few questions regarding gaelic footy

Started by dags777, November 01, 2011, 05:56:23 AM

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dags777

gday everyone.  new to the forum and an aussie so be gentle with me!

i have a few questions regarding gaelic footy was hoping to get some answers on. 
what are the levels of competition over in ireland?  for eg in aust we have AFL which is the elite all the way down through state leagues, state amateur leagues (blokes trying to crack state league) then what we call grass roots footy which has different grades ranging from a1 amateur through to small country leagues that are barely a step above social type competition.
is it a similar setup there?
if so when does the lesser grades season run from and to?
how long until your sport becomes full pro like in aust?
im a big fan of aussie footy and also gaelic footy, not that ive seen much i do however like the idea of our unique sports flourishing in todays globalisation age.
cheers for your help.
Darran

sammymaguire

DRIVE THAT BALL ON!!

muppet

Hi Darran. You ask some good questions.

Firstly structure. We have schools teams (primary, secondary and college), club teams (categorized as senior, intermediate or junior and also Division 1,2,3,4 etc depending on the time of year and level of insult being used) and county teams (all play in the same Championship regardless of ability or history). All of these have different age-level competitions also. A player can play for a school, club and county all at the same time but never two schools, two clubs or two counties at the same time. However a player can sometimes play for his college against his own club, or play against his own county or even get the choice who to play for if they are both going well. Colleges get first call on players over counties and clubs are supposed to get first call over counties.

The college season is played through the winter to align with the academic year. Schools likewise. The club season starts in April and ends on St. Patricks Day in March. That might seem like a ridiculously long season on but it is constantly interrupted by the County season and applications for postponements for a variety of reasons. These applications are made to a panel known as the Piseog. Examples of such applications would be a club bereavement, which would be a valid reason for a postponement. Sometimes clubs seek postponements on such frivolous grounds as a stag party or even a wedding. This is known as taking the Piseog.

Although there are many professionals who work full-time in the Gaa it is an amateur sport. Players are not allowed to be paid unless the Piseog does't know about. In that case a player accepting such money is known as a Piseog-taker. Most managers are suspected to earn a lot of money but this is not supposed to happen either as it is supposed to be an amateur game. One way of getting around the authorities (known as pulling the Piseog) is to pay 'reasonable expenses' for things such as milage and expenses.

For example even though I am an amateur Gaa man I am getting expanses of 20c per letter for this post.
MWWSI 2017

Magicsponge

Don't think the GAA will ever be professional because it would ruin the sport, clubs would disappear due to lack of funds, player transfers etc..., people just wouldn't go for it. At the end of the day the GAA isn't all about the sport, its about the community and a professional sport would ruin the club scene and therefore the community

dags777

thanks for the info.
so an idea ive had for the past few years was to do an "exchange" type thing.
i come over there, train and play for a couple of weeks.
then one of you irish blokes come over here for a couple of weeks do the same.
cutting a long story short im old (34), slow and overwight but have a desire to win and love footy.  i play at a pretty low grade but am super keen on the idea of an exchange.
our season runs from mid april to early sept.  every saturday arvo there is a game except for the weeks where there is Representative football.  where each club in the competition supplies 3-4 of their best players and they all go and play against another league. (my rep days are over!!!)
where would be the place to start finding willing people to do this?  perhaps it could become an annual or semi annual thing?
anyone got thoughts or ideas?

Eamonnca1

A good place to start might be contacting the local Gaelic football clubs in Australia. For all you know there might be a squad of Gaelic players living on your street depending on where you are.

dags777

i was hoping to experience the whole culture of grass roots gaelic footy in ireland though.  and in exchange offer the aussie rrules side of it to someone from ireland

dags777

is there any lower grade clubs or forums/threads that i could get into to put this idea forward to people to gain a level of interest?

Magicsponge

There are junior clubs in every county, they would be the poorer teams, there are also reserve and 3rds teams. An exchange program would be awfully expensive, especially in the current economic climate

dags777

yeah i didnt really think about irelands economy...australias is going ok. 
when someone comes here i would sort out super cheap accomodation in a house if they want to bring family and organise everything. 

dags777

if no one wants to do an exhange any way i could find clubs that would be interested in hosting?