn't even train together, how is that putting in an effort?

I was only highlighting the position of some on hurling. It's not what I believe so give me a break. I agree with "It's a GAA pitch" sentiment.

[Bord na Mona man]

Part of the problem is that one organisation is attempting to run two major sports. And where at local level, improving the participation in one of them is too often seen as detrimental to the other.

It is still a little surprising that people here have claimed to have only held a hurley in their hands for a few seconds at most. People I assume have been fairly involved in GAA activities for decades.

Imagine if it was America and there was one sporting body charged with running basketball and baseball. And millions of its members had never picked up or swung a baseball in their lives. And worse still, it was seen as a satisfactory outcome.

I believe that in Kilkenny there would be potentially be more people interested in playing if it was given a fair crack. The strength of soccer and rugby down there shows it isn't the mono-sporting county that their officials would have us believe.

The same goes for for several other football dominated counties where hurling is given about as much promotion as rounders. There are several of them, so they have an easier escape.
Unfortunately trying to take the shortest route to winning things will always take precedence over properly promoting the sports.

[Dinny Breen]

Rugby isn't popular Kilkenny - Kilkenny rugby club play in the 9th tier of Irish rugby i.e Leinster Junior League 2A.In schools rugby Kilkenny college punch above their weight due mainly to borders from all over the Leinster region. You then have the Normans rugby club based in Thomastown who occasionally play J4. In soccer they haven't had a league of Ireland team since 2008, hurling really has a clear run at it.

[seafoid]

It's only a few counties where the 2 sports really overlap and supporters would sit down and watch both sports if a hurling match followed a football match.  I remember being at the 1996 Under 21 finals. Kerry Vs Cavan in the football and Galway Wexford in the hurling afterwards. Only a handful of the football fans stayed on.   A sizeable portion  of football followers have zero interest in hurling.   

Promotion of the weaker sport in the counties is generally poor.  Tipperary football and Dublin hurling are honourable exceptions.

[Bord na Mona man]

Rugby isn't popular Kilkenny - Kilkenny rugby club play in the 9th tier of Irish rugby i.e Leinster Junior League 2A.In schools rugby Kilkenny college punch above their weight due mainly to borders from all over the Leinster region. You then have the Normans rugby club based in Thomastown who occasionally play J4. In soccer they haven't had a league of Ireland team since 2008, hurling really has a clear run at it.

In soccer the Kilkenny's Youth and Junior leagues would be considered very strong. Participation levels in Junior soccer is very high, certainly much closer to hurling than football. In recent times I can recall teams like Freebooters making decent runs in the Junior Cups.

Boarders or not, Kilkenny College did beat Blackrock College in the Leinster schools Cup rugby a couple of years back. It also has produced introduced internationals like Willie Duggan, Gary Halpin and Ian Dowling. It mightn't be a rugby hotbed, but it would still have more rugby pedigree than a lot of GAA counties I can think of.

[Jinxy]

It's only a few counties where the 2 sports really overlap and supporters would sit down and watch both sports if a hurling match followed a football match.  I remember being at the 1996 Under 21 finals. Kerry Vs Cavan in the football and Galway Wexford in the hurling afterwards. Only a handful of the football fans stayed on.   A sizeable portion  of football followers have zero interest in hurling.   

Promotion of the weaker sport in the counties is generally poor.  Tipperary football and Dublin hurling are honourable exceptions.

The Cavan crowd probably thought they'd be charged extra if they stayed for the hurling.

[laoislad]

Rugby isn't popular Kilkenny - Kilkenny rugby club play in the 9th tier of Irish rugby i.e Leinster Junior League 2A.In schools rugby Kilkenny college punch above their weight due mainly to borders from all over the Leinster region. You then have the Normans rugby club based in Thomastown who occasionally play J4. In soccer they haven't had a league of Ireland team since 2008, hurling really has a clear run at it.

In soccer the Kilkenny's Youth and Junior leagues would be considered very strong. Participation levels in Junior soccer is very high, certainly much closer to hurling than football. In recent times I can recall teams like Freebooters making decent runs in the Junior Cups.

Correct,Soccer is very strong in Kilkenny.
I played in the Kilkenny & District soccer leagues from U/9s right up till I was 30, right from the depths of Division 4 to the top league and with Oscar Traynor sides. Soccer is very well organised in Kilkenny and some of the bigger clubs have excellent facilities including all weather pitches etc.

[trileacman]

"Hurling uses our pitches"

Huh? Hurling has as much a right to those pitches as football. It's a GAA pitch.

But you are right. Cavan got grief for abandoning senior hurling, rightly so, but at least they are trying to do something at underage. Kilkenny give the appearance of entering a team because they have to, and would really prefer not to. I mean if it's true that the Under 21s didn't even train together, how is that putting in an effort?

I was only highlighting the position of some on hurling. It's not what I believe so give me a break. I agree with "It's a GAA pitch" sentiment.

So, when you say "they would have good reason for it too", whose position are you highlighting?

FFS if you want to go through the post with a fine comb work away. I'm coming down on the side of promoting both codes. If it's so difficult to understand don't bother replying.

[Benny Sweeney]

They have a big interest in Mayo club football in Kilkenny for some reason.


http://www.kilkennygaa.ie/fixtures?compID=8349

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Proof (as if it were needed) of just how much more skilful the big-ball game is than the small-ball! 

[mannix]

hurling is miles more skilled, football is becoming more like basketball and with a few skilled lads able to score any bunch of athletes could give the best teams a game.