Antrim Football Thread

[SaffronSports]

You could half that and there would still be too many teams in Division 1. Realistically, you have Cargin who are on a level of their own. Then you have Portglenone, St Brigid's, Creggan maybe? The fact there are so few decent club sides absolutely impacts the county team but it's one of many, many issues. 

[Hectic]

But how does a smaller Division 1 help the county team?

Especially when some of our strongest club teams don't contribute greatly to county squads and county players generally don't see much by way of league action.

The cynic might conclude that the aforementioned clubs would like a smaller Division 1 with the strongest league teams (as opposed to strongest teams when all county players are available) to sharpen their own team ahead of championship.  While having feck all interest in what happens to the county team.

I'd prefer 8 in Division 1 and 8 in Division 2 (or even call it 1b) from a spectacle point of view and for more competitive games.  But I won't pretend I want that to make the county team better.

But happy for someone to explain exactly how it would.

Because I am stuck at the idea the development work needs to be done long before we release a set of fixtures for senior leagues.

[Milltown Row2]

Clubs are only interested in their own clubs well-being, be that in support of the 16 team div or 8 team division.

The only success a club in Antrim can achieve is winning the county championship, as with Antrim, we've been devoid of appearances at Clones for many years so the attention is to win what we can and that's the Antrim football championship.

That's not knocking the Sterling effort by those who'd be involved in developing squads and the like.

Players probably (rightly or wrongly) see a success path through club so are easily persuaded or by own choice to not jeopardise injury or burn out playing for (in their view) a lost cause..

Antrim don't have a big pool of players able to compete at a higher grade most years, but when potentially better players prefer staying at home, it makes it harder again.

[Take the Mark]

You could half that and there would still be too many teams in Division 1. Realistically, you have Cargin who are on a level of their own. Then you have Portglenone, St Brigid's, Creggan maybe? The fact there are so few decent club sides absolutely impacts the county team but it's one of many, many issues. 

Creggan maybe? Creggan, definitely. They had a shitshow of a year last year but will certainly be in the mix for the championship this year. Possibly moreso than some of those you mentioned before them.

[Goodray]

You could half that and there would still be too many teams in Division 1. Realistically, you have Cargin who are on a level of their own. Then you have Portglenone, St Brigid's, Creggan maybe? The fact there are so few decent club sides absolutely impacts the county team but it's one of many, many issues. 

Creggan maybe? Creggan, definitely. They had a shitshow of a year last year but will certainly be in the mix for the championship this year. Possibly moreso than some of those you mentioned before them.

Who is running Creggan this year? They are scoring heavily so far.

[Milltown Row2]

Over the years I've normally seen Creggan's best players standing on the sidelines during the league. Probably playing their better players during the league

It's how much you score in championship that matters

[SaffronSports]

You could half that and there would still be too many teams in Division 1. Realistically, you have Cargin who are on a level of their own. Then you have Portglenone, St Brigid's, Creggan maybe? The fact there are so few decent club sides absolutely impacts the county team but it's one of many, many issues. 

Creggan maybe? Creggan, definitely. They had a shitshow of a year last year but will certainly be in the mix for the championship this year. Possibly moreso than some of those you mentioned before them.

Who is running Creggan this year? They are scoring heavily so far.

Still Joe Cassidy.

[Gold]

The lack of discussion on here about relegation to Div 4 shows the real problem in this county, no one really gives a toss

Agreed.

[Plugin]

You could half that and there would still be too many teams in Division 1. Realistically, you have Cargin who are on a level of their own. Then you have Portglenone, St Brigid's, Creggan maybe? The fact there are so few decent club sides absolutely impacts the county team but it's one of many, many issues. 

Doesn't seem too long ago Aghagallon would have been worth a mention...what's gone wrong there ?

[BigGreenField]

Soccer is the biggest team sport in Ireland

In terms of participation, association football (soccer) is the most popular team pursuit for males at 8.8% with Gaelic football attracting 3.4%. Personal exercise (at 13.4%) and running (8.9%) are the most popular.

I do believe one of the reasons for the mismatch is soccer schedules 80%+ of their juvenile matches Fri/Sat/Sun whereas Gaa requires you to get to a 6 or 6:30 throw in on a weeknight, kids in from school and out the door straight away, adults leaving work early etc. Lack of pitches and referees prevents Gaa doing the same.

[Saffron_sam20]

Soccer is the biggest team sport in Ireland

In terms of participation, association football (soccer) is the most popular team pursuit for males at 8.8% with Gaelic football attracting 3.4%. Personal exercise (at 13.4%) and running (8.9%) are the most popular.

I do believe one of the reasons for the mismatch is soccer schedules 80%+ of their juvenile matches Fri/Sat/Sun whereas Gaa requires you to get to a 6 or 6:30 throw in on a weeknight, kids in from school and out the door straight away, adults leaving work early etc. Lack of pitches and referees prevents Gaa doing the same.

to an extent yeah, big problem also is the Go Games. soccer keeps score from u7 or so where as the gas doesn't. kids arent stupid, they know if they are winning or not. I see kids losing interest in GAA to soccer at a younger age and id be pretty sure some of them are due to the nature of games. I mean how can soccer start to implement offside at u9 7 a side but we cant even have a proper tournament for u11. soccer is much better run and its not down to coaches its down to the set up.

[Take the Mark]

Antrim are shite because of scheduling of underage tournaments coupled with Sam not being able to get frothing at the mouth at his sons under 10 tournament due to there being no all ireland at that level.

There really is some balls talked on here, which would probably point more to the problem than the ridiculous points raised.

[BigGreenField]

Antrim are shite because of scheduling of underage tournaments coupled with Sam not being able to get frothing at the mouth at his sons under 10 tournament due to there being no all ireland at that level.

There really is some balls talked on here, which would probably point more to the problem than the ridiculous points raised.

You're absolutely right, let's not change anything.

Personally I think it's right to get rid of underage tournaments , mostly adults shouting at each other.

Without a culture of Gaa (which Antrim doesn't have in depth) then making games easy to access for non believers is something to think about.

[Saffron_sam20]

Antrim are shite because of scheduling of underage tournaments coupled with Sam not being able to get frothing at the mouth at his sons under 10 tournament due to there being no all ireland at that level.

There really is some balls talked on here, which would probably point more to the problem than the ridiculous points raised.

not really my point, but ok. im saying lads lose interest because our set up is lazy compared to soccer. look at soccer, clubs will have different teams to allow players to develop at their own level if its 5 a side theyll usually have 3/4 teams so players all are at a similar level, I dont see the issue in GAA doing it, if its 7 a side do it something similar. I actually dont have any kids at that age but do have nieces and nephews so have watched both girls and boys soccer and Gaelic with no dog in the fight and I just see a big difference.

I was replying to the OP about why soccer has better participation, I think that is a reason. at no stage did I mention about Antrim seniors being shite, just more how I think we lose numbers to soccer.

[Caesar]

You could half that and there would still be too many teams in Division 1. Realistically, you have Cargin who are on a level of their own. Then you have Portglenone, St Brigid's, Creggan maybe? The fact there are so few decent club sides absolutely impacts the county team but it's one of many, many issues. 

Doesn't seem too long ago Aghagallon would have been worth a mention...what's gone wrong there ?

Cargin undeniably the best team (as has been the case for a long time) but the other teams named here are right on their coat tails at present. I'm also curious what's going on at Aghagallon. They have plenty of decent players if they can get their act together again.

On a different note, what's gone wrong at St Enda's?  Massive underage hype but they have completely failed to deliver at senior level.