Club championship shambles..again

[orangeman]

Would agree with most if not all of the suggestions here, the main thing is that something needs to happen! It's currently a mess and the anti change brigade have allowed it to get to this. I would suggest the following.

* Scrap U.21's at all levels
* Replace U.18 with U.19 but still call it "Minor"
* Colleges play before Christmas only
* Scrap FBD, McGrath, McKenna Cups
* Start "COUNTY SEASON" with NFL in Jan and run till March
* Railway Cup on St.Patricks Day with significant promotional investment
* Start Provincial C'ships in April with All-Ireland Finals in June/July
* Start "CLUB SEASON" in May/June with leagues and C/ship concluding in Sept/Oct
* Provincial clubs to conclude in Nov and All-Ireland Club to conclude pre Christmas

Clauses
* If a minor plays Co.Senior he is then ineligible to play minor
* County teams cannot select club or college players for pre season until their season are over
* Every county adheres to the above structure and county managers are not allowed to dictate fixtures (like Donegal)

There's a lot of logic in these proposals but might not agree with all of them. But a good starting point for any discussion.

Under 18s shouldn't be able to play for club seniors.

If provincial championships are to start in April and finish in June or July, then we need some revised format for the championships to ensure that county teams get 4/5 decent games a year. ? round robin format.

[manfromdelmonte]

Some clubs wouldn't have been able to field teams without 17 year old players. Sad but true.

[Milltown Row2]

Some clubs wouldn't have been able to field teams without 17 year old players. Sad but true.

some clubs who can field without minors are doing well, some of our best players at club level joined the ranks of seniors (before the ban) at under 16, played my first senior championship hurling game aged 16, we just didn't have the players at that time, and many of our lads at minor have made significant differences to our senior football team over the years including Club all Irelands.

I suppose demands are a bit much these days but I played most nights of the week and trained in between while at that age level, even managed to get hammered at the weekends too lol. All we had was a sore leg, Creggan won an All Ireland club junior final with a minor and so did Portunmna with Joe.

[muppet]

I know a man who won a minor and senior county medal the same day.

[Dinny Breen]

I know a man who won a minor and senior county medal the same day.

There could be a heap of them in Newbridge on Sunday, Sarsfields have 13 minors on their senior panel.

[orangeman]

It gets worse for Donegal

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/question-mark-remains-over-donegal-club-football-final-30701314.html