Antrim Football Thread

[Ciall]

That's a great idea, I'll do that. And thanks it's great to know everything in Antrim is perfect. Cheers

Would Derry invite you into their go games while waiting on Antrim go games are fixed?

What a stupid snide comment, as expected from yourself.

Plenty of Go games
U8s max 7 a side :  10am to 11am (Open cages at Brooke LC

U9   max 7 a side :   11am to 12 noon (Open cages at Brooke LC

U7 max   7 a side  :  12 noon -2pm  ( Covered cages at Brooke LC
[/b]

U10 max 6 a side :   12 noon -1pm ( Open cages at Brooke LC

U11 max 11 a side : 12 noon -3pm Woodlands 4G

Starting 26th Feb
Is that football? that's encourging to see and didn't have to ring anyone to find out

Do a bit for your club and you'll get the correspondence rather than asking on an anonymous forum.
Go Games are divisional board run- SA and Gaelfast seem to work together on the Belfast Go Games on a weekly alternating basis (albeit the clubs do the heavy lifting most of the time), don't know why it's not the same arrangement in SW and NA with Gaelfast.

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

Sack the football lads. Yous are no good at it

[barnish oggie]

Why do our gaa men in schools not push gaa? I'm baffled! La salle barely fielded as last number of seasons in gaa though flat out at soccer yet staff full of gaa lads

Going back a few pages i know but had to reply.

i totally agree.

my son goes to one of the top grammar schools in the county (you can probably guess without me naming them), where i went to as well, and he says the standard of the football is atrocious because they don't seem to care about it at all.

they have the facilities, there are members of staff taking the team that have a very strong background, from one of the best teams in ulster, yet he says training sessions are little more than throw a ball in and play matches for the session.

i get that focusing on academic achievement is what a school should be focusing on and it it serving them well in that aspect, but you would think that they could give the football a bit more effort for the added prestige it would bring.

when i was there we got to an all ireland b final (only with a minor part played by me on that panel!!) but i don't think they have got close to that since, certainly in football.

i am certain they definitely lose boys over to Maghera and Magehrafelt as a result.

[Dreen]

Good points on that oggie and shows the level of effort being put into coach teams isn't to the standard it would need to be.

[Milltown Row2]

I know from the work load my wife does for working as a teacher both at school and work taken home to mark is a lot, which carries its own stress, timetables are not as flexible as before nor are there as many frees to be had as before, so hats off to anyone that completes a days work and all their other activities to then go out and coach/train/prepare school teams that compete every year.

As much as you love the game doing both and being committed to raising the standards can be very hard, must be easy to sit as a parent and look in and complain and about the lack of effort

[barnish oggie]

I know from the work load my wife does for working as a teacher both at school and work taken home to mark is a lot, which carries its own stress, timetables are not as flexible as before nor are there as many frees to be had as before, so hats off to anyone that completes a days work and all their other activities to then go out and coach/train/prepare school teams that compete every year.

As much as you love the game doing both and being committed to raising the standards can be very hard, must be easy to sit as a parent and look in and complain and about the lack of effort

my wife is a teacher as well so i totally understand the workload.

i work full time and coach a few underage teams at my club so again, i see how hard it is to jump into it after a long day at work but i still do it.

but my point is that either, and talking about that specific school, the direction from above is to not put too much effort into it, or the teachers themselves, despite being very good gaa people, just aren't bothered and they are getting away with it because it isn't a priority.

as dreen mentioned before, all it takes is one person with a bit of drive and things can change, as was seen with what happened in the 90s.

it just appears that in ballymena there is no one with that drive at the minute and it would be great if someone could want to push that now and be a benefit to football in the county.

it is a pity that the county board couldn't recognise that as well and as others have said, look at a plan of bettering the schools football with their input.

[Spike]

it is a fair point Oggie and the lack of any direction towards it is baffling, especially for a part of school life which is essentially free and on the curriculum anyway.  Treating it as another PE session is better than nothing but its a missed opportunity. 

Taking it at a very basic level (i'm happy for someone more knowledgeable on school terms to correct me on the exact figures) - the school year is say roughly 9 months, approx 36 to 40 weeks.  Say there is 1 GAA PE session per week for the full school year (36-40) plus 1 after schools training session for half the school year (18-20).   
So in schools that are heavily promoting GAA, plus running their own GAA internal year group competitions, it is possible they are doing between 54 - 60 additional GAA sessions per school year than the non-promotional schools.  If kids go on to A-Levels, they potentially will have done 378 - 420 extra skill sessions of proper engaged GAA training in their school lifetime than the competing school down the road.   

It is the same in primary schools that have a strong GAA mentor and teacher in the school.  While not doing trainings after school, they still will do at least 1 GAA session per week which is 30-40 per annum more practice sessions than the school down the road.   That is not even getting into what individual clubs are doing.

Skills, co-ordination, movement, speed of thought, problem solving are all increased week on week, while down the road wee Sean & Mary are sitting on their Playstations, hoping their genes and area population statistics alone will bring them success and make them footballers.

Yes money makes things happen a lot quicker, but we need a change in attitude and the realisation that our schools are critical in moving the county forward alongside the work done within our clubs.   Derry and Tyrone realised a long time the schools working alongside clubs brings massive rewards for both the schools and the clubs 

[Would ye whist]

On a change of focus, we are now a month out from the start of the leagues, do we have any idea of fixtures as yet?

Also I assume clubs will be playing without their county men?

[Milltown Row2]

it is a fair point Oggie and the lack of any direction towards it is baffling, especially for a part of school life which is essentially free and on the curriculum anyway.  Treating it as another PE session is better than nothing but its a missed opportunity. 

Taking it at a very basic level (i'm happy for someone more knowledgeable on school terms to correct me on the exact figures) - the school year is say roughly 9 months, approx 36 to 40 weeks.  Say there is 1 GAA PE session per week for the full school year (36-40) plus 1 after schools training session for half the school year (18-20).   
So in schools that are heavily promoting GAA, plus running their own GAA internal year group competitions, it is possible they are doing between 54 - 60 additional GAA sessions per school year than the non-promotional schools.  If kids go on to A-Levels, they potentially will have done 378 - 420 extra skill sessions of proper engaged GAA training in their school lifetime than the competing school down the road.   

It is the same in primary schools that have a strong GAA mentor and teacher in the school.  While not doing trainings after school, they still will do at least 1 GAA session per week which is 30-40 per annum more practice sessions than the school down the road.   That is not even getting into what individual clubs are doing.

Skills, co-ordination, movement, speed of thought, problem solving are all increased week on week, while down the road wee Sean & Mary are sitting on their Playstations, hoping their genes and area population statistics alone will bring them success and make them footballers.

Yes money makes things happen a lot quicker, but we need a change in attitude and the realisation that our schools are critical in moving the county forward alongside the work done within our clubs.   Derry and Tyrone realised a long time the schools working alongside clubs brings massive rewards for both the schools and the clubs

PE hast to follow all sports and not just GAA related, athletics, Gymnastics, soccer/ basketball, cross country, swimming, the list is endless depending on the school.

GAA wasn't even a part of the school PE curriculum when I went to school, you had the same PE things I mentioned above and the school teams had one session a week and a game, all after school btw.

If a school is serious about GAA and unfortunately you are in a dual county where schools up the country promote hurling over football, you need a director (they have them in many schools across the the country) of sport/GAA who's only job is to arrange and provide training and games for the students. He can assist the current managers and provide additional extras that the current teacher can't because of normal working day as a teacher

Spike I'd love to have been at a school that would have provided that type of training and attention to GAA, but PE teaching is different nowadays, they have a GCSE to sit and possible A-Levels after that. My last year we played 5 a sides every PE class best of craic in fairness.

Also the kids need to buy in also along with the parents and teachers, but every so often a school gets that range of kids and a dedicated teacher/s who find the right solution, Holy Trinity have that at the minute, and it would be great for a school like that to win

[NAG1]

it is a fair point Oggie and the lack of any direction towards it is baffling, especially for a part of school life which is essentially free and on the curriculum anyway.  Treating it as another PE session is better than nothing but its a missed opportunity. 

Taking it at a very basic level (i'm happy for someone more knowledgeable on school terms to correct me on the exact figures) - the school year is say roughly 9 months, approx 36 to 40 weeks.  Say there is 1 GAA PE session per week for the full school year (36-40) plus 1 after schools training session for half the school year (18-20).   
So in schools that are heavily promoting GAA, plus running their own GAA internal year group competitions, it is possible they are doing between 54 - 60 additional GAA sessions per school year than the non-promotional schools.  If kids go on to A-Levels, they potentially will have done 378 - 420 extra skill sessions of proper engaged GAA training in their school lifetime than the competing school down the road.   

It is the same in primary schools that have a strong GAA mentor and teacher in the school.  While not doing trainings after school, they still will do at least 1 GAA session per week which is 30-40 per annum more practice sessions than the school down the road.   That is not even getting into what individual clubs are doing.

Skills, co-ordination, movement, speed of thought, problem solving are all increased week on week, while down the road wee Sean & Mary are sitting on their Playstations, hoping their genes and area population statistics alone will bring them success and make them footballers.

Yes money makes things happen a lot quicker, but we need a change in attitude and the realisation that our schools are critical in moving the county forward alongside the work done within our clubs.   Derry and Tyrone realised a long time the schools working alongside clubs brings massive rewards for both the schools and the clubs

PE hast to follow all sports and not just GAA related, athletics, Gymnastics, soccer/ basketball, cross country, swimming, the list is endless depending on the school.

GAA wasn't even a part of the school PE curriculum when I went to school, you had the same PE things I mentioned above and the school teams had one session a week and a game, all after school btw.

If a school is serious about GAA and unfortunately you are in a dual county where schools up the country promote hurling over football, you need a director (they have them in many schools across the the country) of sport/GAA who's only job is to arrange and provide training and games for the students. He can assist the current managers and provide additional extras that the current teacher can't because of normal working day as a teacher

Spike I'd love to have been at a school that would have provided that type of training and attention to GAA, but PE teaching is different nowadays, they have a GCSE to sit and possible A-Levels after that. My last year we played 5 a sides every PE class best of craic in fairness.

Also the kids need to buy in also along with the parents and teachers, but every so often a school gets that range of kids and a dedicated teacher/s who find the right solution, Holy Trinity have that at the minute, and it would be great for a school like that to win

MR2 or anyone care to expand on PC's role within the school mentioned above? 

[clubman21]

Canavan is a PE teacher/ director of Sport

[Dash83]

Has anyone else had problems buying tickets for the Limerick game tomorrow from gaa.ie? I cant seem to complete the Questions part to complete the order

[Hoof Hearted]

Has anyone else had problems buying tickets for the Limerick game tomorrow from gaa.ie? I cant seem to complete the Questions part to complete the order

There's a tick box at the bottom of the question page
Then hit the x at the top right hand corner

[Dash83]

Has anyone else had problems buying tickets for the Limerick game tomorrow from gaa.ie? I cant seem to complete the Questions part to complete the order

There's a tick box at the bottom of the question page
Then hit the x at the top right hand corner

Cheers for the quick reply. Tried again and the question part was gone. All sorted 

[Saffsof82]

Antrim vs Leitrim , any predictions?
Paddy Mcaleer makes his first start, mark jordan makes the bench for the first time this season, good to see him getting back to fitness, Conor Stewart out of action for a couple of months with a stress fracture in the ankle