Paul Kimmage article about Athenry club dispute.

[Itchy]

You can't defend athenry on this. They tried to turn all parents against complainant, they clearly have senior coaches with no child welfare courses complete and then when the finding was made they mis-represented  the finding on their website. It's more than a few nutters as coaches you also have nutters on the committee too.

There are many clubs around where I live where the people at steering wheel are totally misaligned with modern thinking on coaching. I hope the article makes them open their eyes.

[Asal Mor]

https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/paul-kimmage-low-lie-the-fields-of-athenry-the-gaa-story-every-parent-will-want-to-read-36879150.html

Anyone else think this was way out of order on the Sindo's part?

The club handled the situation terribly and it's unacceptable to use that language when coaching u-12s, but tarnishing the name of two volunteers and sensationalising this matter with a journalist who doesn't seem to like or care about the GAA, was wrong of the Sindo imo.

I don't think O' Rourke, Brolly or Dermot Crowe would have touched this. Be interested to hear Brolly's take on it.

No.

A frequently used definition of news is that it is something that somebody, somewhere doesn't want people to know.

Two mentors broke GAA rules. That in itself is not the real story. While what the mentors did was against the rules, what they did were not, shall we say, hanging offences.

Had the mentors and the club held their hands up, admitted their mistakes and taken their medicine, as it were, this would not have become a story.

The problem, and what makes the story newsworthy, is the institutional closing of ranks by the club.

This involved:
i) Refusing to properly deal with the matter internally.
ii) A clear attempt to intimidate the complainants and the panel conducting the disciplinary hearing.
iii) A refusal to accept the outcome of the disciplinary hearing and attempt to spin an untrue version of such to the public.

There is something endemic within Irish institutions across all areas of society that leads to lack of accountability, denials and covering up. Institutional closing of ranks.

And it always, always, always makes things worse for the institution in question.

The club handled it disastrously. No argument there.

Often those who complain most about volunteer coaches give precisely zero of their own time and expect the team to revolve around their child. I don't know if that's the case here but in the vast majority of these cases the complaining parent is a selfish pain in the hole and the coach is trying their best. Anyone who coaches underage teams these days would say that the parents are more challenging than the kids.

One of the parents has given more than enough of his time and service to both Athenry and Galway.

A lot of nutters make their way into managing underage teams and think they have landed the county job. Is about enjoyment and developing young players. If there was a coach fucing and blinding about my boys I'd ask him to wise up.I have seen it though thankfully not at my club

F

https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/paul-kimmage-low-lie-the-fields-of-athenry-the-gaa-story-every-parent-will-want-to-read-36879150.html

Anyone else think this was way out of order on the Sindo's part?

The club handled the situation terribly and it's unacceptable to use that language when coaching u-12s, but tarnishing the name of two volunteers and sensationalising this matter with a journalist who doesn't seem to like or care about the GAA, was wrong of the Sindo imo.

I don't think O' Rourke, Brolly or Dermot Crowe would have touched this. Be interested to hear Brolly's take on it.

No.

A frequently used definition of news is that it is something that somebody, somewhere doesn't want people to know.

Two mentors broke GAA rules. That in itself is not the real story. While what the mentors did was against the rules, what they did were not, shall we say, hanging offences.

Had the mentors and the club held their hands up, admitted their mistakes and taken their medicine, as it were, this would not have become a story.

The problem, and what makes the story newsworthy, is the institutional closing of ranks by the club.

This involved:
i) Refusing to properly deal with the matter internally.
ii) A clear attempt to intimidate the complainants and the panel conducting the disciplinary hearing.
iii) A refusal to accept the outcome of the disciplinary hearing and attempt to spin an untrue version of such to the public.

There is something endemic within Irish institutions across all areas of society that leads to lack of accountability, denials and covering up. Institutional closing of ranks.

And it always, always, always makes things worse for the institution in question.

The club handled it disastrously. No argument there.

Often those who complain most about volunteer coaches give precisely zero of their own time and expect the team to revolve around their child. I don't know if that's the case here but in the vast majority of these cases the complaining parent is a selfish pain in the hole and the coach is trying their best. Anyone who coaches underage teams these days would say that the parents are more challenging than the kids.

One of the parents has given more than enough of his time and service to both Athenry and Galway.

Fair enough.

[Bord na Mona man]

Being a stalwart of the association or a pillar of the community seems to be a great absolver from the rules.

The days of D'Unbelievables style coaching of young people has gone. Coaches need to either adjust to meet the guidelines and meet the expectations of parents who send their children to have a positive experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guT76kAPYs0

[Jinxy]

The club handled this very badly and you would hope they've learned a valuable lesson.
I think the article could have been half as long as it was and that would have been plenty, but that's Kimmage's style.
As much as I am a fan of his, I think he is looking around for a crusade since the whole doping in sport angle has become so mainstream.
He tried to go after cynicism in sport but that was largely on the back of his grudge against Jim Gavin and people saw through it.
Following this, it's likely he will become a lightning rod for similar issues with kids in gaa, soccer and rugby clubs all over the country.
And I am totally fine with that, as long as it is done properly.
With the child welfare/protection history this country has it's essential everybody follows the rules when they are looking after kids.
I'd agree that the actual incidents in this case were minor enough and it's the clubs own fault this became national news.

[Jinxy]

Also, the bit about the two 10 year olds being 'invited' to play with the u-14s?
That can't be right.

[brokencrossbar1]

Snow flake children created by snow flake parents and lapped up by a gobshite like Kimmage.

[Tony Baloney]

Snow flake children created by snow flake parents and lapped up by a gobshite like Kimmage.

You can hardly blame the parents when the GAA from HQ to the smallest club have a Code of Conduct, Code of Best Practice and Child Protection Policy all of which at the very least will discourage foul language and lashing lads into a dugout. Clubs cannot sign up to these and then not follow them.

Kimmage had no need to mention specific individuals in his article. The club have handled it very poorly but Kimmage could have just left it at mentioning the club as I'm sure there are good clubmen there who, despite being wrong in these specific instances have been poured blood, sweat and tears into the club and will get hammered now over this article.

[seafoid]

Snow flake children created by snow flake parents and lapped up by a gobshite like Kimmage.

One of the parents played hurling for Galway and was well able to flake.

[Manning18]

https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/paul-kimmage-low-lie-the-fields-of-athenry-the-gaa-story-every-parent-will-want-to-read-36879150.html

Anyone else think this was way out of order on the Sindo's part?

The club handled the situation terribly and it's unacceptable to use that language when coaching u-12s, but tarnishing the name of two volunteers and sensationalising this matter with a journalist who doesn't seem to like or care about the GAA, was wrong of the Sindo imo.

I don't think O' Rourke, Brolly or Dermot Crowe would have touched this. Be interested to hear Brolly's take on it.

No.

A frequently used definition of news is that it is something that somebody, somewhere doesn't want people to know.

Two mentors broke GAA rules. That in itself is not the real story. While what the mentors did was against the rules, what they did were not, shall we say, hanging offences.

Had the mentors and the club held their hands up, admitted their mistakes and taken their medicine, as it were, this would not have become a story.

The problem, and what makes the story newsworthy, is the institutional closing of ranks by the club.

This involved:
i) Refusing to properly deal with the matter internally.
ii) A clear attempt to intimidate the complainants and the panel conducting the disciplinary hearing.
iii) A refusal to accept the outcome of the disciplinary hearing and attempt to spin an untrue version of such to the public.

There is something endemic within Irish institutions across all areas of society that leads to lack of accountability, denials and covering up. Institutional closing of ranks.

And it always, always, always makes things worse for the institution in question.

The club handled it disastrously. No argument there.

Often those who complain most about volunteer coaches give precisely zero of their own time and expect the team to revolve around their child. I don't know if that's the case here but in the vast majority of these cases the complaining parent is a selfish pain in the hole and the coach is trying their best. Anyone who coaches underage teams these days would say that the parents are more challenging than the kids.

One of the parents has given more than enough of his time and service to both Athenry and Galway.

That particular person doesn't come out of the whole situation covered in glory either. He however hasn't had his name sullied in the national media, whereas volunteers guilty of minor offences have. No doubt the club handled it badly, but I don't think there was any need whatsoever to name out the individual coaches

[Jinxy]

One fella on Kimmage's twitter feed reckons it was a 'quite harrowing read'.

[IolarCoisCuain]

https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/paul-kimmage-low-lie-the-fields-of-athenry-the-gaa-story-every-parent-will-want-to-read-36879150.html

Anyone else think this was way out of order on the Sindo's part?

The club handled the situation terribly and it's unacceptable to use that language when coaching u-12s, but tarnishing the name of two volunteers and sensationalising this matter with a journalist who doesn't seem to like or care about the GAA, was wrong of the Sindo imo.

I don't think O' Rourke, Brolly or Dermot Crowe would have touched this. Be interested to hear Brolly's take on it.

I don't see Joe biting the hand that feeds him Asal.

[Jinxy]

Brolly & Kimmage are best buds anyway.

[sid waddell]

I find it utterly bizarre that some posters think Paul Kimmage is the problem here. Talk about burying your head in the sand.

There's a serious case of cognitive dissonance here for some people. GAA members like to think of their games as the "national sports". There's a clear implication by using this term that GAA sports are somehow more important and relevant than other sports. They like to think of clubs as the most important elements of the GAA.

Yet when a problem is highlighted in a club, many of them hide behind the "amateur status" line and blame the messenger.

This is part of a general pattern in the GAA that when somebody does something wrong, ie. if a player fails a drugs test, people try and sweep it under the carpet and/or excuse it based on codology like "ah, but they come from a very good family", "sure I know his father personally and I know he wouldn't have deliberately done anything wrong".

Basically, when club people are demanding change over fixtures or funding or something like that, the attitude is "we're important and demand to be heard".

When a cover up is highlighted in the media, the attitude is "it's only a club, this shouldn't be publicised".

[thewobbler]

Paul Kimmage isn't the problem here. It's parents, then the club, and very much in that order.

[Lar Naparka]

https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/paul-kimmage-low-lie-the-fields-of-athenry-the-gaa-story-every-parent-will-want-to-read-36879150.html

Anyone else think this was way out of order on the Sindo's part?

The club handled the situation terribly and it's unacceptable to use that language when coaching u-12s, but tarnishing the name of two volunteers and sensationalising this matter with a journalist who doesn't seem to like or care about the GAA, was wrong of the Sindo imo.

I don't think O' Rourke, Brolly or Dermot Crowe would have touched this. Be interested to hear Brolly's take on it.

No.

A frequently used definition of news is that it is something that somebody, somewhere doesn't want people to know.

Two mentors broke GAA rules. That in itself is not the real story. While what the mentors did was against the rules, what they did were not, shall we say, hanging offences.

Had the mentors and the club held their hands up, admitted their mistakes and taken their medicine, as it were, this would not have become a story.

The problem, and what makes the story newsworthy, is the institutional closing of ranks by the club.

This involved:
i) Refusing to properly deal with the matter internally.
ii) A clear attempt to intimidate the complainants and the panel conducting the disciplinary hearing.
iii) A refusal to accept the outcome of the disciplinary hearing and attempt to spin an untrue version of such to the public.

There is something endemic within Irish institutions across all areas of society that leads to lack of accountability, denials and covering up. Institutional closing of ranks.

And it always, always, always makes things worse for the institution in question.

+1 Bang on Sid!