Hurling in small football counties

[Milltown Row2]

Simply put their are plenty of clubs of a good size who should have hurling teans, there about 5/6 teams in Derry should have teas, the drive has to come from within the clubs, but unless the have people coming into the area from strong hurling backgrounds it's a struggle, Derry could in theory have 15/20 hurling teas if they put there mine to it, very little hurling is played in Derry primary schools,

In my underage playing days we played Derry teams at club level, the standard in those days was very good.

But in Derry big ball is king, I grew up watching a vibrant Derry county set up, but recently that's fallen away big time at intercounty level, club wise S'niel raised the bar, so potential is always there

[From the Bunker]

Gaa people in Mayo are Gas, they talk about Hurling being a real mans game, the skill and the heritage. But feck all will send them to Hurling. In contrast they'll send them to play Soccer which they call a pansy game, with less skill and no heritage.

Hurling in all fairness needs good coaches with a traditional background, knowledge, experience and commitment. These kind of people are thin on the ground in Mayo.

Gaelic Football (and Soccer) only needs a trickle of those characteristics to succeed.

[Milltown Row2]

Gaa people in Mayo are Gas, they talk about Hurling being a real mans game, the skill and the heritage. But feck all will send them to Hurling. In contrast they'll send them to play Soccer which they call a pansy game, with less skill and no heritage.

Hurling in all fairness needs good coaches with a traditional background, knowledge, experience and commitment. These kind of people are thin on the ground in Mayo.

Gaelic Football (and Soccer) only needs a trickle of those characteristics to succeed.

In non traditional counties it was possibly a blow in that made it thrive in a parish, or the Christian Brothers, which, certainly in Antrim, made it popular, think the Ards peninsula was the same.

No offence to GAA football but it's easier to look after and grow, hurling requires more effort and, unfortunately, parents buying into it

[seafoid]

Hurlers have to  start  age 8 or so. The sport is heavily skils based and can't be picked up easily without a lot of practice. The sport is still mainly played where it was in the 18th century in an arc of land stretching from Wexford to Galway plus bits of Kerry, Dublin, Antrim and Down.
None of the big counties are really interested in hurling in Cavan or Longford. It's is like the problem in rugby with the RWC. There is no incentive to change. 

The other thing is that the GAA does not have unlimited funds.

And nobody is interested in the equivalent of divisiona teams for weaker counties.

Longford etc are at the bottom of the system but close to the top it is hard to see Laois, Antrim etc bridging the gap to the top table.

[SouthOfThe Bann]

I understand your argument that it takes more effort to promote hurling due to the unique skills of the game and helmets hurls etc.

But that is not a slight on Gaelic Football.

There's a reason soccer is the most popular sport in the world; because its the simplest game in the world; but can also be the most skillful at the highest level.

[didlyi]

Well pumping money into training kids that probably are not that interested in being trained in the game wont help either. Personally I think the only way for hurling to thrive in counties like Cavan is for some sort of split season at underage. Example Football April to July, Hurling from Aug to Oct. In small clubs like mine, where you are pulling on the same kids for both sports well in Cavan there will only be one winner.

And to be honest,  and I got big grief for this on another thread, small counties cannot afford to keep 2 intercounty teams running and should be focusing on their primary sport. Cavan hurling has improved but in reality an Intermediate club team in Antrim would probably hammer them and the reality is no one I know would even think about going to watch a game. Sorry.

Offaly is similar in size to Cavan and are they any worse off for supporting both codes? The crux of the matter is the hurling resources being diverted to football. If your county board are as honest as you are then maybe hurling funds should be discarded altogether rather than squandering more resources?

[Antrim Coaster]

should they not have an ulster club league for hurling  antrim derry down can maybe keep their leagues and championships  the ulster club championship could be rest of ulster champions then down derry antrim champions.

There has been many formats over the years, there was a winter Ulster league (my last medal  ) that teams from all over played in prior to normal leagues.. nearly sure there was a mid Ulster league too..

Antrim caters for clubs from Armagh, Tyrone, Derry and Down, we are certainly doing our bit in Ulster and long gone are the days of all Antrim club's winning the grades in the Ulster club, so standards across Ulster has improved..

The problem for most clubs is the duality of the various clubs and fitting those fixtures into already busy leagues..

Don't think they allow teams in now, especially at underage level.

Dungannon and Na Magha (iirc) are in at league level but down the divisions at senior level.

Antrim happy enough not to promote other teams/counties which is fair enough.

Ulster League could be an option for the rest of the counties. Bit of travel but it could work.

They are in at the level they are at, the best way for them to improve is by beating better teams

Im sure that Dungannon pulled out of Antrim the season after the Damien Casey tragedy and Na Magha are withdrawing for next season.

Which leave the 3 Ards clubs in Division One, Bredagh and Carryduff in Div 3 and Div 2.

Cuchullains from Armagh will be plying their trade in Antrim Division 2 next season.

[FermPundit]

A problem I have with the current system, Fermanagh has 1 club so basically 1 club contributing to the county team and getting tens of thousands spent on their players, furthering the gap between them and the emerging teams who are only fielding at underage at the minute

This is not correct-Fermanagh now has 3 adult teams; Lisbellaw, Lisnaskea and Erne Gaels.

I'll refer you to the link below which provides a good summary of the good work going into hurling in Fermanagh at underage level.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/hurling/2023/0821/1400831-green-shoots-emerging-in-fermanagh-hurling-landscape/

There are currently 7 teams playing hurling at U13 level - that's 7 clubs out of 21 clubs in total. As a % would there be many other counties promoting hurling as much across their clubs?

What the GAA is proposing to do to intercounty hurling in smaller counties is nothing short of a disgrace.

[Eire90]

Hurling Club championship would be exciting if all the county champions went into a open draw.not saying it should because provincials provide an opportunity for a trophy.

[seafoid]

Well pumping money into training kids that probably are not that interested in being trained in the game wont help either. Personally I think the only way for hurling to thrive in counties like Cavan is for some sort of split season at underage. Example Football April to July, Hurling from Aug to Oct. In small clubs like mine, where you are pulling on the same kids for both sports well in Cavan there will only be one winner.

And to be honest,  and I got big grief for this on another thread, small counties cannot afford to keep 2 intercounty teams running and should be focusing on their primary sport. Cavan hurling has improved but in reality an Intermediate club team in Antrim would probably hammer them and the reality is no one I know would even think about going to watch a game. Sorry.

Offaly is similar in size to Cavan and are they any worse off for supporting both codes? The crux of the matter is the hurling resources being diverted to football. If your county board are as honest as you are then maybe hurling funds should be discarded altogether rather than squandering more resources?

Offaly is still partly in the hurling zone. It has the hurling and camogie culture.  It has all Ireland winners.  Cavan does not.

[didlyi]

Well pumping money into training kids that probably are not that interested in being trained in the game wont help either. Personally I think the only way for hurling to thrive in counties like Cavan is for some sort of split season at underage. Example Football April to July, Hurling from Aug to Oct. In small clubs like mine, where you are pulling on the same kids for both sports well in Cavan there will only be one winner.

And to be honest,  and I got big grief for this on another thread, small counties cannot afford to keep 2 intercounty teams running and should be focusing on their primary sport. Cavan hurling has improved but in reality an Intermediate club team in Antrim would probably hammer them and the reality is no one I know would even think about going to watch a game. Sorry.

Offaly is similar in size to Cavan and are they any worse off for supporting both codes? The crux of the matter is the hurling resources being diverted to football. If your county board are as honest as you are then maybe hurling funds should be discarded altogether rather than squandering more resources?

Offaly is still partly in the hurling zone. It has the hurling and camogie culture.  It has all Ireland winners.  Cavan does not.

Yes Im well aware of that but what has it got to do with funding hurling in these counties that say they cant afford both codes?

[seafoid]

What is the breakdown of the spend in those counties? How much is travel? How much is expensive coaches ? There has to be a more creative way of addressing the problem.

[Milltown Row2]

What is the breakdown of the spend in those counties? How much is travel? How much is expensive coaches ? There has to be a more creative way of addressing the problem.

Think fuel is £1.44 at the minute, that can change, how much are expensive coaches? well funny enough they can be expensive  But I'm sure if they can find a cheap one they'll keep a eye out for them.

A creative way could be to play with no hurls and using roller blades ...

[johnnycool]

A problem I have with the current system, Fermanagh has 1 club so basically 1 club contributing to the county team and getting tens of thousands spent on their players, furthering the gap between them and the emerging teams who are only fielding at underage at the minute

This is not correct-Fermanagh now has 3 adult teams; Lisbellaw, Lisnaskea and Erne Gaels.

I'll refer you to the link below which provides a good summary of the good work going into hurling in Fermanagh at underage level.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/hurling/2023/0821/1400831-green-shoots-emerging-in-fermanagh-hurling-landscape/

There are currently 7 teams playing hurling at U13 level - that's 7 clubs out of 21 clubs in total. As a % would there be many other counties promoting hurling as much across their clubs?

What the GAA is proposing to do to intercounty hurling in smaller counties is nothing short of a disgrace.

So, this Tain league they they bum and blow about obviously didn't have the impact they'd have hoped or we would have seen clubs grow and sustained in the likes of these counties...

Has anyone bothered to look under the rock of that particular problem?

[Ciarrai_thuaidh]

I must say I find it hilarious when hurling people get on their high horse about the state of hurling in Cavan and Fermanagh.

In Cork, Kilkenny, Limerick, Tipperary football has been treated like sh*t for years. Kilkenny don't even pretend to bother any more.

So I'll listen to arguments about what needs to be done for Cavan hurling when those counties treat football equally.