the GAA's supercrisis and the 2018 annual Report

[magpie seanie]

why aren't the teachers doing PE?
they are paid to teach it

Agreed!

The still get PE off the teachers mostly, but the teacher gets a free class when the GAA lad arrives for a session for their class.

My kids went to the very same school I did and the standard of PE I got was miles better.

Often 30 kids standing around in a hall waiting minutes for a ball to be thrown to you! Or a small beanbag so everyone had a good chance of making a catch!

You need to ask their school why the PE is crap
Our local school has no hall or pitch yet the teachers get them out at least once a week

It's pot luck and depends on the teacher and the attitude of the principal. My kids are lucky with the teachers they have.....they go out running for a few minutes every day (unless weather is terrible) because so far they've had young teachers who are into running and fitness themselves.

[Lar Naparka]

why aren't the teachers doing PE?
they are paid to teach it

Agreed!

The still get PE off the teachers mostly, but the teacher gets a free class when the GAA lad arrives for a session for their class.

My kids went to the very same school I did and the standard of PE I got was miles better.

Often 30 kids standing around in a hall waiting minutes for a ball to be thrown to you! Or a small beanbag so everyone had a good chance of making a catch!

You need to ask their school why the PE is crap
Our local school has no hall or pitch yet the teachers get them out at least once a week

Officially, PE is a recognised subject on the school curriculum. So each school class is supposed to devote a fixed section of the class timetable to the subject. Each teacher is expected to have a Plean Scoile or school (work) plan for each week.
By the way, devoting the whole time to Gah coaching every week wouldn't rate as a balanced PE program!
Arrangements can be made to bring in specialist coaches for PE ( bit of a joke at times) where those employed  used to be FAS employees. The only time I was persuaded to get outsiders in to lessen my load, I got saddled with two gum-chewing young wans who hadn't a clue about anything to do with sport of any sort. They also called kids by their last names which didn't go down well with my lot. So the first visit was also the last.
Okay, so I have a biased view of what outside help officially means. Schools can also make plans with GAA coaches from local clubs or whatever to come in for coaching sessions. That should, officially at least, be outside of school hours but like so many other aspects of teaching, teachers can have a lot of leeway here and I know of cases where schools and clubs pick the times best suited for both and that can involved the last part of the school day.
Farr may be able to say if there has been any recent updates to this policy but I think I would have heard of it if there was any in Dublin.
One further note, I dunno where the sums allegedly spent of coaching development in Dublin is going but it sure ain't being spent on primary school kids and that's for sure.

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/kevin-mcstay-new-york-trip-has-become-a-dismal-experience-1.3882626

"I'm going to be working with RTÉ as an analyst this year and when I got the television schedule for the summer, I had the same sense that the ground is shifting beneath our feet. For instance, RTÉ is down to show just one live provincial football game apart from the four finals; Donegal v Tyrone – and that for now is a theoretical fixture. So all of the early round games are not on television.

The arguments about restructuring the All-Ireland have been doing the rounds for years. I don't think they amount to a hill of beans in terms of their influence on the GAA. It is a traditionalist organisation. They like to preserve their rituals and traditions and the provincial championships are a sacred part of that. But, last year, the number of spectators going to see those games dropped. That's a voice the GAA will sit up and listen to.

And now you have the people who decide which of these games they will show on television also turning their back on it. So you have to conclude that Gaelic football, in its current state, is turning people off. I know a lot of my friends won't go along to watch a neutral game anymore. Some won't even watch a full match on television.

The hurling championship, meanwhile, is thriving. Remember, the hurling round robin was put together because the hurling custodians were worried about the impact of the football Super 8s. But they have already boxed off 20 teams into the tiered hurling championship competitions.

So what the country is seeing on television are the eight elite hurling teams playing each other in a rotating series of significant games. It is engaging, the momentum is building, the twists have been dramatic.

People are, in general, becoming more precious with their time. They are more reluctant to commit to a sports fixture that feels like a foregone conclusion. I am very excited about this year's championship. But I find myself projecting to the provincial finals and what will happens after that

.....of more immediate concern is the feeling that the provincial system is disappearing before our eyes and we need to ask if it is still working. And in stating this, I feel as if I am betraying a value system that is hugely important to me. I mean, if my father could hear me now.

Going to see Mayo play Ros or Galway wasn't just a game; it was a ritual, a part of summer. It feels like a betrayal to question the worth of all that. And I feel genuinely torn.
"

[manfromdelmonte]

all very good, but the top teams have already played each other in the league

and as we have seen from the lower tiers in the hurling, the 2nd and 3rd tiers get forgotten about very quickly

[Rossfan]

When did the hurlers of Louth/Longford etc ever get mass media coverage?
1st Round football Qualifiers don't take up much space in the papers either.

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/se%C3%A1n-moran-this-year-promises-to-be-momentous-for-football-1.3884216

Seán Moran: This year promises to be momentous for football

The preliminaries of this year's football championship played out overseas and coincidentally featured the two counties, Mayo and Galway who are expected to contest the only provincial final likely to be categorised as "eagerly awaited" at this stage.
Kevin McStay has made the point eloquently in these pages that provincial football championships are on borrowed time and no longer command sufficient interest, which is why broadcasters are uniformly opting to cover the round-robin hurling championships during the early part of the season.
The Football Development Committee, of which Eugene McGee was a member, proposed in 1999 a radical, league-based championship structure, which would in its alchemy both combine provinces and yet retain the provincial championships.
Inevitably, it was shot down at Congress and withdrawn from the clár, but it inspired a response, which led to the creation of the current qualifier system, introduced for 2001, another ingenious structure, which combined additional matches without diluting too much the sudden-death format of the championship.
Inroads
Twelve years later the Football Review Committee, chaired by McGee, having made some inroads on the problems of indiscipline earlier in 2013, issued a second report looking into the competitive structures in football.
That too suggested a rationalisation of the provincial championships and the introduction of four eight-county conferences based on the provinces but instead of re-drawing the map, counties would move from Ulster and Leinster into Connacht and Munster depending on how they got on in the preliminary rounds each year.
It achieved little traction but there has since been growing concern about the provincial system – to the point where it is now being openly questioned.
The qualifier system has definitely marginalised the provincial championships, first as a necessary stepping stone to All-Ireland success and secondly as even a reliable proving ground for contenders. Since 2001 most serious counties have focused on reaching the last eight, a target even more urgent in the current round-robin quarter-final structure.
Yet the problem for the provincial championships has been the declining level of competitiveness and not the disconnection between being provincial champions and automatic All-Ireland contenders, which isn't new.
For instance in the 23 years between Down's 1968 and 1991 All-Irelands, the Leinster and Munster champions lost just one match to their Connacht and Ulster counterparts.
In those days the GAA was happy with the All-Ireland as a representative series between the representatives of the four provinces rather than a more integrated and fairer structure.
One of the provincial system's great strengths has been that it provides four senior trophies for contesting. Remove the provinces and there's just one championship annually for everyone.
But even that is now being challenged and the environment that made a Tier 2 football championship unthinkable – not least to the counties directly affected – as recently as three years ago has been transformed with growing numbers accepting that something has to be done to provide meaningful competitive opportunities for more than the top three or four counties.
London manager Ciarán Deeley, a supporter of the concept, tweeted on Tuesday in answer to the anxieties that such a competition wouldn't attract media attention.
"Saw inter-county coach saying a B Championship for the GAA would be bad because RTE wouldn't show much highlights! Who cares?? Do we do this for a 5min clip on tv or to win football games? I know what I want – to win games in a competition that we have a chance of winning!"
April's meeting of counties likely to be involved in a graded championship was positive and with the precise format being deliberated in those same counties, a motion will go to autumn's special congress with every chance that this radical departure will be adopted.
In time to come 2019 may well be seen as year zero – and not just because of whatever fate awaits the Dubs

[trailer]

Nobody is watching Div 3 or 4 teams at the minute. A tiered championship won't make a difference with coverage, but at least we won't get as many one sided games. Watch this weekend to see how many rubbish, one sided, shite games there are.

[Esmarelda]

Nobody is watching Div 3 or 4 teams at the minute. A tiered championship won't make a difference with coverage, but at least we won't get as many one sided games. Watch this weekend to see how many rubbish, one sided, shite games there are.

True, but Carlow got a bit of exposure by causing an upset in the current competition which also raised excitement in the county.

The question I'd ask is, would the players/management/supporters of Carlow prefer that bit of a run/chance of a bit of a run, or would they prefer to compete and have a better chance of winning a B/C competition.

[seafoid]

Nobody is watching Div 3 or 4 teams at the minute. A tiered championship won't make a difference with coverage, but at least we won't get as many one sided games. Watch this weekend to see how many rubbish, one sided, shite games there are.

True, but Carlow got a bit of exposure by causing an upset in the current competition which also raised excitement in the county.

The question I'd ask is, would the players/management/supporters of Carlow prefer that bit of a run/chance of a bit of a run, or would they prefer to compete and have a better chance of winning a B/C competition.

An average of 1 D3/4 teams per year makes it to the quarterfinals

Attendances are down and television is focused on the hurling round robin.
Something has to give

[five points]

Nobody is watching Div 3 or 4 teams at the minute. A tiered championship won't make a difference with coverage, but at least we won't get as many one sided games. Watch this weekend to see how many rubbish, one sided, shite games there are.

Tyrone 4-24 Roscommon 2-12

Attendances are down and television is focused on the hurling round robin.
Something has to give

The four most dangerous words in the English language: "Something must be done!".

[Esmarelda]

Nobody is watching Div 3 or 4 teams at the minute. A tiered championship won't make a difference with coverage, but at least we won't get as many one sided games. Watch this weekend to see how many rubbish, one sided, shite games there are.

True, but Carlow got a bit of exposure by causing an upset in the current competition which also raised excitement in the county.

The question I'd ask is, would the players/management/supporters of Carlow prefer that bit of a run/chance of a bit of a run, or would they prefer to compete and have a better chance of winning a B/C competition.

An average of 1 D3/4 teams per year makes it to the quarterfinals

Attendances are down and television is focused on the hurling round robin.
Something has to give

I didn't mention the quarter-finals. I mentioned a specific example where a county didn't reach a quarter-final but I think everyone in the county was happy with their summer's work.

Would an increased chance of winning a lower-tiered competition trump that?

[Rossfan]

We'll likely get the answer to that at the Special Congress in the Autumn.

[trailer]

Nobody is watching Div 3 or 4 teams at the minute. A tiered championship won't make a difference with coverage, but at least we won't get as many one sided games. Watch this weekend to see how many rubbish, one sided, shite games there are.

True, but Carlow got a bit of exposure by causing an upset in the current competition which also raised excitement in the county.

The question I'd ask is, would the players/management/supporters of Carlow prefer that bit of a run/chance of a bit of a run, or would they prefer to compete and have a better chance of winning a B/C competition.

f**k sake. Carlow wheeled out again. f**k Carlow. f**k them. They're away back to Div 4 for another 50 years. More games involving teams at a well balanced level is what audiences want. Tier the championship and f**k what the weaker teams want. They don't know what's good for them.

[Esmarelda]

We'll likely get the answer to that at the Special Congress in the Autumn.

We might find out what the Carlow County Board want. Not sure about anyone else.

[Owenmoresider]

Nobody is watching Div 3 or 4 teams at the minute. A tiered championship won't make a difference with coverage, but at least we won't get as many one sided games. Watch this weekend to see how many rubbish, one sided, shite games there are.

True, but Carlow got a bit of exposure by causing an upset in the current competition which also raised excitement in the county.

The question I'd ask is, would the players/management/supporters of Carlow prefer that bit of a run/chance of a bit of a run, or would they prefer to compete and have a better chance of winning a B/C competition.

That's the thing, two years ago Carlow footballers made life difficult for Dublin for 50-55 minutes before falling away, and then gave Monaghan a proper game with only a late goal seeing Monaghan home. The same year their hurlers won the Christy Ring Cup with an impressive defeat of Antrim. Which team's feats grabbed the Carlow public's attention more?