Armagh Club football & hurling

[brokencrossbar1]

Wind your neck in Orangeman. I don't see how we can be brought into this in anyway. We offered to move the game but Dromintee didn't make any official approach to the club. They went on a solo run and embarrassed themselves and Armagh gaa. We did what we had to do, they didn't. And throw ball is right. There was free entry to the game so no one made any money out of it!

[orangeman]

Wind your neck in Orangeman. I don't see how we can be brought into this in anyway. We offered to move the game but Dromintee didn't make any official approach to the club. They went on a solo run and embarrassed themselves and Armagh gaa. We did what we had to do, they didn't. And throw ball is right. There was free entry to the game so no one made any money out of it!

I'm not trying to take a go at Cross BC. CCC made a stance to insist on the game going ahead. If, as you are saying that Cross offered to move the game in order to accommodate your opponents this accentuates the bureaucratic position adopted by CCC. Last night was therefore avoidable but CCC decided to put the head down and plough on. Dromintee obviously felt very strongly about being forced to play on a date they had asked to be vacated and put the wedding before a championship game.

Why did the county board statement say that the county board that Dromintee only contacted them at 7pm yesterday evening which doesn't seem right especially as Cross had offered to move the game ?.

[The GAA]

Wind your neck in Orangeman. I don't see how we can be brought into this in anyway. We offered to move the game but Dromintee didn't make any official approach to the club. They went on a solo run and embarrassed themselves and Armagh gaa. We did what we had to do, they didn't. And throw ball is right. There was free entry to the game so no one made any money out of it!

Actually dromintee claim cross point blank refused to change the game because Jamie Clarke goes on another holiday this morning

[Ethan Tremblay]

The game should have been played mid-week to accommodate simple as!

Unless half the Dromintee players replied to their wedding invites on Friday morning I doubt they would have delayed asking the CB for a re-fixture! 

Also I doubt cross would have point blanked refused for Clarke's sake as the result would have been inevitable in my opinion, but if they did..... 

[The GAA]

They did. They also refused midweek because tony kernan works in England.

I actually don't believe cross should have done a or b. I'm just relaying the facts.

[general_lee]

Firstly, Cross are not obliged to agree to a re-fix, and in any case according to the county website had already given sufficient notice that they wouldn't be able to play any fixtures that would have been put down for tonight. They are obviously going to be ruthless in scenarios such as this anyway so whether they or anyone else claim that they were/weren't willing to accommodate Dromintee is immaterial in my eyes.

Dromintee however have my sympathies given the way their championship season has panned out. Having been defeated by Cullyhanna in the first round of the SFC, from what I can gather they were then made to wait 3 weeks for their qualifier against Pearse Óg due to the Ógs having a player involved in the hurling final, before disposing of them and a seriously weakened Cruppen side who potentially didn't fancy meeting Cross again. The club as a whole are coming in for a lot of flack but I admire them, the result may well have been the same had they fielded a full strength team but the lack of common sense displayed by the CCC/CB which has led to this farce has been shocking.

The argument from the powers that be seems to be that they did not want to open a can of worms and set a precedent for future scenarios, which I think is balls. Surely the pragmatic approach would have been to make an exception given the circumstances, because if Dromintee are to be believed; they informed the CCC before they had even reached the QF that they would have difficulty with any fixture on Friday 19th. Had the CB/CCC just did this from the off our county wouldnt be the centre of ridicule right now - in fact no one would be none the wiser bar Cross maybe, who have had enough favours over the years anyway!

[T Fearon]

Half time tonight Harps 3-8 Shane O'Neills 0-0,and Shane O'Neills have their full senior team playing,all of whom are wearing shorts

[Applesisapples]

Absolutely no sympathy for Dromitee. Their players have no pride in the club otherwise they would have turned up. I'd bet if they hadn't been facing a tanking it might have been different.

[Zip Code]

Why would the county board not change it, are you not allowed to go to a wedding now if you play club football?

[orangeman]

Monday's Dromintee players statement said that they had taken the decision not to play in the game two days before the fixture.

"After speaking with the club chairman and two other committee members it was agreed the county board should be notified of this," added the statement.

"This decision was not taken lightly and was in response to a number of decisions by the Armagh Competitions Control Committee throughout the championship which we deem to have been unfair and disrespectful to Dromintee GAC."

The Dromintee statement said that earlier in the summer, they had twice agreed to postpone one of their championship matches to accommodate a dual player in the opposition team.

"In the interest of the player and fairness, we were happy to comply despite this resulting in several players having to cancel pre-arranged holidays.

"Our only stipulation was that the eventual fixture would avoid a particular Friday evening so that a number of our younger players could attend an important school function.

"This request was ultimately ignored by the CCC and we fielded minus three players.


"The community rallied so that we would be able to at least field in this fixture"

Dromintee senior football panel statement

"Having come through our final qualifier last weekend we were then faced with the prospect six days later of a direct clash with a family wedding within the team that included two brothers in the bridal party and nine players most very closely acquainted with the groom and family circle.

"Representations were made to the Armagh CCC after our first-round qualifier to avoid a clash before provisional fixtures were set in stone.

"Any possible date bar the one chosen would have met our request under both the spirit and rules of the association. No accommodation was made."

The Dromintee said that continuing efforts to convince the Armagh authorities to re-schedule the game were made but that these were met by a "brick wall on each occasion".

"An agreement could not be made with our opposition [Crossmaglen] at that late stage as they had made player travel and holiday arrangements around the original fixture.

"The rules and guides set out for the CCC in Armagh have been very loosely applied and certainly not to suit Dromintee GAC.

"Like every club team in the country we have spent many months preparing together for this championship campaign, wear the Dromintee jersey with great pride and did not arrive at this decision lightly.

"Having been treated so contemptuously by the Armagh CCC we preferred to support the two central players fielding would have deprived us.

"Our progress through the championship has been marked by togetherness and unity and we chose to stand by the same principle we had played with."

The Dromintee statement said that the threat of heavy sanctions from the Armagh county board for not playing the fixture "forced" their club to cobble together a team from veteran members.

Some reports have suggested that the club was in danger of facing a total suspension for 48 weeks which would have affected under-age grades as well.

"As a small rural club, and with the restriction of our junior players being unable to play due to next year's championship commitments, the community rallied so that we would be able to at least field in this fixture."

[Zip Code]

Good to see Armagh County Board is a joke as always, nothing every changes.

[Tyrone Gaa]

Is there a proposed date for the senior county final in Armagh?  Just interested.  Cant find it on the county website

[Applesisapples]

Is there a proposed date for the senior county final in Armagh?  Just interested.  Cant find it on the county website

The County Board are currently consulting the wedding planners in the clubs still in the championship.

[Tyrone Gaa]

Ha Ha very good!!  Tyrone County final this weekend and I was thinking it must be soon.  If anyone does know can they post it on the message board.  Cheers

[AFS]

Is there a proposed date for the senior county final in Armagh?  Just interested.  Cant find it on the county website

19th October