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[Casement is still the home of Antrim GAA, not Corrigan.]

Casement is still the home of Antrim GAA, not Corrigan.

Once again BS you show your naivety, the stadium will be run and maintained by a Management Company or SPV which is a term also used. All these events such as Soccer, Rugby, Concerts, ArdFheis, Feile an Phobail (Advice Centre/Bar etc paying rent) generate income streams, which no doubt have been included within the Business Case and New Name sponsorship which will pay for the FM of the Stadium. The Devil is in the detail, and transparency over the BC shared with Antrim Gaels should have been fundamental, after all we paid for it! Some of that income may be used to maintain our new home in Corrigan .

"When the axe came into the forest the trees said at least the handle is one of us", naive of you BS it must be said. Corrigan is the new County Ground, least we forget it was Antrim Gaels that funded and built casement prk. When are they going to have the stones to announce its name change? Possibly after May next year maybe?

There will be some amount of mental gymnastics before it is all over. No better organisations than Sinn Fein and the GAA to mould the thoughts of their followers though. It'll be fine.

Cultural Renaissance at its finest, like the term mould 

"When the axe came into the forest the trees said at least the handle is one of us", naive of you BS it must be said. Corrigan is the new County Ground, least we forget it was Antrim Gaels that funded and built casement prk. When are they going to have the stones to announce its name change? Possibly after May next year maybe?

You don't apply for the elite panel of Referees, you are selected to go forward, initially to your Provincial Panel then to the National panel which then selects its panel for the championship " Elite", never liked that word!

Maybe Covid fcuked it up. Two sides to every story. Covid wrecked a lot of businesses, some a lot longer established than Gaelfast. I would be very surprised if it cannot be put back together again, Yes /No?

Possibly can be put back together but my question goes back to the fundamental reason why it fell apart and if the GAA will allow it to be put back together. Gaelfast has been an absolute mess. Losing Paul Donnelly was an absolute disgrace.

Common thread " Ourselves Alone" create chaos to become relevant period!

Political Involvement within the Trojan Horse of the "Cultural Revolution" vote once and vote often!!!!!!!! Who's gonna grasp that nettle!!! Same old mantra, create chaos then step in and take control.

It's fair enough WhatwillB if it is explained in advance that a certain player will be joining up a few weeks late. I take your point about being fair to those who are training, but as long as he isn't jetted in the week of the game to the rest of the players surprise, then I'd say the vast majority of players on the panel would have no objection to one of our grade a stand out performers in recent years being involved.

I'm thinking of the contribution Conor Harrison made to Down a few years back, and throughout history there are dozens of stories about late additions to squads.  Dermot Connolly bring another last year.

All about opinions I suppose.

Fair enough bannside, Conor Harrison good call...

Playing soccer for Glenavon, but soccer in NI will be wrapped up in a couple of weeks, and he would be some addition to the panel (certain starter at 11) for the months of June and July. Timing perfect to allow him back to Glenavon in August.You would assume management will be all over this. Last time he played in Athletic Grounds he hit the net twice as far as I can remember, against Tyrone.

Bit surprised and shocked at your response bannside, taking your previous and present involvement , talented the lad may be and getting remunerated for it I'm sure and good luck to him all day no issue at all. However if your the young cubs the likes of Loughran No 11 studying in Dublin, travelling up numerous times a week etc and big kudos to the present management now using and they are performing. Far from Lenny who talked the talk as always to the media, leaving/ignoring these cubs on the line or in stand, it would be a such a negative statement to put out there so early in the campaign. ?

[when your backs to the wall in doing what looks like thankless task a lot of the time, who can you rely on to support you if common incidents such as this continue, thankfully not a severe as the Ballymena incident?]

Tyrdub, curious as you where present at said incident, did you sign a statement for the referee at the time? 

why?
what relevance is it to you?

Well you were quiet candid in your declaration that you where involved in the incident and showing support for referee/referees. A number of investigations took place, Ray allegedly did reach out to a lot of people to support him that were there on the day including other officials in relation to personal statements, including those to the local PSNI and but a few i believe actually stepped up? The lad was left hanging in the wind, Duffy on the back of that allegedly was asked by a local media platform in an interview would he encourage people to referee and because he said "no" in the present climate he was supposedly suspended by some of the people who presently seek to promote new referees within the county? Historical it may be but it goes to the heart of the issue, when your backs to the wall in doing what looks like thankless task a lot of the time, who can you rely on to support you if common incidents such as this continue, thankfully not a severe as the Ballymena incident? Matthews, Elliott, Duffy all successful National and AI Officials were all there on the day I believe and the fact that these lads are all still actively refereeing in the Gaa but not in Antrim Hurling & Football what does that say?  We cannot get Referees in Antrim, so is the Role, People in these Committee's, County Approach, Support or as it seems to be " Just Lip Service" As a Gael in Antrim i feel its sufficiently relevant .

Tyrdub, curious as you where present at said incident, did you sign a statement for the referee at the time? 

Totes & Paddy would be proud of ya, I know they reads this regularly and actually had to warn lads about posting too! No fear here of a bleep test MR2, always on the defensive, they do make a tidy sum spoke to many a lad who's honest enough to disclose their expenses. Didn't say he/she had to match that again you see what you wanna see, you should maybe listen the odd time, thats your game after all!!! Lol. As for numbers all wrong please

So you should go unchecked?

So I'll ask again, what is it you expect from the refs? As they are already meeting the criteria set down from Croke Park

Lack of knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Look at some of the names mentioned above and 'incidents' that they have been involved in. Then look at the support they received or more importantly didnt receive around these incidents and you wonder why they walk away from the game completely. How many times did the county (various administrations) end up shafting these guys in favour of not properly punishing clubs?

There is more a problem on how the refs get treated and then we wonder why there is a shortage. Not rocket science lads.

My sentiments exactly NAG1, MR2 unchecked for what, get down off that high horse you're on, facts are facts, you like to make things personal, may impress the Refs committee after you where gagged previously and towed the line,  but theres enough gaels on this board that can go back further than you and were closer to situations.  NAG1 is spot on what went on around the Ray Matthews situation was scandalous and the support was non-existent from Clubs or County, never mind the family and its experience of it! Crokes criteria now theres a laugh and a half, speaks someone with no experience of dealing with Croke. As NAG1 says Elliott for example referees in Derry, done umteen Derry County Hurling Finals, All Ireland Camogie Finals, sits on Referees National Committee at CROKE PARK, referees county and provincial camogie- Why is he not still in Antrim?

Right, as someone who was involved in that incident, and someone who knows MR1 personally, I'm going to ask you all to back off. What he is saying is right and has a lot of merit, but so are a lot of your points.
There are some refs who want to push themselves to get Senior games and some who are happy just getting out of the house, just as some players want to win championships and some know they will never reach those heights and just look forward to having a game. Not everyone is the same.
As for digging up old ground from 10 years ago, let it go lad, nothing is going to get sorted out on this website.

Totally Agree Tyrdub, MR2 always likes to take the aggressive approach, some on the board have been around a little longer and some have held positions he'll never hold within the County, Province, & National  even if he wanted, a little or lack of knowledge can dangerous in the wrong hands!

Sorry lad, but youre just stirring it now. He has been there and done it, hes one of the best. I'm not going to comment on what aspirations he may or may not have, all I know is hes a bloody good ref, who has never let us down, allays available when needed unlike lots of others who just want to stand and shout over a fence when the notion takes them.
Give over lad

Again did anyone say he wasn't capable or not committed, just like the rest of us Tyrdub no different

Totes & Paddy would be proud of ya, I know they reads this regularly and actually had to warn lads about posting too! No fear here of a bleep test MR2, always on the defensive, they do make a tidy sum spoke to many a lad who's honest enough to disclose their expenses. Didn't say he/she had to match that again you see what you wanna see, you should maybe listen the odd time, thats your game after all!!! Lol. As for numbers all wrong please

So you should go unchecked?

So I'll ask again, what is it you expect from the refs? As they are already meeting the criteria set down from Croke Park

Lack of knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Look at some of the names mentioned above and 'incidents' that they have been involved in. Then look at the support they received or more importantly didnt receive around these incidents and you wonder why they walk away from the game completely. How many times did the county (various administrations) end up shafting these guys in favour of not properly punishing clubs?

There is more a problem on how the refs get treated and then we wonder why there is a shortage. Not rocket science lads.

My sentiments exactly NAG1, MR2 unchecked for what, get down off that high horse you're on, facts are facts, you like to make things personal, may impress the Refs committee after you where gagged previously and towed the line,  but theres enough gaels on this board that can go back further than you and were closer to situations.  NAG1 is spot on what went on around the Ray Matthews situation was scandalous and the support was non-existent from Clubs or County, never mind the family and its experience of it! Crokes criteria now theres a laugh and a half, speaks someone with no experience of dealing with Croke. As NAG1 says Elliott for example referees in Derry, done umteen Derry County Hurling Finals, All Ireland Camogie Finals, sits on Referees National Committee at CROKE PARK, referees county and provincial camogie- Why is he not still in Antrim?

Right, as someone who was involved in that incident, and someone who knows MR1 personally, I'm going to ask you all to back off. What he is saying is right and has a lot of merit, but so are a lot of your points.
There are some refs who want to push themselves to get Senior games and some who are happy just getting out of the house, just as some players want to win championships and some know they will never reach those heights and just look forward to having a game. Not everyone is the same.
As for digging up old ground from 10 years ago, let it go lad, nothing is going to get sorted out on this website.

Totally Agree Tyrdub, MR2 always likes to take the aggressive approach, some on the board have been around a little longer and some have held positions he'll never hold within the County, Province, & National  even if he wanted, a little or lack of knowledge can dangerous in the wrong hands!

Totes & Paddy would be proud of ya, I know they reads this regularly and actually had to warn lads about posting too! No fear here of a bleep test MR2, always on the defensive, they do make a tidy sum spoke to many a lad who's honest enough to disclose their expenses. Didn't say he/she had to match that again you see what you wanna see, you should maybe listen the odd time, thats your game after all!!! Lol. As for numbers all wrong please

So you should go unchecked?

So I'll ask again, what is it you expect from the refs? As they are already meeting the criteria set down from Croke Park

Lack of knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Look at some of the names mentioned above and 'incidents' that they have been involved in. Then look at the support they received or more importantly didnt receive around these incidents and you wonder why they walk away from the game completely. How many times did the county (various administrations) end up shafting these guys in favour of not properly punishing clubs?

There is more a problem on how the refs get treated and then we wonder why there is a shortage. Not rocket science lads.

My sentiments exactly NAG1, MR2 unchecked for what, get down off that high horse you're on, facts are facts, you like to make things personal, may impress the Refs committee after you where gagged previously and towed the line,  but theres enough gaels on this board that can go back further than you and were closer to situations.  NAG1 is spot on what went on around the Ray Matthews situation was scandalous and the support was non-existent from Clubs or County, never mind the family and its experience of it! Crokes criteria now theres a laugh and a half, speaks someone with no experience of dealing with Croke. As NAG1 says Elliott for example referees in Derry, done umteen Derry County Hurling Finals, All Ireland Camogie Finals, sits on Referees National Committee at CROKE PARK, referees county and provincial camogie- Why is he not still in Antrim?

Totes & Paddy would be proud of ya, I know they reads this regularly and actually had to warn lads about posting too! No fear here of a bleep test MR2, always on the defensive, they do make a tidy sum spoke to many a lad who's honest enough to disclose their expenses. Didn't say he/she had to match that again you see what you wanna see, you should maybe listen the odd time, thats your game after all!!! Lol. As for numbers all wrong please

[As god the expenses, what do you recommend? Nothing?]

We've about 10/12 refs that our intercounty so they have their own standard to meet, the criteria for club refereeing is slightly less in terms of the beep test, we do one and I think inter county do two, their pass rate for rules test again is higher, ours is 85 I think, this year was online, so you fail you can't referee.

As for fitness I said outside of our inter county ref's we've about 10/12 thst are at a decent level of fitness, I'd say better than mine. So that could be over 20/24 refs up to a level of fitness set down by Croke park!

I've done the beep test several years, it's hard, and again I would consider myself fit (for 49)

As god the expenses, what do you recommend? Nothing?

[/b]


Did i say I had an issue with expenses MR2? Wanna read it again? My point is that clubs through their contributions to the county help cover in some way those payments, so the least they should expect is a referee who is fit for purpose, simple enough. There's no cheap shots here!