Antrim Football Thread

[Gizzy15]

Glensgael, what is the proposal this year?

Is it based on league positions or how they finish in championship the past year?

That's where I'm confused by his post. It seems he's saying it's based on league, which is the same as last year so I don't know why it would need proposed.
Unless last year's proposal was that it would be based on league for the 1st year and championship semi finalists every year after.

Surely the league positions for seeding are more relevant. for a number of reasons I would agree with this format. we cry out for more meaningful league games so there you go, with the inclusion of a down team in the mix usually, it would mean that the top 6/7 Antrim clubs may have extra incentive top finish as high as they can in order to miss the better teams in c/ship draw. secondly if it was based purely on c/ship semis from previous year you are basically saying to clubs that if they win (in most cases) one championship match that they will be seeded for next year. surely the reward for hard work and a good sustained league campaign should be rewarded more than a team that has one a championship match.

[bannside]

I agree with Gizzy on this.

The proposal is as follows.

A. Do we play off a normal 12 team division one league with 22 matches....or B. Do we split the league at half way point and top six go into their own league (mostly chasing div 1 title) with the bottom six (trying to avoid relegation).

The thought process behind the split into two leagues is clever enough imo. All games then  become meaningful (very few dead rubbers) and there is a prize for top six finish, ie, seeded in the following years championship.

Makes sense to me. A has 22 games, and B has 21 games. I'd go for a league final too between top two on points.

[bannside]

Antrim v Queens tonight at the Dub. QUB not a bad team - I watched then draw with UUJ a few weeks ago. Could be a tight call.

Not sure if the Queens Antrim players are taking part against their own county which should weaken Queens hand a bit.

[imtommygunn]

How many antrim players do queens have BS? They have Murray - are there Delargys in there??

Might go down and watch this if I get the chance.

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

I agree with Gizzy on this.

The proposal is as follows.

A. Do we play off a normal 12 team division one league with 22 matches....or B. Do we split the league at half way point and top six go into their own league (mostly chasing div 1 title) with the bottom six (trying to avoid relegation).

The thought process behind the split into two leagues is clever enough imo. All games then  become meaningful (very few dead rubbers) and there is a prize for top six finish, ie, seeded in the following years championship.

Makes sense to me. A has 22 games, and B has 21 games. I'd go for a league final too between top two on points.

I know that our footballers are against a 22 game season for the league in Div 2. They are prefering the 11 games and then the split to sort it out. 22 games is alot of games to be playing and if im honest they will be playing games in Dec at that rate!

[Gizzy15]

I agree with Gizzy on this.

The proposal is as follows.

A. Do we play off a normal 12 team division one league with 22 matches....or B. Do we split the league at half way point and top six go into their own league (mostly chasing div 1 title) with the bottom six (trying to avoid relegation).

The thought process behind the split into two leagues is clever enough imo. All games then  become meaningful (very few dead rubbers) and there is a prize for top six finish, ie, seeded in the following years championship.

Makes sense to me. A has 22 games, and B has 21 games. I'd go for a league final too between top two on points.

I know that our footballers are against a 22 game season for the league in Div 2. They are prefering the 11 games and then the split to sort it out. 22 games is alot of games to be playing and if im honest they will be playing games in Dec at that rate!

I think the split is the only viable option, but Bannside I think with the split its 16 games not 21 unless you are talking about home and away after the split?? I think just a one way split would be better. if there was a need for a few extra games then 3rd play 6th and 4th play 5th in league q/f winners play 1st and 2nd in League semi final and obv then a final. do the same for bottom half (1b) min games 17, max games 19.

[themac_23]

I agree with Gizzy on this.

The proposal is as follows.

A. Do we play off a normal 12 team division one league with 22 matches....or B. Do we split the league at half way point and top six go into their own league (mostly chasing div 1 title) with the bottom six (trying to avoid relegation).

The thought process behind the split into two leagues is clever enough imo. All games then  become meaningful (very few dead rubbers) and there is a prize for top six finish, ie, seeded in the following years championship.

Makes sense to me. A has 22 games, and B has 21 games. I'd go for a league final too between top two on points.

I know that our footballers are against a 22 game season for the league in Div 2. They are prefering the 11 games and then the split to sort it out. 22 games is alot of games to be playing and if im honest they will be playing games in Dec at that rate!

I think the split is the only viable option, but Bannside I think with the split its 16 games not 21 unless you are talking about home and away after the split?? I think just a one way split would be better. if there was a need for a few extra games then 3rd play 6th and 4th play 5th in league q/f winners play 1st and 2nd in League semi final and obv then a final. do the same for bottom half (1b) min games 17, max games 19.

Yeah i counted 16, 11 pre split then 5 after. if you played the team at home before the split then you're away after the split, just means some teams could in theory have 1 home game after the split but again thats just luck of the draw, you will still play your rivals home and away.

[bannside]

You're right Gizzy. After the split it's just the 5 games, home OR away. That's ideal plus play offs at the end as you say.

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

yeah i thought that was the way its to pan out. 11 games then a split with a further 5 games  to sort it out.

More or less the same format as last season that was done in Div 3 where we played a few at home and a few away to decide what happened.

It worked well from what i seen.

[country bumpkin]

Confusion seems to reign as to league and championship and maybe expected or anticipated as par for the course in our county.
Championship (senior) is as per motion 2014 Convention seeding as top four finishing in Division one, and in my humble opinion those sides should be seeded/kept apart until first point of contact. Last year seeds were only kept apart for preliminary round thus the almighty mess up which followed with top seeds, Cargin and Gall's drawn against in quarter finals which was first point of contact.......top seeds should be 1 2 3 and four in quarter finals and the remainder in last eight drawn against...............but hey this is Antrim and ?? and we did ensure that this was procedure in Hurling
The division one league as per 2016 at twelve sides included only came about (in my humble opinion) because one club did not want to be relegated from the second grade and their motion to change accordingly was presented with little thought given as to consequence (jeez the motion as proposed looked such).
Talk of split etc etc etc for 2016 division one football is nonsense as the motion as proposed to change format should have included such.......Any such change will require change to league regulation, and such change, if indeed passed by the required majority will, or should not come into being until the 2017 season.....but hey this is Antrim!

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

in the hurling Dunloy, Lgiel, Cdall and Ballycastle all were seeded and set into the quarter finals straight away. The others were drew out to play these teams.

I still dont understand how they managed to get 2 seeded teams paying each other in the football other than there was an uneven amount of teams?

[imtommygunn]

Interesting enough game tonight though queens poor enough especially when clarke went off.

Neeson made some difference and good to see niblock chf. Hard to judge on that game but definitely in the first half we struggled for scores and a scorable outlet.

Disappointing to see connor murray get straight red. He was arguably our best player. Ryan Murray may add something scorewise as i think we will be needing it.

[bannside]

Conor was going well alright ITG. Again we shouldn't read too much into the result it's too early to be going well and fitness levels looked fine. Tyrone next week a different test, but all in all I like what I see for the time of year. I'd be worried if we were much further forward tbh. Seen too many teams that are flying in Jan looking like a busted flush in June.

So many plusses when all considered. Kobo Bam and two Mc Canns going nicely. Sean Burke a massive plus back on squad. And we have the best CHF in Ulster back again leading from the front. Not to mention Ryan Murray who tortured Tyrone at times on Sunday past.

Head down and keep working and I see a big year ahead.

[imtommygunn]

I would agree with all but one thing... Tomas mccann didn't get going at all.

Michael and kevin niblock massive additions. Burke very good but not a ff.

We are in a much better place though tyrone will be too much i think. All about building for the league though.

[Hectic]

yeah i thought that was the way its to pan out. 11 games then a split with a further 5 games  to sort it out.

More or less the same format as last season that was done in Div 3 where we played a few at home and a few away to decide what happened.

It worked well from what i seen.

I am not so sure about the split on the basis of last years Div 3 - from what I could gather some teams ended up with more home games than others and fairly lop sided in some instances.  I think it was a case that if you already played a team away for example you then got them at home after the split.  Problem being that you could have ended up with as many as 5 games at home after the split while some of your rivals could have had as little as two and over the course of the season in this could have seen some teams with maybe as few as 8 home games compared to others having 12 or 13.  Not good for gate receipts even allowing for television income and as for a level playing field.....