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right lads (+lasses) a bit of craic who's going to win this weekend but more importantly why:

st johns v ballycran
c'dall v p'ferry
enda's v dunloy
b'galget v rossa
b'castle v loughguile

Ours is easy, Rossa by some margin.

We're dire at the minute.

Anything coming through JC?

We do have a smattering of good underage hurlers coming through but its too early to tell, but any young lads thrown into that team will struggle, no real leadership in there and too many of the more seasoned lads passing the buck and may well be told to fúck off next year when we're in Div2 and start afresh.

Some of them seem to think you don't need to tackle in hurling anymore, but sure I'm an old cúnt who knows nothing.

[At club level, underage players can only play in their own age group and two grades aboveit with grades deemed as Under 12, 14, 16 and 18. All grades Under 10 can only play onegrade above. An Under 8 can play Under 8 and 10. An Under 10 can play Under 10 and12. An Under 12 can play Under 12, 14, 16. An Under 14 can play Under 14, 16 and 18. AnUnder 16 can play Under 16, 18 and Adult and Under 18 can play Under 18 and Adult.]

Quick question on age eligibility. In lgfa a child can play one go games age group above their own group (up to u13 in Tyrone). And 2 levels above their group at competitive level - u14 upwards. Would a 12 year old who's playing u13 go games and u14 competitive, be eligible to play u16 as well? As Theres no older go game age group, would she be allowed to play the 2 age groups above at competitive games?

From the 2023 Official Guide:
Underage players can only play in their own age group at Inter-County level for U-14 and
U-16 (Effective 1st January 2024).
At County U-18 level, players may play in their own age group and one grade above. Over
18 grade is deemed an adult grade.
At club level, underage players can only play in their own age group and two grades above
it with grades deemed as Under 12, 14, 16 and 18. All grades Under 10 can only play one
grade above. An Under 8 can play Under 8 and 10. An Under 10 can play Under 10 and
12. An Under 12 can play Under 12, 14, 16. An Under 14 can play Under 14, 16 and 18. An
Under 16 can play Under 16, 18 and Adult and Under 18 can play Under 18 and Adult.
At Inter-County and Club level, players must firstly play and train with their own age group.

Personally, I would have serious reservations with an u12 (potentially P7) playing at u16 level (5th years) but it isn't against the rules.  I don't think go-games is a factor as the LGFA deem the age groups at U12, u14 etc.

A 12yo can play U16 but it depends on when the turned 12. If they turned 12 on or before the 31st of Dec 2011 then they're eligible to play U16, but ineligible to play U12.

If they turned 12 on or after 1st of Jan 2012 then they're still eligible to play U12 and ineligible to play U16.

Bottom line is that if a kid is eligible to play U12 in that year then they're ineligible to play U16 that same year.

why would anyone in Down want to become a referee when they seen how our best ref was treated and after all the talk of rigorous investigation its now been brushed under the carpet and why would the county board not hush it when the clubs and current referees stand by and let that happen. 

Not sure it was brushed under the carpet as I think the outcomes were shared with the referees during a meeting at the start of the year.

One of Paul Faloons requests to have all championship referee's mic'd up and recorded is to be introduced this year I believe.

Surely with such a robust investigation being carried out by croke park on behalf of down into how the county board handled the process then all clubs would be privy to the findings of that report? I dont think such a report even exists or any investigation was carried out.
officials are micd up anyway in championship but there isnt enough to go around on big match weekends , and as for recording everything im not sure how that happens without all new gear purchased.

the very fact no one knows exactly whats gone on 7 months later is a disgrace.

i agree completely wobbler, it has to be on coaches and club to enforce

The report findings were shared with our county board rep.

There are two different issues here; the report reflects a sad chapter in our county's history where there were no winners. The recommendations should be implemented and we move on.

Each club has a responsibility to develop referees and , more importantly, develop respect for referees. We can learn from the LGFA; at a game on Saturday one of our players got injured and the ref handled the situation very well, both teams gave and got respect.

what were the findings ?

Ask your county board rep, each club has one.

right lads (+lasses) a bit of craic who's going to win this weekend but more importantly why:

st johns v ballycran
c'dall v p'ferry
enda's v dunloy
b'galget v rossa
b'castle v loughguile

Ours is easy, Rossa by some margin.

We're dire at the minute.

No Johnny. There's been various motions by clubs over the year at convention along those lines, but to the best of my knowledge, none have succeeded.

I do wonder when I see such motions. While I get the gist of what they're trying to achieve, those clubs who currently have multiple referees, do they have an active policy of encouraging and fostering referees, or are they just lucky?

I'm not sure, refereeing appeals (I'll use the word lightly) to a certain type of person or persons but probably easier if a group of people do it together as I see Dromara have 4 people starting the training together.

More power to them.

[officials are micd up anyway in championship but there isnt enough to go around on big match weekends]

why would anyone in Down want to become a referee when they seen how our best ref was treated and after all the talk of rigorous investigation its now been brushed under the carpet and why would the county board not hush it when the clubs and current referees stand by and let that happen. 

Not sure it was brushed under the carpet as I think the outcomes were shared with the referees during a meeting at the start of the year.

One of Paul Faloons requests to have all championship referee's mic'd up and recorded is to be introduced this year I believe.

Surely with such a robust investigation being carried out by croke park on behalf of down into how the county board handled the process then all clubs would be privy to the findings of that report? I dont think such a report even exists or any investigation was carried out.
officials are micd up anyway in championship but there isnt enough to go around on big match weekends , and as for recording everything im not sure how that happens without all new gear purchased.

the very fact no one knows exactly whats gone on 7 months later is a disgrace.

i agree completely wobbler, it has to be on coaches and club to enforce

yep, that came out of the meeting and is on Down CCC to provide the correct equipment to aid and back up the referees.


In Antrim if you don't provide a designated referee you lose all home games. Is this a thing in Down?

The GAA must be the only organisation where fans want them to move with the times yet remain stuck in the past

Perfectly put.

I'm not sure where you're about but absolutely everything is going behind paywalls now, especially sport, that's the modern way.

Burns did point out that to make GAAGO viable that it needed to show some high profile games, he'd didn't shirk on that and Cork fans were probably unlucky in that their first three games were all on GAAGO and that does need addressed by the GAA.

why would anyone in Down want to become a referee when they seen how our best ref was treated and after all the talk of rigorous investigation its now been brushed under the carpet and why would the county board not hush it when the clubs and current referees stand by and let that happen. 

Not sure it was brushed under the carpet as I think the outcomes were shared with the referees during a meeting at the start of the year.

One of Paul Faloons requests to have all championship referee's mic'd up and recorded is to be introduced this year I believe.

Absolutely delighted to have secured 4th place and CL football. From sitting near relegation when Emery took over last season to this moment is such a huge achievement. 5 years since the owners took charge of the club in the championship.

Are yis pretty close to FFP or whatever you call it now? Who goes so you can bring in players? Watkins, Luis?

It's hard to know, but it's probable. The accounts didn't look good again this year and I would say the 100m pure profit on Grealish has kept them right. I suspect there might be one big sale this summer to finance some incomings, possibly Luiz but I hope not.

European money, new sponsor and new kit deal with Adidas will also help.

The rules are changing this summer I believe as much as forest were punished it was obvious that their new owner could wipe that debt out in one go if he could, but currently FFP prevents him from doing so ALLEGEDLY.

Everton are leveraged to the balls and the chat is that they may go into administration in the next week as that'll mean the 10 point deduction will be taken from this season and not next.

The likes of Chelsea and Utd are also leveraged to the balls in debt, but currently that's OK, whereas Newcastle have no debt and money to burn but can't spend it, and ultimately this is taking money out of the game.

At a certain level that doesn't make sense.

anyone know why the county football and hurling championship draws haven't been done - this lad (and the mrs) looking to book holidays! i don't want to miss the craic. are the dates even available...

Tell them to book early July, they'll be grand.

Some will be screened too, hopefully, I watched a match in London last year, fantastic job

Did you have to pay for it? 

The big deal is that he was wrong, and Burns corrected him. Emphatically.

Seems a few moany Tyronies are a bit touchy about Saint Sean being called out on his nonsense.

He was caught out spouting BS and has now doubled down on it.
Burns perfectly right to slap him down.

Really strange misstep for someone working in the financial industry.

He probably didn't expect to get pulled on it so quickly and publically by Burns who seems to be setting his stall out early doors in the press.

He gave William Crawley his fill of it on Radio Ulster Talkback a few weeks back as well.

John Fury really is an embarrassing clown. Wasn't throwing many heads at the big fellas.

Is that the big lad who bust his own head open head butting the wee lad who didn't flinch?

Wasn't sure what was going on there!

Was listening to that game (while ironing  ) finished with a about 6/7 minutes left and it was all Liverpool

It was but Villa were always creating chances, although I don't care what anyone says that last Villa goal was a fluke, there's no way he meant to "knee" the ball in from there!

It's strange that how the voting patterns in a singing contest is deemed supporting a genocide in Gaza.

Who knew!

What is the big deal about what Cavanagh has said anyway?. The GAA has cash in the bank and is asset rich therefore some people might think it is a wealthy organisation. Bit of an over reaction from Burns IMO.

Burns was bang on and put Cavanagh back in his wee box.

Having cash reserves is good management as you never know what your revenue streams will generate year on year, plus the GAA will be contributing to all those centres of excellence springing up in every county and investing in other areas too.
If the GAA were borrowing money year on year to stay afloat it would be deemed poor management and rightly so.

As for the brown envelopes comment, get involved in your own club and put an end to it from within and stop gurning about it, it's nothing to do with Burns or Croke Park.