Gaels amalgamations

Started by The Monument Road, December 02, 2016, 01:18:10 PM

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Dave like the tv channel

Quote from: beano on January 09, 2017, 03:47:48 PM
I disagree with u down the road, they're many examples of urban clubs doing very well without the need to almagamate.  The two newbridge clubs in Kildare, any dublin club. IF the club is well run and it has a good set up, the kids will always be attracted to it. That goes in any code.

Dublin clubs with a catchment area of c.60,000 hardly compare to Mountmellick or Portarlington, pop c.5,000, both of whom are split three ways. Laois only has a population of about 85,000.

St Vincents has a membership totalling 25,000. BBSE is the largest sports club in Europe.

High Fielder

I've been thinking it for a long time now. The GAA is fundamentally flawed, and badly needs redesigning. There is nothing fair about the All Ireland series, and if I'm being honest, save for a few games here and there, it isn't even entertaining anymore. Right now, and maybe for the rest of time, there will be nothing Carlow or maybe even ourselves can do to win an All Ireland. It would take a freakish set of players to luckily appear at the one time. The chances are almost nil.

At a local level, the GAA is a hard sell. For some clubs, there's a sense of duty attached to it and not much enjoyment. Young lads time would be better spent living a life instead of being fed charters and getting texts from an over enthusiastic coach. Look, it has its place, and it's ok if you're potentially going to win something. But it's tedious and time consuming when you're ploughing the same furrow year after year without success. This do it for the love of your community bullshit has no place in a world where mortgages and debts are king. There is an ocean of work out there for the GAA to do, but they largely don't give a f**k. They think everything in the garden is rosy, but I believe there is a lot of unrest in smaller clubs who are getting fed up. There has to be a carrot on the end of the stick for every player who plays the game, and if that continues to be ignored, the game will die out. Has that process already begun?

Downtheroad

Quote from: High Fielder on January 11, 2017, 08:49:33 AM
I've been thinking it for a long time now. The GAA is fundamentally flawed, and badly needs redesigning. There is nothing fair about the All Ireland series, and if I'm being honest, save for a few games here and there, it isn't even entertaining anymore. Right now, and maybe for the rest of time, there will be nothing Carlow or maybe even ourselves can do to win an All Ireland. It would take a freakish set of players to luckily appear at the one time. The chances are almost nil.

At a local level, the GAA is a hard sell. For some clubs, there's a sense of duty attached to it and not much enjoyment. Young lads time would be better spent living a life instead of being fed charters and getting texts from an over enthusiastic coach. Look, it has its place, and it's ok if you're potentially going to win something. But it's tedious and time consuming when you're ploughing the same furrow year after year without success. This do it for the love of your community bullshit has no place in a world where mortgages and debts are king. There is an ocean of work out there for the GAA to do, but they largely don't give a f**k. They think everything in the garden is rosy, but I believe there is a lot of unrest in smaller clubs who are getting fed up. There has to be a carrot on the end of the stick for every player who plays the game, and if that continues to be ignored, the game will die out. Has that process already begun?
The irony is that Laois got a freakish  set of players and we just didn't get enough out of them. On the more general point, there is nothing more debilitating than been from an unsuccessful club from an unsuccessful county. Over the past decade, there has been a major transformation in the support base of rugby in counties where there was no previous tradition apart from the local doctor/Solicitor who probably boarded at some rugby establishment. As far as I can see the GAA is going like the church and the traditional political parties in that the support base is both shrinking and aging particularly outside Dublin. Years ago, clubs organised social trips around National league games. You don't see it that much anymore which is an indication of a changing society.


High Fielder

I believe that a lot of clubs are straddling the line at the moment, and that is why we're seeing all this talk about amalgamations. Amalgamations only mask the obvious reality. A lot of these clubs can't motivate players to train and are wholesale reliant on them to commit. There are no other options. Truth be told, it's a dead horse that is gone way past the point of being flogged. For comfort's sake, some clubs would be better served taking a walk down the road and joining up with the neighbour. You have some sort of chance when you have numbers. At the moment, a lot of clubs seem happy to look at the neighbour and say did you know I'm dying; well at least you'll be dead before me. The race to the bottom is well underway for some Laois clubs.

hurlingmad

Quote from: High Fielder on January 11, 2017, 02:02:26 PM
I believe that a lot of clubs are straddling the line at the moment, and that is why we're seeing all this talk about amalgamations. Amalgamations only mask the obvious reality. A lot of these clubs can't motivate players to train and are wholesale reliant on them to commit. There are no other options. Truth be told, it's a dead horse that is gone way past the point of being flogged. For comfort's sake, some clubs would be better served taking a walk down the road and joining up with the neighbour. You have some sort of chance when you have numbers. At the moment, a lot of clubs seem happy to look at the neighbour and say did you know I'm dying; well at least you'll be dead before me. The race to the bottom is well underway for some Laois clubs.

I agree with a lot of this, and another reason i would add is that rural ireland is changing, people arent having big familys anymore, in the 80s you had 4 bourke brothers playing for errill, god knows how many brothers playing for camross etc, castletown are in a rebuildig stage and its hard to see them achieve the heights thwy once did, emigration has the harps hammered, mountrath is in rapid decline underage and senior b, clonad never came back from their last senior win, trumera,shanahoe,colt, kyle simply cannot sustain themselves for another 10 years on their own, i hope i am wrong but its looming that way

maccer

Is it time for the co board to get meaningfully involved with amalgamations? I know it may be similar to govt staying away from industrial disputes etc. but perhaps some order should be brought to these arrangements rather than the haphazard approach we've seen over the winter. If a special convention was called where the whole situation was properly debated and guidelines set down it could help. It seems to be gone beyond a club issue at the moment and the whole county set up is under serious threat. It needs leadership. Clubs either don't have the numbers or else do and don't seem to have the drive to flourish alone. It's pointless meandering along until it's suddenly too late to act

SCFC

#216
Clonaslee/Annanough is going ahead.  :o
As is Crettyard/Spink, Ballyfin/Slieve Bloom/Camross and Mountmellick/Kilcavan/Castletown.
Don't know the hurling ones.

clonadmad

Raheen Parish Gaels hurling together from u6 to minor

Ballyroan Abbey

Was wondering if camross would be picked up alright, they seem to have a few at minor level well capable of playing at a higher level and although camross are now a junior a team the likelyhood of them training or putting much of an effort into the football is minimal

hurlingmad

Quote from: Ballyroan Abbey on January 17, 2017, 09:01:04 PM
Was wondering if camross would be picked up alright, they seem to have a few at minor level well capable of playing at a higher level and although camross are now a junior a team the likelyhood of them training or putting much of an effort into the football is minimal

Never thought i would see the day, fair play to camross opening the door for their younger members to have access to higher level football, what level will this gaels team be playing?

town1980

Any outside bets on the 2017 Laois championship ???with all these amalgamations will they put in a shift to hit semi quarter finals?? Portlaoise the only real guaranteed semi finalists,,, predictions??

Downtheroad

Quote from: hurlingmad on January 17, 2017, 09:40:00 PM
Quote from: Ballyroan Abbey on January 17, 2017, 09:01:04 PM
Was wondering if camross would be picked up alright, they seem to have a few at minor level well capable of playing at a higher level and although camross are now a junior a team the likelyhood of them training or putting much of an effort into the football is minimal

Never thought i would see the day, fair play to camross opening the door for their younger members to have access to higher level football, what level will this gaels team be playing?
Senior with Ballyfin

Laois fan

Can understand most of these clubs joining up but not mountmellick they usually have a strong panel and will prob lose a lot of their fringe players now.wouldnt be the greatest fan of these amalgamations anyway,seem to be a quick fix to a much bigger problem,clubs should concentrate more on improving their juvenile standards .Also maybe I'm mistaken but I taught clonaslee and annonough didn't get on

SCFC

Quote from: Laois fan on January 18, 2017, 09:42:51 AM
Also maybe I'm mistaken but I taught clonaslee and annonough didn't get on
I think it's a very odd one. They played a league game last year and i think it was abandoned because of fighting!

High Fielder

Quote from: Laois fan on January 18, 2017, 09:42:51 AM
Can understand most of these clubs joining up but not mountmellick they usually have a strong panel and will prob lose a lot of their fringe players now.wouldnt be the greatest fan of these amalgamations anyway,seem to be a quick fix to a much bigger problem,clubs should concentrate more on improving their juvenile standards .Also maybe I'm mistaken but I taught clonaslee and annonough didn't get on

It's not that simple. Most clubs are existing with threadbare resources and it is very hard to motivate "fringe" players to put their shoulder to the wheel. The ones who do want to do the thing right deserve better than that. So we're not just talking about access to senior football here, but also a player's wish to be part of something credible. I agree that it is a short term solution to a long term problem, but let's be honest here, the Championship needs as much of a jolt as it can get. A lot of clubs need to think seriously about their place in the world