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Thats surprising, i find them more available than ever. I'm heading to the Villa game in a few weeks, have a spare beside me and struggling to shift it.

Still a right few tickets available in the member sale that is on at the minute for the second half of the season. Just got two Everton tickets myself for May. If you want two for a game, I can see whats available.
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I'm looking to go to the Spurs game on the 9th March, by any chance would you be able to check for tickets to that?

Good article here from a leading OB/GYN:
http://drjengunter.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/did-irish-catholic-law-or-malpractice-kill-savita-halappanavar/

This is what is known. Savita Halappanavar was 31 years old and happy to be pregnant with her first child. Then, at 17 weeks, tragedy struck and she was "found to be miscarrying." Her husband reports that she was in "severe pain" for three days at the hospital and a termination was requested. He says this request was denied because Ireland is "a Catholic country." He and his late wife were led to believe that the law would only allow her to be delivered when there was no fetal heartbeat.

What does the standard of medical care say about this treatment? Without access to the chart, "miscarrying" at 17 weeks can only mean one of three things"

A) Ruptured membranes

B) Advanced cervical dilation

C) Labor (this is unlikely, although it is possible that she had preterm labor that arrested and left her with scenario B, advanced cervical dilation).

All three of these scenarios have a dismal prognosis, none of which should involve the death of the mother.

The standard of care with ruptured membranes (scenario A) is to offer termination or, if there is no evidence of infection and the pregnancy is desired, the option of observing for a few days to see if the leak seals over and more fluid accumulates. If no fluid accumulates and by some chance the pregnancy manages to go beyond 24 weeks (the vast majority of pregnancies with ruptured membranes delivery within a week), survival is unlikely given the lungs require amniotic fluid to develop. I have seen the rare case where a woman with no infection (and no fluid) elects conservative management in the hopes that might make it to at least 24 weeks in the pregnancy, however, I have never heard of a baby surviving in this scenario. Regardless, if at any point infection is suspected the treatment is antibiotics and delivery not antibiotics alone.

The standard of care with scenario B involves offering delivery or possibly a rescue cerclage (a stitch around the cervix to try to prevent further dilation and thus delivery) depending on the situation. Inducing delivery (or a D and E) is offered because a cervix that has dilated significantly often leads to labor or an infection as the membranes are now exposed to the vaginal flora. Many women do not want wait for infection. A rescue cerclage is not without risks and is contraindicated with ruptured membranes or any sign of infection. Rescue cerclage is a very case by case intervention and well beyond the scope of this post. These decisions are difficult and the mark of good medical care is that all scenarios are discussed, all interventions that are technically possible offered, and then the patient makes an informed decision. All with the understanding that if infection develops, delivery is indicated.

Not only do I know these scenarios backwards and forwards as an OB/GYN, I had ruptured membranes in my own pregnancy at 22 weeks, a rescue cerclage, and then sepsis. I know how bad it can be.

As Ms. Halappanavar died of an infection, one that would have been brewing for several days if not longer, the fact that a termination was delayed for any reason is malpractice. Infection must always be suspected whenever, preterm labor, premature rupture of the membranes, or advanced premature cervical dilation occurs (one of the scenarios that would have brought Ms. Halappanavar to the hospital).

As there is no medically acceptable scenario at 17 weeks where a woman is miscarrying AND is denied a termination, there can only be three plausible explanations for Ms. Hapappanavar's "medical care" :

1) Irish law does indeed treat pregnant women as second class citizens and denies them appropriate medical care. The medical team was following the law to avoid criminal prosecution.

2) Irish law does not deny women the care they need; however, a zealous individual doctor or hospital administrator interpreted Catholic doctrine in such a way that a pregnant woman's medical care was somehow irrelevant and superceded by heart tones of a 17 weeks fetus that could never be viable.

3) Irish law allows abortions for women when medically necessary, but the doctors involved were negligent in that they could not diagnose infection when it was so obviously present, did not know the treatment, or were not competent enough to carry out the treatment.

What we do know is that a young, pregnant, woman who presented to the hospital in a first world country died for want of appropriate medical care. Whether it's Irish Catholic law or malpractice, only time will tell; however, no answer could possibly ease the pain and suffering of Ms. Halappanavar's loved ones.

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Since posting this piece I learned that Ms. Halappanavar's widower reported that she was leaking amniotic fluid and was fully dilated when first evaluated. There is no medically defensible position for doing anything other than optimal pain control and hastening delivery by the safest means possible.

Predictions for Sunday:
Cork to hop off Dublin!
Clare to beat Fermanagh by 5 or 6 points
Antrim to win by 3

The rule that I am thinking most about is the pick up of the ball. 

Currently it may be picked directly from the ground as long as the player is in a standing position.  Why don't they have to do the toe pick up?  Lookiing at the half time game at the intermediate final yesterday, the girls (and it was predominently girls) seemed to be quite comfortable picking up using the toe.

Have to say there are alot of aspects of the Ladies game that are very good i.e. the independent time keeping and the final hooter at the end.

Would be interested what lady posters think.

There's not too many men doing the toe pick-up either!! I think it's one less rule for refs to make a balls of, it's bad enough that there are such inconsistencies surrounding the tackle.

I heard that it's to be proposed at the next central council meeting that no team be relegated this year. Hopefully sense will prevail

I do get what you are trying to say but I can 99% tell you that this is not the case in this instance, my sources tell me otherwise. I can also say that every single season in ladies football more than one county team goes through a difficult patch for one reason or another, if they all decided to just not field a team in the championship then ladies football would lose any credibility it has (although that is slowly fading in my eyes).

Health issues with every single football player in Leitrim? While I sympathise with anyone who may be going through a tough time with their health, this is not a reason for an exemption for not fielding a team, if it was then you could have anything from 1 to 32 teams arguing that they don't need to field.

The inside track from my sources also say that there is a decent chance that Leitrim won't have a team to field next year either.

Also Meath wanted to conceed a league game to Cork this year and were told by Croke Park if they did this they would be fined €2000 and thrown out of the league the following season, however Leitrim conceeded to Sligo in round 3 of the league and appear to have suffered no such sanctions. What is going on up there in the LGFA?

I can't see the rasoning behind this either.... People from Leitrim must know the story of what went on.. Obviously Geraldine Giles knows but isnt willing to share it with us as to why Leitrims year fell apart. Sometimes in ladies sports, there can be underlying things that are happening which have nothing to do with sport and cannot be published for the security of the girls. If you think about it closely, there maybe hidden reasons why the LFGA are giving Leitrim a chance to get it right next year.. Thats all I can come up with anyway's...

There shouldn't be hidden reasons for this decision, that's the point. Circumstances outside sport should not dictate the decision, if that were the case then most counties could claim the same and where would the football championships be then without teams?

[From todays Indo:]

From todays Indo:

Angry managers won't lead out for ladies fixture

THE managers of the Donegal and Meath ladies senior football teams have vowed they will not lead their teams out for this weekend's relegation play-off, WRITES DONNCHADH BOYLE.

Royal County boss Gordon Weldon and Donegal manager Dominic McGlinchey won't be on the sideline for Sunday's clash after Leitrim were granted an exemption from relegation to the Intermediate grade back in June.

Both managers say they haven't been given a reason why the Connacht side are exempt from demotion and believe they have been treated unfairly but have also indicated that they would have no problem fulfilling the fixture were Leitrim asked to take part in the play-off. The losers of Sunday's game are due to play Waterford to decide who will lose their senior status for next year.

"It's just disrespectful," McGlinchey said. "I won't be involved."

The decision to allow Leitrim to retain senior status for 2009 despite the fact that they did not fulfil any championship fixtures -- after completing a full league campaign this term -- has enraged both sides. The match remains fixed for 3pm in Emyvale on Sunday.

More perpective on this, Leitrims Division 2 league results from this year:
Leitrim    2-1  8-15 Westmeath 
Clare    3-10 1-3 Leitrim 
Waterford    3-13 1-3 Leitrim 
Sligo  - - Leitrim  Conceeded by Leitrim

Note that 2 of the results were against Intermediate teams. Hard to see from that the justification in the LGFA decision to allow them exemption from relegation with the excuse "I don't think it would be fair on the intermediate teams to have last year's champions going back down". I think based on those results they would be welcomed with open arms into the intermediate championship! I fail to see how they will even field a team in next years senior championship and this will be at the expense of one of 3 teams who fielded for the championship and want to remain senior. Joke 

Two very good questions there Tacadoir and I think the second one needs to be answered openly by the ladies football association, it's only fair to the players of the 3 teams left in the relegation playoff. Dictatorship is one word that springs to mind here.

Only the Leitrim county board can answer the first one.

No, they didn't play in Connacht either. I'm speculating that the reason they withdrew was that they had a few retirements this year and new they wouldn't win a game in the Senior Championship so didn't field. From recollection, they competed in the league (Div 2?) but lost all their games.

I'm not actually getting at Leitrim here, my ire is directed at the Ladies Football Association and their underhand decision to grant this exemption. There is no excuse for it and they have set a dangerous precedent with this. Also the attempt to blackmail the players of the remaining teams (players who have sacrificed their summer to compete) with 6 month suspensions being mooted is a disgrace.

That's pretty much the story so far, most of it just coming to light this week. This is the championship format as per the Ladies Gaelic website (This was all in place before Leitrim pulled out of the championship):

Senior Championship 2008

The 2008 senior championship will consist of 16 teams;
Cork, Kerry, Waterford, Laois, Kildare, Meath, Dublin, Mayo, Galway, Sligo, Leitrim, Armagh, Tyrone, Donegal, Down, and Monaghan.

Leitrim as Intermediate champions of 2007 are promoted to senior status for 2008 with Roscommon relegated to Intermediate.

Format:
Each provincial championship is organised on a knock out basis with the first round losers in each provincial championship going into a qualifying championship.
Connacht – 2 semi finals losers, Munster – 1 semi final loser, Ulster – 1 Preliminary loser plus 2 semi final losers, Leinster – 2 semi final losers.

Eight teams play off in round 1 of the qualifiers 4 v 4: the four winners go onto round 2 of the qualifiers while the four losers play in the relegation championship.

Four winners from round 1 of the qualifiers play the four provincial losers in round 2 of the qualify championship with the four winners going on to play the provincial champions in the quarter finals. Counties cannot be drawn against the County that they played in the provincial final.

Extra time in all championship fixtures except semi final and final.

Fixtures for the Senior Championship will be determined by results from the provincial fixtures.

Note: One Senior round 1 qualifier match will be played as part of a double bill with the Minor All Ireland final on the week ending the 3rd of August.

Here's more of the story from the grapevine:

An absolute sham of a decision which was apparently decided after midnight at a central council meeting when most of the delegates had gone home and any objections were ignored.
I have heard also today that Donegal and Meath players have been threatened with 6 month suspensions (including from club championships) if they don't play the game this weekend.

I have heard that the players will happily play the game if Leitrim are included in the relegation play-off.

In the ladies championship format this year there was no mention of the Intermediate Champions of the previous year (particularly those that didn't field a team!) being safeguarded from relegation. And this is some bizarre decision that the Ladies Football Association brought in by stealth after the championship format had been decided and drawn

[From todays Indo:]

From todays Indo:

Ladies row brewing over Leitrim's exemption from relegation play-offs

Ladies football chiefs are facing the prospect of the TG4 senior championships being thrown into disarray because of a row brewing over Sunday's relegation play-off between Meath and Donegal.

The two counties are threatening not to line out for Sunday's game in protest against Leitrim's exemption from the play-offs, with Donegal trainer Alan Kelly describing the situation as "unusual" and "unfair."

President of Cumann Peil Gael na mBan Geraldine Giles strongly defended last June's decision to grant Leitrim a year's amnesty, despite having won last year's inaugural intermediate championship and fulfilled their league programme this season.

"At present we've had no official word from either county and as far as we're concerned, the play-off goes ahead on Sunday with the losers playing Waterford, and the losers of that game being relegated," said Giles.

"Leitrim are the All-Ireland Intermediate champions of 2007. There are circumstances that I'm not prepared to go into that have made it difficult for them. I don't think it would be fair on the intermediate teams to have last year's champions going back down."




One rather vital fact has been omitted from this article is the BIG fact that Leitrim didn't field a team in this years senior championship yet are somehow exempt from this relegation playoff. Hardly fair on the remaining 3 teams in this who made the effort to field teams. Quite a farcical situation.