Strategic Review of Gaelic Games in Laois 2017

Started by redsetanta, July 07, 2017, 12:14:25 PM

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Clubber Lang

I'm just hoping this is not a PR exercise for county board to take the heat off them. Whatever does emerge from this review lets hope it is implemented. Change is badly needed to restore optimism and hope within the county. With the current structures in place in Kildare and Dublin at the moment it could take the guts of a decade of hard work to produce a competitive senior team. Kildare and Dublin are unearthing 2/3 serious underage footballers every year that are feeding into the senior team set-up and providing competition for those already there. 

Looking at the starting teams at the weekend for the connaught football and munster hurling final all the teams are pretty much aged 25 and under with a sprinkling of older players to add the necessary experience. It's frightening to think how far off the pace Laois are going to be in 2/3 years time. At moment our starting team has 3/4 players in that age bracket-O'Carroll, Buggie, P Kingston, Attrite- Of these only Attrite is a guaranteed starter. Whoever is managing Laois next year will need to identify the best 9/10 young footballers in the county and give them plenty of game time next year in division 4 and begin the rebuilding process.

OTF

Quote from: Clubber Lang on July 10, 2017, 03:51:10 PM
I'm just hoping this is not a PR exercise for county board to take the heat off them. Whatever does emerge from this review lets hope it is implemented. Change is badly needed to restore optimism and hope within the county. With the current structures in place in Kildare and Dublin at the moment it could take the guts of a decade of hard work to produce a competitive senior team. Kildare and Dublin are unearthing 2/3 serious underage footballers every year that are feeding into the senior team set-up and providing competition for those already there. 

Looking at the starting teams at the weekend for the connaught football and munster hurling final all the teams are pretty much aged 25 and under with a sprinkling of older players to add the necessary experience. It's frightening to think how far off the pace Laois are going to be in 2/3 years time. At moment our starting team has 3/4 players in that age bracket-O'Carroll, Buggie, P Kingston, Attrite- Of these only Attrite is a guaranteed starter. Whoever is managing Laois next year will need to identify the best 9/10 young footballers in the county and give them plenty of game time next year in division 4 and begin the rebuilding process.

I had a look through the 2009 document and as far as I'm aware  ( I'm open to correction and I hope I'm wrong) very little if any of that plan was implemented.
IMO a PR exercise is exactly what it is.

Don Draper

The nominations for Chair and Vice Chair for this years convention shows why we are where we are.

Junior Ex Laoistalk

Winners are not those who never fail, but those who never quit!

clonadmad

Quote from: Don Draper on October 03, 2017, 08:04:08 AM
The nominations for Chair and Vice Chair for this years convention shows why we are where we are.

Always easy to slate people who put their names forward on an internet forum,Who would you put forward ?.


Don Draper

Quote from: clonadmad on October 03, 2017, 11:12:07 AM
Quote from: Don Draper on October 03, 2017, 08:04:08 AM
The nominations for Chair and Vice Chair for this years convention shows why we are where we are.

Always easy to slate people who put their names forward on an internet forum,Who would you put forward ?.
I'll answer your question, with a question. What have these nominees done to progress Laois GAA in their current or previous roles? I'll happily hold my hands up when you come up with a strong case.

clonadmad

Quote from: Don Draper on October 03, 2017, 11:33:17 AM
Quote from: clonadmad on October 03, 2017, 11:12:07 AM
Quote from: Don Draper on October 03, 2017, 08:04:08 AM
The nominations for Chair and Vice Chair for this years convention shows why we are where we are.

Always easy to slate people who put their names forward on an internet forum,Who would you put forward ?.
I'll answer your question, with a question. What have these nominees done to progress Laois GAA in their current or previous roles? I'll happily hold my hands up when you come up with a strong case.

thats all you ever do


clonadmad

Noting of note to contribute bar the odd smart Alec comment,you should put yourself forward Don,all sheen and no substance

Keyser Söze

Look nobody is here with an intent to personally attack anyone, especially anyone who puts time and effort into Laois GAA.

BUT,

There are people mentioned here who seem incredibly desperate to hang onto any role within Laois GAA. I can guarantee that some of those mentioned will be nominated for so many positions that they will eventually get one, no matter what the title or brief is. That is not good. Being Chairman of a county board should be very hard work, and a job that not many are capable of doing. To do this job for 5 years and then come back looking to do it again as soon as is feasibly possible after your term is up is "interesting" to say the least.
The depths that Laois hurling descended to during the previous reign of Brian Allen would worry me. It is not just what happened on the field. His quotes and interviews were extremely worrying. Accepting that we should just drop down a level to Christy Ring. Within a year we were competing with Galway in the Leinster Championship.
People here regularly criticise Gerry Kavanagh regarding the football managerial appointments made during his reign. They don't hold a candle to the hurling ones made under Allen.

I don't know Brian Allen. I am sure he is a nice man. I have seen him busy at work around O' Moore Park. He was previously Chairman and, as far as hurling goes anyway, it was far from successful. He should not be in the running to do the job again. That is not personal, just basic common sense.
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled.......

Keyser Söze

On the vote itself, the closeness of the vote between O' Neill and Mortimer for Vice Chairman this year is an indicator. Allen is a non runner in my eyes.
I think O' Neill wins for two reasons.

1) Allen's bid will hurt Mortimer- Geography and code.
2) The football clubs will be loathe to see a hurling orientated chairman in place of the man who has effectively been "Football Chairman" for 5 years now.

If Mortimer ends up in  a battle with Tom Clear to hold onto the Vice Chair I could see another candidate slipping in to take it. Again Clear and Mortimer are close as clubs go, and the hurling support gets split.
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled.......

clonadmad


oneflewoverthecuckoonest

with 3 candidates declaring their hand at an early stage, they are asking for exposure on one hand and scrutiny on the other.

don draper asks what have they done to deserve the job..........a fair question, however a more pertinent question would be to describe what the ideal candidate for this post would be in your opinion.......a straight as a dye individual with an impeccable CV for instance..or would you prefer a cowboy rogue who might through his various mechanisms make the county more successful?

As of now, the professional position of Secretary, is really the main key holder within this county, I have no idea what the terms and conditions are for that position(full time secure position until retirement perhaps?)....all the other executive positions are volunteers and we have the musical chair effect. I have no difficulty with the incumbent secretary, and assume he works to a prescribed job spec, my only question concerning the proliferation of full time positions within many counties, is who is responsible for the inevitable pension contributions....to date, few counties had this problem......are counties facing this pension bill or will Croke Park and the provincial councils be picking up the tab?(I ask this question as an aside).

In this day and age, truthfully, the Chairman of each county is a figurehead and probably the ideal candidate would be an individual with the capacity to unearth significant amounts of covert sponsorship to finance the best possible inter county teams and management set ups.....because those inter county teams are the flagships.

In a perfect world, we would love a successful Laois businessman with global contacts at the helm to help our quest for some level of intercounty success. Alas such candidates are unlikely to surface too often, I think Tom O Loughlin may have been the last businessman to throw his hat into the ring.

Back to reality and whilst some may bemoan the slate of 3 candidates on the ballot, the unattractive nature of the job in a weak county may contribute to the state of the affairs.

I suspect, no other candidate will surface and I think it will be a 2 runner race on the day of the convention.

I note none of the 3 candidates have any education outside of 2nd level, and 2 are employees, and I struggle to think what their personal area of expertise in life may be..............in a nutshell if any of the 3 candidates were applying for say the job of Laois County Council Manager(or for most managerial positions)....their CVs would render them unqualified and none would even get an interview....this assessment may sound cruel, but it puts things into perspective.

Brian and Peter are "nice harmless" gents, Sean more a "wheeler dealer".   Brian ought to be reaching pipe and slipper time in the GAA, he had his turn and he has zero chance of winning a second term. The only reason why I would imagine he has said he is running is because he may fear he will lose his central council post to the outgoing chairman(if he runs for that post). If Brian remains in the field it will be very poor judgement on his part and he will place a poor 3rd.

The real tussle is O Neill v Mortimer. The 2016 vice chairman vote off between them was tight, Mortimer winning by a few votes......the fact that he won that vote is critical as he unseated O Neill(the previous incumbent).

It is now or never for Mortimer, I don't see him lingering around the county executive should he lose.

My guess whether it is a 2 or 3 runner field, Mortimer will win comfortably on the first count.  Will he be the first ever Camross man to hold the position?



Keyser Söze

Interesting summation.

I don't like your references to the education and employment records of the candidates. Personal opinion.

I wouldn't dismiss O' Neill as "harmless" and I can see him putting up a serious fight. I'd be backing him to win at this point.
Mortimer is a "wheeler dealer" as you say, but I don't think he is as popular as the victory in the Vice Chairman contest might suggest!
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled.......

merman

#29
I'd expect O' Neill to edge out Mortimer to be honest. Doubt he'll be anyway complacent and he'll have his ducks in a row well before it comes to the vote.
Allen will certainly pull votes from the hurling areas and he mightn't be as big an outsider as some think.

The Coaching and Games Development position is also up for election and this, above any other, certainly requires a fresh face, not someone parachuted in after losing out on a loftier position.

The Strategic Review committee are currently meeting clubs; I believe the response from clubs has been somewhere between mixed and poor. Hard to blame individuals as there will be an element of fatigue at this time of the year. The club meetings are a necessary box-ticking exercise but realistically, a lot of the problems/concerns raised will be self-evident and these meetings should just give the committee a greater mandate to try impact some change.