Antrim Football Thread

[Milltown Row2]

Galls juvenile problems are of their own making and it will start to haunt them in the near future. Management over the years paid little or no attention to incremental development of kids. Mentality developed that as long as the senior footballers were on top, all was well. Any fool knows that the best time to plan for the future is when you are ahead. Club threw that away.
They may never again produce a group of players as multi talented as the current senior footballers but they failed in their responsibility to maximise the development  of the youth talent at their disposal.
Some of the management failings include the absence of a coach development programme, failure to have parents as key stakeholders in developing the talents of kids, no proper networking with feeder primary schools, no strategic  development of an out of date juvenile section of the Club, no systematic mechanism to appoint juvenile coaches, no coach accountability procedures. I could go on but these are examples of things that should have been addressed at least five years ago

We didn't have that when these lads came through to win senior All Ireland either. We had a dedicated group of parents that where at St Pats every weekend looking after coaching of kids, there was no courses that these parents/mentors took either, during that period also we didn't have a pitch for a few years, as it was getting redeveloped. We are an amateur club with no money, what you are looking for is impossible as no one out there is willing to do things for nothing nor do they have the time to do it, grand ideas are one thing, putting them in place is another.

Same faces putting in the same effort every year. Kids come and go, college, women, drink, and ultimately interest goes, if they were the top dog at juvenile and come senior they are not getting a look in they sometimes throw the toys out of the pram and leave. Happens in every club in Antrim and most other counties. Dublin's top teams have what you talk about, we are decades away from doing that, for every great idea you have mentioned it requires money.

[Walter Cronc]

Galls juvenile problems are of their own making and it will start to haunt them in the near future. Management over the years paid little or no attention to incremental development of kids. Mentality developed that as long as the senior footballers were on top, all was well. Any fool knows that the best time to plan for the future is when you are ahead. Club threw that away.
They may never again produce a group of players as multi talented as the current senior footballers but they failed in their responsibility to maximise the development  of the youth talent at their disposal.
Some of the management failings include the absence of a coach development programme, failure to have parents as key stakeholders in developing the talents of kids, no proper networking with feeder primary schools, no strategic  development of an out of date juvenile section of the Club, no systematic mechanism to appoint juvenile coaches, no coach accountability procedures. I could go on but these are examples of things that should have been addressed at least five years ago

We didn't have that when these lads came through to win senior All Ireland either. We had a dedicated group of parents that where at St Pats every weekend looking after coaching of kids, there was no courses that these parents/mentors took either, during that period also we didn't have a pitch for a few years, as it was getting redeveloped. We are an amateur club with no money, what you are looking for is impossible as no one out there is willing to do things for nothing nor do they have the time to do it, grand ideas are one thing, putting them in place is another.

Same faces putting in the same effort every year. Kids come and go, college, women, drink, and ultimately interest goes, if they were the top dog at juvenile and come senior they are not getting a look in they sometimes throw the toys out of the pram and leave. Happens in every club in Antrim and most other counties. Dublin's top teams have what you talk about, we are decades away from doing that, for every great idea you have mentioned it requires money.

If the GAA was to invest a similar amount (in proportion to population) would Belfast have the infrastructure to become another Dublin?

During my visits to St Pauls these past few winters I came away thinking the Casement Park/White Elephant money would be better served providing better facilities across Belfast.  More joined up facilities with proper changing rooms, pitches and all weather surfaces is perhaps the way forward!

[johnneycool]

The Casement park money has always been ring fenced for the development of a stadium, nothing more, nothing less. I cannot be directed down any other avenue so that point is not relevant.

The Dublin/Belfast comparison is also bullshit. The size of clubs in Dublin in terms of membership, teams and catchment area dwarf any club in Belfast and with it the resources to part fund coaches and provide the facilities that they do is outside the reach of almost all Belfast clubs.

As for Curious, I'd like to know what club you're involved with which has all that in place. Like most clubs we're lucky to get a few lads to take a team especially juvenile teams and if one of them has a grounding in the sport then that's a bonus.

[Walter Cronc]

Cool down there JC, I was only hoping to start a debate. Could sharing facilities of a better standard not be a way forward?

[Jeepers Creepers]

Galls man yourself Curious? A bit scathing. Axe to grind?

[curious]

just pointing out what happens when the necessary work is not done. Progression and development is about attitude and application and does not always depend on finance though I accept that some things do need money. Anybody who argues that an absence of money explains lack of development is in denial. H

[curious]

Money is not always an ingredient for development and anybody who argues that is kidding themselves. Application and imagination are vital and all the money in the world is useless if those kinds of attributes are missing. If a  Club has not had much success at juvenile level for a good few years, officers need to be investigating that, identifying what is wrong and taking steps to change things for the better. Of course kids move on but my question is what steps or action does a Club need to take to try to combat that. If you meekly accept the status quo, then nothing changes. On the money side, you need to be looking at membership revenue levels, grant and funding opportunities, sustainable money generating activities, widening out the financial base etc, especially at a time of rising costs. Getting quality coaches who know what they are doing rather than settling for well intentioned but ineffective people is hardly rocket science. Setting achievement targets that a Club can work to is the kind of roadmap that is needed - that takes an ability to critically review where things are at and set out a plan to deliver. It' all fairly basic stuff but if it's not done, then a Club does not progress and what usually happens then is that all the old excuses of money, not enough people, amateur status etc are trotted out.

[theskull1]

Mr Curious

There is nothing anyone would disagree with what you've written but I'd just like to know when you arrived here from utopia?

90+% of clubs just don't have the manpower to deliver such a structure. Can help but hear you blaming the very men who are just about able to keep things tipping along.

[curious]

then they are obviously the wrong men. Do an internet search for GAA Clubs with development plans and you will see that it can be done but it needs the right people to deliver. I have heard all the usual stuff,  we are volunteers, we don't have the skills, this is the way it has always been, a business type model doesn't work in a Club, sorry but that sort of stuff doesn't impress me

[theskull1]

then they are obviously the wrong men. Do an internet search for GAA Clubs with development plans and you will see that it can be done but it needs the right people to deliver. I have heard all the usual stuff,  we are volunteers, we don't have the skills, this is the way it has always been, a business type model doesn't work in a Club, sorry but that sort of stuff doesn't impress me

OK lets take that argument. If that is the case, what are the "right men" doing? I'll tell you, they are setting on their arses leaving it to the wrong men to do their best (making them NOT the right men). Those very same "wrong men" would more than likely be able to do a much better job if a few more people got involved. These very seem people are these right people you talk about but regardless leave it to the "wrong men" to do their best but ultimately underachieve due to lack of proper support.
Lots of clubs have Club Development plans with a detailed structure of how things "should" be done. To deliver on those plans you have to find committed individuals prepared to step into each of the roles (one man one job) and do them to the best of their ability. Most clubs need the interested few to double/treble job which means the quality of the work being done isn't what it should be. Hardly the fault of the "wrong men" Id say.

Lets hear what club you're from, so we can understand why it all appears so easy and straight forward from you're perspective

[Points a Good Score]

Harsh to call people who give of their time to help as the "wrong men", i would agree that you need strong lead coaches within youth structures with relevant know how to help achieve success but to call volunteers "wrong men" is unfair.

Successful underage structures and results can vary greatly as well, success should not be measured against trophies and medals won but improvement on a year to year basis within both players and teams, realistically a small rural or city club with strong numbers are not going to compete for major honours however if they can year by year close the gap between themselves an the so called bigger clubs the success has been achieved. In turn if you are consistently providing players from underage teams that do or will backbone your senior team even without winning at underage level that is success as well

[curious]

fact remains that if a Club is not developing, then the people in charge are the wrong ones. Recognise the argument about others who could bring serious skills to things but don't get involved. Need to offset that against fact that some good people are kept blocked out so nothing changes

[Jeepers Creepers]

fact remains that if a Club is not developing, then the people in charge are the wrong ones. Recognise the argument about others who could bring serious skills to things but don't get involved. Need to offset that against fact that some good people are kept blocked out so nothing changes

Like who?

[country bumpkin]

Anybody know why there is a list of hurling fixtures arranged on a day in which we are involved in a hurling championship game and no football fixtures to be seen? 

[Milltown Row2]

Most of the games kick off at night. So no clash. Everyone can get to game