“East Leinster Project” - Dublin’s Neighbours to get Enhanced Funding

[Rossfan]

A couple of years ago Roscommon's most Northern club had 29 boys at Primary school in their parish area.
That's 8 classes!!!
There are a number of amalgamations at minor level here now and unless economic conditions improve massively and soon  this will become the norm at adult level too.
Apart from areas adjacent to Athlone, Sligo town and Galway this will be the norm over most of rural Connacht.
Meanwhile Dublin and " East Leinster" have so many young lads they can't handle them all.
I'm absolutely in favour of the GAA getting  stuck into the populated areas and getting loads of them playing Gaelic games.
However the implications for representative football ( currently Inter County) are ominous.

[Lar Naparka]

A couple of years ago Roscommon's most Northern club had 29 boys at Primary school in their parish area.
That's 8 classes!!!
There are a number of amalgamations at minor level here now and unless economic conditions improve massively and soon  this will become the norm at adult level too.
Apart from areas adjacent to Athlone, Sligo town and Galway this will be the norm over most of rural Connacht.
Meanwhile Dublin and " East Leinster" have so many young lads they can't handle them all.
I'm absolutely in favour of the GAA getting  stuck into the populated areas and getting loads of them playing Gaelic games.
However the implications for representative football ( currently Inter County) are ominous.

+1
And the story is the same for all most rural regions.
I've no problem either with the GAA helping populated counties to cater adequately for the assloads of kids who want to play Gaelic but right now, the rest of us can go suck the hind tit for all officialdom cares.
Meanwhile, as the divide between East and West continues to widen, those problems will grow.
I agree that the representative competitions need a restructuring of some sort.

[armaghniac]

I'm absolutely in favour of the GAA getting  stuck into the populated areas and getting loads of them playing Gaelic games.
However the implications for representative football ( currently Inter County) are ominous.

This is the point. We want the GAA to get everyone in Dublin playing GAA and criticism of efforts to do this are off the mark. But excessively sized clubs and county teams resulting from this cannot be allow distort national competitions.

[Rossfan]

As a Politician might put it - this is a conversation the GAA needs to be having.

[manfromdelmonte]

Urban areas need to get more kids playing GAA by going into schools and giving opportunities to play and make a connection to the local club

Rural areas need to ensure every available child is encouraged & enjoys playing in school and is involved with the local club from an early age.

Both are different issues, but both need funding in terms of full time or part time coaches.
The disparity between funding for the Pale and other counties is a problem.

[Zulu]

Using population is a false comparison. In terms of playing population we should be comparing underage playing populations and if we did that then the gap between Dublin and the rest narrows. Besides what are you saying, the Dublin advantage over Mayo, Kerry etc. is so big it's unfair but Mayo's advantages over Leitrim is reasonable so is not unfair?

Nobody is saying Dublin don't enjoy serious advantages over the rest of us but it is utter nonsense to moan about it unless you're advocating the abolishment of the county system. What difference is it to Carlow, Leitrim, Waterford and many more if you break up Dublin into 2, 4 or even 8 teams? Break up Cork, Kerry,
Mayo, Meath etc. and then everyone is plying from an even base but I think few want that.

It most certainly does not!!
I don't know where you got your figures from but they are in variance with fact to put it delicately.
I have mentioned the report commissioned by Peter Quinn back in the early 90s that dealt in part with the numbers of underage players in Dulin and to a lesser extent those in other counties.
One of the key findings was that 5 Dublin clubs at that time could field a greater umber of juveniles than any of five different counties. Meanwhile, the number of mega clubs in Dublin has been increasing and the numbers of juvenile players in most counties has been dropping- you can blame rural depopulation for that.
I mentioned earlier that a Skerries Harps member told me that his club had a total of 70 (give or take maybe two) teams. Meanwhile in Mayo an Intermediate club bears the name of Parke-Keelogues-Crimlin.
No pfrizes for guessing why this club has such a long name.

BTW, out of curiosity, 'where did you get those juvenile numbers from?

No numbers Lar, just speculating that a higher number of kids in Kerry or Mayo would play, and stick with, football than in Dublin so while Dublin still have much more players it isn't as pronounced as the total populations would indicate.

The issue here isn't Dublin but the inter county representative competitions. If they are to be stuck with then there is nothing to be done but for everyone to do the best they can. If they are to be changed so Dublin become less dominant I don't see how you can argue it shouldn't be changed across the board to give the Leitrim's a chance too.

[seafoid]

Ireland needs a different economic model that isn't Dublin centric.

[Mayo4sam16]

well you would want to be naive to think that Dublin's structural footballing foundations emanating from the funding has had no bearing on your revival the last 7 years or so. You can't buy talent but you can nurture it, support it, maintain it etc.

Personally I think all county structures need funding, I know the secretary of Kildare GAA and there are many talented Kildare players who just don't have the support to nurture their talent. They are disillusioned and often unmotivated .

Look at Cork GAA. If your players haven't a good relationship with those who are running the board, disillusionment surfaces, any conflict in the camp will produce this.

Dublin players are under a great tent of support and fair play to them. You can't begrudge any team that dedicates over 9 months flat to the board training for having that structure and system and amenities.

It isn't about being bitter, for me anyway, its more frustration that we arent getting the best out of a lot of our players elsewhere in the country.

Put the whole Dubs against the world mindset behind and acknowledge other peoples opinions somewhat

[armaghniac]

The issue here isn't Dublin but the inter county representative competitions. If they are to be stuck with then there is nothing to be done but for everyone to do the best they can. If they are to be changed so Dublin become less dominant I don't see how you can argue it shouldn't be changed across the board to give the Leitrim's a chance too.

There is a fair spread of counties in the middle who are more less competitive with each other. If Leitrim feel intimidated then they should allowed merge with a neighbour if they agree. The point is that Leitrim are mostly a problem to themselves, whereas Dublin are a problem for everyone else. Doing the best you can, doesn't really cut it

[Lar Naparka]

Using population is a false comparison. In terms of playing population we should be comparing underage playing populations and if we did that then the gap between Dublin and the rest narrows. Besides what are you saying, the Dublin advantage over Mayo, Kerry etc. is so big it's unfair but Mayo's advantages over Leitrim is reasonable so is not unfair?

Nobody is saying Dublin don't enjoy serious advantages over the rest of us but it is utter nonsense to moan about it unless you're advocating the abolishment of the county system. What difference is it to Carlow, Leitrim, Waterford and many more if you break up Dublin into 2, 4 or even 8 teams? Break up Cork, Kerry,
Mayo, Meath etc. and then everyone is plying from an even base but I think few want that.

It most certainly does not!!
I don't know where you got your figures from but they are in variance with fact to put it delicately.
I have mentioned the report commissioned by Peter Quinn back in the early 90s that dealt in part with the numbers of underage players in Dulin and to a lesser extent those in other counties.
One of the key findings was that 5 Dublin clubs at that time could field a greater umber of juveniles than any of five different counties. Meanwhile, the number of mega clubs in Dublin has been increasing and the numbers of juvenile players in most counties has been dropping- you can blame rural depopulation for that.
I mentioned earlier that a Skerries Harps member told me that his club had a total of 70 (give or take maybe two) teams. Meanwhile in Mayo an Intermediate club bears the name of Parke-Keelogues-Crimlin.
No pfrizes for guessing why this club has such a long name.

BTW, out of curiosity, 'where did you get those juvenile numbers from?

No numbers Lar, just speculating that a higher number of kids in Kerry or Mayo would play, and stick with, football than in Dublin so while Dublin still have much more players it isn't as pronounced as the total populations would indicate.

The issue here isn't Dublin but the inter county representative competitions. If they are to be stuck with then there is nothing to be done but for everyone to do the best they can. If they are to be changed so Dublin become less dominant I don't see how you can argue it shouldn't be changed across the board to give the Leitrim's a chance too.

The percentage of kids who stay with their clubs in, say, Mayo or Kerry is undoubtedly higher than is the case with their counterparts in Dublin but to go with that to prove anything else is very misleading.

To begin with, the total numbers playing in Dublin far outnumber those in any other county. If you recall, I quoted the findings of the report on the state of football in Dublin, commissioned during Peter Quinn's period as President. That was as far back as the early 90s.
One of the key findings was that 5 Dublin clubs (Bridgets, Thomas Davis, Vincents, St Annes and Ballyboden) could field as many juvenile players as any of 5 counties (Sligo, Leitrim, Fermanagh, Cavan and Roscommon) in the north west of the country.
The number of mega clubs in Dublin has grown in numbers since then, whereas the numbers of kids playing in those counties and a good few others are not increasing at anywhere near the same rate.
Superclubs are all well and good but they make very inefficient use of their players, which was one of the concerns of this report.
The number of sides fielded decreases dramatically as the age level increases and consequently large numbers of youngsters are unable to continue playing.
A club could field , say, up to five sides in football or hurling at u14 level but the number is reduced to 2 at minor level.
Some kids will inevitably drop out as they develop other interests but for many, it's a case of not being wanted anymore.
Those who leave such clubs tend not to remain involved in any way. (Except possibly drinking and socialising in the club bar.)
The major finding of this report was that more kids are being lost to the GAA in Dublin than in anywhere else. So success on the senior intercounty front is coming with a hefty price tag.

[CJ2017]

€1.5m Million East Leinster Project

John Horan - GAA President

"The programme we're putting in East Leinster [focusing on Louth, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow] will put that on the table for the counties and their bigger clubs: do they want to part-fund a position and, if they want to, they get a full coach like in Dublin. If they're not in a position to half-fund it, well then they can get a smaller contribution.

"The funding is expected to at least double and even treble the number of full-time coaching positions in some if not all four counties"

From the Leinster GAA Annual Report 2017

I reflected recently on a previous annual report booklet where a respected GAA official recalled Peig Sawyers and the practice of 'ag
bothantaíocht'. Michael Delaney was referring to the Urbanisation of East Leinster and the lack of action in trying to address this issue. Well
Michael, we have made considerable progress in this area in the last year.

In an attempt to close the obvious gaps, we made a proposal to management in Croke Park that an increase in funding into a four county
region in the province would be a great help. This was accepted and as a result a fund of 500K per year for 3 years is being put in place. This
was funded by 300K from central funds and 200k from Dublin's budget. The first of these appointments of a new coach occurred in
Dunboyne, to which the club make a contribution to the cost themselves. This, I feel, will have a huge impact on improving our performance
on the ground in the East Leinster region. Other areas in the province will not suffer as their positions will be under constant scrutiny in
relation to their needs

taken from Leinster GAA Annual Report 2017 available at the link
http://leinstergaa.ie/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2018/01/LConv_17_WEB-2.pdf

[Jinxy]

HQ needs to fund a programme to deradicalise the children of Dublin parents that have moved to the likes of Dunboyne, Ashbourne etc.
Break them down and build them back up in a culture of manliness.
Then deport their parents.

[Rossfan]

So as well as having a population of around 750k (100k more than the 11 BMW) these 4 lazy Counties are going to get loads of €s to try and make a competitive Leinster Championship.
Only Meath have any tradition
Kildare 3 Provincial titles in over 80 years
Wicklow none ever
Louth 1* on the last 60.
Maybe they should give all the cash to the Biffos -or is it simply recognition that only Counties with large young populations will be able to compete for AIs in future.

*awarded to Meath.

[Jinxy]

Because we're worth it.

[seafoid]

If it is money and population based there is no point in reinventing the wheel.
The money should go to existing distribution points in the Pale, namely Dundalk, Drogheda United, St Patrick's Athletic, Bohemians, Shelbourne etc

There may be some problems with the style of football played but this shouldn't be a deal breaker especially with short kick outs. Over time the hand pass could be phased out.