Antrim Football Thread

[bannside]

Great, seems I've touched a raw edge.

Before the snowflakes start to pile up, please take time to understand the context of my point. It is as follows. AS A COUNTY how do we stack up???

Yes there are hundreds of exceptionally loyal and passionate individuals working in our clubs. Every club could put forward a couple of dozen names of people who do much more than their share so no need to start throwing out their names or we could be here a long time!

To reinforce my original point, Id say the average crowd at most club league games would be 100 people. In Derry or Tyrone this would be X3 or X4. That's just one indicator.

Do we support our county team in reasonable numbers? Definitely not is the answer. Thats another indicator. Even the vast majority of Ex county players couldn't be bothered going to support us.

Facility wise we are a mile off neighbouring counties, if second pitches, covered stands and floodlights are a barometer. And I'd really prefer not to mention that we are graded as 28th in Ireland in football for a reason.

Unfortunately these are NOT good stats. As a proud and passionate Gaa person ( like many others on here) Id much prefer not to feel the need to highlight them. In fact it gives me no pleasure at all in doing so.

But we are where we are for a reason. I think on reflection, as a county we stagnated badly for at least one if not two generations and thankfully I really do believe that we are on a big progress curve, or at worst we are finally reversing out of this depressing era. But we have a lot more work to do to start living up to our potential.

[bannside]

MR2, your point about the "passionate" work going on at under age level, the Pat Sheehan tournament etc is exactly the type off work I'm alluding to. Many clubs are putting renewed focus on juvenile development, and this will pay off big time for clubs and bring through much bigger numbers. Not all will be superstars (hopefully lots will be) but the upside will see increased loyalty to Gaa ideals and a greater possibility of being active club members beyond their playing years.

As someone who has his ear to the ground in the city would you agree that across the board there is much more happening than say ten years ago?

[bannside]

PaddyJohn, Dunloy is not a typical club. It probably ticks every box as an ideal club. Almost everyone in the parish is involved in some way in the GAA. Plus it's a dual club, treble including camogie. If we had more clubs like Dunloy Antrim as a county would not be in, or ever would have been in doldrums the way it has been for far too long.

Please don't try to get personal, I put you down for better than that!

[paddyjohn]

PaddyJohn, Dunloy is not a typical club. It probably ticks every box as an ideal club. Almost everyone in the parish is involved in some way in the GAA. Plus it's a dual club, treble including camogie. If we had more clubs like Dunloy Antrim as a county would not be in, or ever would have been in doldrums the way it has been for far too long.

Please don't try to get personal, I put you down for better than that!

Not getting personal at all, please don't think I was. 

I just don't understand how a clubs facilities equate to how passionate its members are. The finance side of things are normally the stumbling block. I know of a club in Tyrone who have a stand which were sponsored by 3 local engineering firms at no cost to the club. How many clubs in Antrim can boast that kinda financial support? No doubt clubs have improved their pitches and grounds, none more so than your own club which is a credit to the members so the passion is there but is there more passion in PG1 than say St Galls who need new changing rooms?

[johnnycool]

PaddyJohn, Dunloy is not a typical club. It probably ticks every box as an ideal club. Almost everyone in the parish is involved in some way in the GAA. Plus it's a dual club, treble including camogie. If we had more clubs like Dunloy Antrim as a county would not be in, or ever would have been in doldrums the way it has been for far too long.

Please don't try to get personal, I put you down for better than that!

Not getting personal at all, please don't think I was. 

I just don't understand how a clubs facilities equate to how passionate its members are. The finance side of things are normally the stumbling block. I know of a club in Tyrone who have a stand which were sponsored by 3 local engineering firms at no cost to the club. How many clubs in Antrim can boast that kinda financial support? No doubt clubs have improved their pitches and grounds, none more so than your own club which is a credit to the members so the passion is there but is there more passion in PG1 than say St Galls who need new changing rooms?

Interesting debate this one as we've been in review of what we need down our way and TBH we need a second pitch fully floodlit but due to the lack of available ground running into our current facilities and a hoor building a house where we might have been able to develop.
That might still happen thanks to the bigotry of our local council who in an attempt to steam roll a Sport NI funded facility meant for all sporting organisations on the peninsula attempted to bypass it's GAA responsibilities and go full hog into a soccer pitch elsewhere. They've been pulled up on that and are now looking at the feasibility of developing a second pitch elsewhere away from the soccer crowd with two sites on offer, one in our parish and another in Portaferry. Either way I'd be happy with access to it even not on our door but close by and shared with ourselves, Portaferry and Ballycran to utilise it better and IMO that is the way forward for clubs not able to have the financial clout to go it alone.
Currently Ballycran are traveling to Belfast and Kilcoo to prepare for the upcoming Ulster final and we've been there too and it's far from ideal.

In the meantime we did build a new gym to a very high standard of gear not only to be used by our players but also the entire community (Monthly DD    ) and that in time will become a revenue stream for us all being well and is bringing new members into the club.
It takes a few enlightened and dedicated members to drive these types of projects through to completion even if financially viable.

[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.

Are most senior football games played on a friday night in Down?

Friday night is the norm for games yes, with a few being played midweek at start of season.  Last few league games played on a Saturday or Sunday due to light.
We played Div2 this year and I cant remember too many, if any,  of these league games being under lights.

All county reserve games usually at 2pm on a Sunday.
East and South Down reserve games generally Sunday evenings.

[bannside]

I do get your point PJ that having great facilities dosent necessarily equate to a club having great passion, but if a club can enlist 50 or 60 people for a year to go knocking doors across the province it's a reasonably good litmus test. Having done that I applaud others others who do. It's hard work and this won't happen without a club having enough "passionate" people to make this happen.

I feel the "passion" level in say Tyrone is noticeably higher than in Antrim. Practically every Gaa small parish has the facilities which include the lot....2nd pitch, covered facilities, floodlights, and bring hundreds to run of the mill league matches. I've been at league play offs in Tyrone recently where 5 or 6 thousand people are in attendance.

Now that's a level of commitment we in Antrim sadly arnt matching across the board, even if some clubs do punch above their weight in this regard. The thousands of passionate gaels in Antrim could possibly be measured in tens of thousands elsewhere.

That's not to say we couldn't fill out a big stadium if we get to an Ulster final every 40 years. The demand for tickets would be huge, but the following Sunday a lot of these fairwell supporters would be back out playing golf.

Not wanting to come across as too pessimistic though, I'm simply forwarding an opinion that as a county sometimes there has been a high degree of apathy. However I do genuinly believe we are starting to turn a large corner, and many clubs are finally starting to get their act together.

That, plus a lot of very necessary and largely unheralded ground work has been done in recent years. To the extent I believe we will have some great days out in the future, a prospect I despaired of ever seeing in my anticipated lifetime!

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

PaddyJohn, Dunloy is not a typical club. It probably ticks every box as an ideal club. Almost everyone in the parish is involved in some way in the GAA. Plus it's a dual club, treble including camogie. If we had more clubs like Dunloy Antrim as a county would not be in, or ever would have been in doldrums the way it has been for far too long.

Please don't try to get personal, I put you down for better than that!

Not getting personal at all, please don't think I was. 

I just don't understand how a clubs facilities equate to how passionate its members are. The finance side of things are normally the stumbling block. I know of a club in Tyrone who have a stand which were sponsored by 3 local engineering firms at no cost to the club. How many clubs in Antrim can boast that kinda financial support? No doubt clubs have improved their pitches and grounds, none more so than your own club which is a credit to the members so the passion is there but is there more passion in PG1 than say St Galls who need new changing rooms?

Interesting debate this one as we've been in review of what we need down our way and TBH we need a second pitch fully floodlit but due to the lack of available ground running into our current facilities and a hoor building a house where we might have been able to develop.
That might still happen thanks to the bigotry of our local council who in an attempt to steam roll a Sport NI funded facility meant for all sporting organisations on the peninsula attempted to bypass it's GAA responsibilities and go full hog into a soccer pitch elsewhere. They've been pulled up on that and are now looking at the feasibility of developing a second pitch elsewhere away from the soccer crowd with two sites on offer, one in our parish and another in Portaferry. Either way I'd be happy with access to it even not on our door but close by and shared with ourselves, Portaferry and Ballycran to utilise it better and IMO that is the way forward for clubs not able to have the financial clout to go it alone.
Currently Ballycran are traveling to Belfast and Kilcoo to prepare for the upcoming Ulster final and we've been there too and it's far from ideal.

In the meantime we did build a new gym to a very high standard of gear not only to be used by our players but also the entire community (Monthly DD    ) and that in time will become a revenue stream for us all being well and is bringing new members into the club.
It takes a few enlightened and dedicated members to drive these types of projects through to completion even if financially viable.

was in your facilities earlier this year JC and got a look around them. its some job thats been done to it.

[johnnycool]

PaddyJohn, Dunloy is not a typical club. It probably ticks every box as an ideal club. Almost everyone in the parish is involved in some way in the GAA. Plus it's a dual club, treble including camogie. If we had more clubs like Dunloy Antrim as a county would not be in, or ever would have been in doldrums the way it has been for far too long.

Please don't try to get personal, I put you down for better than that!

Not getting personal at all, please don't think I was. 

I just don't understand how a clubs facilities equate to how passionate its members are. The finance side of things are normally the stumbling block. I know of a club in Tyrone who have a stand which were sponsored by 3 local engineering firms at no cost to the club. How many clubs in Antrim can boast that kinda financial support? No doubt clubs have improved their pitches and grounds, none more so than your own club which is a credit to the members so the passion is there but is there more passion in PG1 than say St Galls who need new changing rooms?

Interesting debate this one as we've been in review of what we need down our way and TBH we need a second pitch fully floodlit but due to the lack of available ground running into our current facilities and a hoor building a house where we might have been able to develop.
That might still happen thanks to the bigotry of our local council who in an attempt to steam roll a Sport NI funded facility meant for all sporting organisations on the peninsula attempted to bypass it's GAA responsibilities and go full hog into a soccer pitch elsewhere. They've been pulled up on that and are now looking at the feasibility of developing a second pitch elsewhere away from the soccer crowd with two sites on offer, one in our parish and another in Portaferry. Either way I'd be happy with access to it even not on our door but close by and shared with ourselves, Portaferry and Ballycran to utilise it better and IMO that is the way forward for clubs not able to have the financial clout to go it alone.
Currently Ballycran are traveling to Belfast and Kilcoo to prepare for the upcoming Ulster final and we've been there too and it's far from ideal.

In the meantime we did build a new gym to a very high standard of gear not only to be used by our players but also the entire community (Monthly DD    ) and that in time will become a revenue stream for us all being well and is bringing new members into the club.
It takes a few enlightened and dedicated members to drive these types of projects through to completion even if financially viable.

was in your facilities earlier this year JC and got a look around them. its some job thats been done to it.

Just need that to translate to the field but it will take time and a huge effort.

[Belfast GAA man]

Any new thinking on display at the fixtures meeting? forum very busy of late so sorry I've missed them....

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

PaddyJohn, Dunloy is not a typical club. It probably ticks every box as an ideal club. Almost everyone in the parish is involved in some way in the GAA. Plus it's a dual club, treble including camogie. If we had more clubs like Dunloy Antrim as a county would not be in, or ever would have been in doldrums the way it has been for far too long.

Please don't try to get personal, I put you down for better than that!

Not getting personal at all, please don't think I was. 

I just don't understand how a clubs facilities equate to how passionate its members are. The finance side of things are normally the stumbling block. I know of a club in Tyrone who have a stand which were sponsored by 3 local engineering firms at no cost to the club. How many clubs in Antrim can boast that kinda financial support? No doubt clubs have improved their pitches and grounds, none more so than your own club which is a credit to the members so the passion is there but is there more passion in PG1 than say St Galls who need new changing rooms?

Interesting debate this one as we've been in review of what we need down our way and TBH we need a second pitch fully floodlit but due to the lack of available ground running into our current facilities and a hoor building a house where we might have been able to develop.
That might still happen thanks to the bigotry of our local council who in an attempt to steam roll a Sport NI funded facility meant for all sporting organisations on the peninsula attempted to bypass it's GAA responsibilities and go full hog into a soccer pitch elsewhere. They've been pulled up on that and are now looking at the feasibility of developing a second pitch elsewhere away from the soccer crowd with two sites on offer, one in our parish and another in Portaferry. Either way I'd be happy with access to it even not on our door but close by and shared with ourselves, Portaferry and Ballycran to utilise it better and IMO that is the way forward for clubs not able to have the financial clout to go it alone.
Currently Ballycran are traveling to Belfast and Kilcoo to prepare for the upcoming Ulster final and we've been there too and it's far from ideal.

In the meantime we did build a new gym to a very high standard of gear not only to be used by our players but also the entire community (Monthly DD    ) and that in time will become a revenue stream for us all being well and is bringing new members into the club.
It takes a few enlightened and dedicated members to drive these types of projects through to completion even if financially viable.

was in your facilities earlier this year JC and got a look around them. its some job thats been done to it.

Just need that to translate to the field but it will take time and a huge effort.

was down with our senior camogs to play yours that day in the summer the hurlers were playing Nenagh after it. that seemed to be the general thinking from anyone i chatted to in the club that day was that hopefully it would help to improve the talent already there.

to be fair you have a great set up down there anyway, much the same as Ballycran and Portaferry.

[JimStynes]

Floodlights in Aghagallon too.

Sure that's in Armagh/Down?

[The Gs Man]

If only we had half the facilities of the Lurgan teams!

[Belfast GAA man]

I am a big fan of the county trying a new format for the u21 which gave the teams at least 4 games and it seems to have started well - anybody else hear how it's going?

[bogieman]

We'd better not get into covered stands then. Not one in the county.

It takes a hell of a lot of work to put proper facilities in place and maybe we have to ask ourselves if we really do have the same passion for GAA as there are in other counties.

There is a covered stand in Antrim, with about 60 green seats, 60 white seats, and 60 orange seats...
Some passion... 

Ps 2 bites of the cherry already, when's the third ?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/northern-ireland/46164172