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League to start on 1st April with minors on 3rd April while u 16s should be going at start of march. No fixtures out yet although gradings are sorted out for youth teams.

Hi tbrick18 Derry lost their way with the loss of their midfielder, but even before that they played a very defensive style, even the Derry supporters beside me were bemoaning the fact that the ball was moved sideways and then backwards. Derry may have made 20 passes to move forward 10yrds and indeed on numerous occassions were well inside the Tyrone 45 line only to pass backwards and sidewards again and again. Yet when they moved the ball quickly out of defense into attack they made good inroads with only 2 forwards. The problem for them was when the ball was played long out of defense the runners had too far to run to get up with the play.
As for Kettle and glass houses etc don't believe everything that Pat Spillane would want you to believe 

I think you will get to hear and see a bit more of Sean, I believe he is going to be a pundit on tv3 (just a rumour) but I agree with what he is saying. If you seen Derry play on Saturday night (Peter Robinson did) you would have seen at least 12 players behind the ball when they had lost a player. They were slow coming out of defense, going sideways and backwards. Strangely when the played directly into their forwards they got great reward.
Tyrone when they played puke football was the opinion of an overrated pundit, a great player but a bitter pundit who helped to alienate Kerry. Jack O Connor has also helped him in this matter, although he has directed his fury at Tyrone. Kerry great footballers that they are have shown themselves as poor losers in recent times, but that is why they are winners. They talk about the way that they win things but do not like it when they lose.
Sean might be better sticking to football but he is well qualified to speak about it. Even Kerry people agree he is one of the best about, but the way teams now have 12 in defense it is very difficult for players of hios ability to get room to run at players.

In regard to Clipboard man being present on the sideline. Surely there are rules regarding the number of officals allowed on the pitch (as in not in the stand) with the team. These are a limited number to include physio doctor water carriers etc. It is up to the officals to make sure that teams only have the allocated number on the pitch.

I have read that county teams get fined for not togging out correctly or having socks pulled up as they parade etc. I am sure that there are similar regulations in place for club teams appearing in A-L semis.

So the clipboard man may have been within his right to have been on the sideline, but I would agree if he had not of interfered then the melee may not of happened. Better stewarding and refereeing may have prevented the scenes that have been witnessed, but the powers that be now need to take action to prevent things like this happening. I don't expect Derrytresk to get put out of the competition or have too many sanctions placed on them but clearer rules and heavier punishments need to be implemented for the coming leagues and championships.

A Derry man twisting words, thats a new one on me 

I see that you need to be very careful how things are worded on this forum.

Hi Jinxy, it is ok to support your club and your county even on occassion your province, but in this instance 'we' all need to work together on this. This is not just happening in Tyrone. 'We' all need to confront this problem and lobby the powers that be to take action before there is a far more serious consequence of a pitch invasion.

We need to stop scenes like those witnessed on Sunday. The media are having a field day (excuse the pun) on this and it does not help clubs attract and maintain membership. Derrytresk are a small proud club who have created a great buzz around their club and the area. There was a positive vibe around the game and their achievement, but the scenes on Sunday have tainted things and gave those against the GAA ammo to fire.

What happened has happened, it is how it is dealt with. I don't hold out much hope for Derrytresk getting put out of the competition, or a replay being arranged or indeed to many suspensions being handed out. What I would like to see in the very near future is the CCC or whoever having the power to punish these things properly.
If clubs know that if subs, mentors or spectators get involved in a pitch invasion during a game then sanctions should be in place. These could include bans for individual players, replays being arranged or even loss of game/ loss of points plus fines.
There needs to be clarity in the rules and no solicitor should be able to overturn decisions and clubs need to accept reponsibility for their players and members actions. I know this is never going to happen in todays blame everyone else society, but we withiin the GAA need to create a better ethos.
There is video evidence, refs report and I am sure that there were other officals at the game that could report back to give a committe enough information to make a decision.

Hi Dowling, I did not imply or mean to imply that coaches who havent done a course are bad. I was trying to say that doing a course will do no harm, it may make a bad coach better and may not improve a good coach is what I am getting at.
What is this blueprint you talk of ? Are you talking about the range of courses from foundation up to level 2 and beyond approaching the 'degree' that sheamy mentions. I would suggest that they are a guide to the minimum standard you should be looking at. Let me clarify that a bit more. This would apply to dealing with the younger under age teams. As BC1 says this helps parents/ helpers get involved and gives them a guide to the type of training/coaching. They will learn more watching a confident experienced coach and if they have no previous playing experience then this course will be of great value. As you progress through the older youth teams and into senior footballers the more advanced courses deal with training techniques for these teams. As BC1 says the type of individual attending these courses tends to be the more dedicated footballer/coach.

But I would say that these courses are all about training or teaching the technical side of the game. This is vitally important in todays game as technically everyone has moved on so much and in a way Dowling we are all on a par in that repect. What can not be taught on a course is management and reading your opposition and making the switches during a game to turn it around. That is down to having something that can not be taught on a course.

Coaches of under age teams should have attended certain courses, i.e child protection and foundation course before they are allowed to coach a team, they also should have been vetted by their club, access NI. They should also attend the various courses that are run by the GAA to give them an idea of how and what to coach.

However, none of these courses make a good coach bad, but they can make a bad coach better. They are there as a guide and there are lots of ideas on websites in books etc but the end result is to make it interesting and fun for young players to improve their football/hurling skills.

So Dowling in regard to your post and are non qualified coaches thought of as a lesser coach, I think coaches of young players are rated by parents in respect to the reaction/ interaction that coach has with their kids. But any coach should have at least foundation course obtained.