Antrim Hurling

[Balboa]

what sort of team are you bringing down to the sevens this Saturday Balboa? will tosh be going and are you taking it seriously?

we played the junior one for years and never took it serious, out first and first to the food and bar

It wont be great, Tosh isnt going, he is fed up to the balls with hurling this year and is coming down with us later that morning. We are in with a team from Galway,Waterford and forget where else. We will get a few tankings i would say but its only a bit of craic.  I would say the only thing being taken seriously will be the boozing.

[theskull1]

Skull

I am intrigued to know what he should have done in that situation?

Does he write up his report and not mention any of the row? So when reports get back to Antrim CC about the fight and its not in his report what does he say.

I have to say that he did the right thing just because 7 players got suspended shows the severity of the fight and means that it warranted reporting. Also becuase the ref didnt do the same thing in croke park is more a reflection on him than anyone else.

Well he could have took a look at it and seen that seeing that the match was over and that as it was a St Johns player who started the melee (a headbutt I believe) and that seeing as they had been knock out of the championship they had no disincentive to keep their discipline then it would be unfair to St Brendans to be as severly punished for reacting to thuggish behaviour (any thug is fair game in my book and deserves whats coming to him). It would have been great for hurling in Antrim as well as a great opportunity for the likes of St Brendans to play i the next round against their biggest rivals and that has been taken away from them because a wee sc**bag thought he would start fight. That wee sc**bag will be grinning like f**k today as he has lost nothing in all of this.

Look at the end of the day I half agree with you but seeing that things can be brushed over in much higher profile instances then I am inclined to believe that St Brendans have been hard done by (7 is a seriously high number). BTW I don't know why you assume that because there were 7 suspensions on both sides it somehow shows us the severity of the incident?

[podge]

Skull

I am intrigued to know what he should have done in that situation?

Does he write up his report and not mention any of the row? So when reports get back to Antrim CC about the fight and its not in his report what does he say.

I have to say that he did the right thing just because 7 players got suspended shows the severity of the fight and means that it warranted reporting. Also becuase the ref didnt do the same thing in croke park is more a reflection on him than anyone else.

Well he could have took a look at it and seen that seeing that the match was over and that as it was a St Johns player who started the melee (a headbutt I believe) and that seeing as they had been knock out of the championship they had no disincentive to keep their discipline then it would be unfair to St Brendans to be as severly punished for reacting to thuggish behaviour (any thug is fair game in my book and deserves whats coming to him). It would have been great for hurling in Antrim as well as a great opportunity for the likes of St Brendans to play i the next round against their biggest rivals and that has been taken away from them because a wee sc**bag thought he would start fight. That wee sc**bag will be grinning like f**k today as he has lost nothing in all of this.

Look at the end of the day I half agree with you but seeing that things can be brushed over in much higher profile instances then I am inclined to believe that St Brendans have been hard done by (7 is a seriously high number). BTW I don't know why you assume that because there were 7 suspensions on both sides it somehow shows us the severity of the incident?

Skull, i think this is a very fair assessment.  there is no doubt who started it and when you are dealing with minors, its very hard to sit back and watch a guy put the head insomeone and proceed to lay into him.  yes, in an ideal world the St Brendans lads would not have got involved but...

Its the total lack of consistency thats the problem here.  how many scuffles have we seem where maybe 10 or 15 guys get involved and all you get at the end is 1 or 2 red or yellow cards.  I think the St brendans lads can rightly feel hard done by and hopefully the CCC will allow them to play the match.  This must be a first in the entire history of the GAA!  '


'what should the ref have done?'  - he should have used a bit of common sense....easy...

The upshot of this is that the St Johns guys get a suspension which means nothing while the St Bendans lads miss probably the biggest match in their carerr to date.  Hardly justice in my book.

to say 7 boys reflects the severity of it is nonsense. it really was handbags bar the first strike and the adults who were present brough it under control quickly.

[NAG]

Well after seeing a few of the games over the last while time for championship predictions?

reasons behind your choices as well?

[theskull1]

So can we assume from your silence on the subject that I've convinced you about the St Brendans suspensions? 

My missus does that as well, so I'm well used to it (but we both know I'm right  )

Re: The championship: If we had 5-6 strong clubs then people could make some decent reasoned predictions at this stage, but considering that there only 3 (after the johnnies crumbled against the dall.....which I didn't expect) teams with a chance who have not played each other then I would say its totally up in the air until the semi final draw is made.
St Johnnies, Ballycastle, St Galls, Glenariff, Rossa all need to work towards a 3-5 year plan rather than the (from what I can see) try and go for it year after year and alway end up failing (i.e failing being hammered in the championship...ok st gall will battle well but commitment levels vary) because they've set their sights too far and everyone knows that they will not achieve those targets. Ballycastle have been the biggest disappointment from my perspective this year.

[NAG]

Skull

Sorry to have not replied to the previous post but I didnt want to be boring the rest of the guys on here with another post on the subject.

But here goes.....

Would people have the same sympathy for bigger clubs such as Rossa, Loughgiel, Cushendall and Dunloy if they had recieved 7 suspensions arising from a row, I will answer that for you no they wouldnt. I think the fact that this is St Brendans is clouding your judgement, yes I am annoyed that they arent able to field because of it. However these are 17-18 yr old men we have all been in that kind of situation some more than others when you have to look at the big picture and say I want to play in a semi final and some wee toe rag from the Falls Rd isnt going to stop me.

I think yes we could have swept this under the carpet but where is the consistency in that?

Until we get a system that is completely consistent then these are the kind of issues that will cause arguements and discussions. But the fact that these guys warranted to be in the referee's report means they did something wrong and should have to pay the consequences.

[theskull1]

I don't think as big a sanction would have happened to the bigger clubs NAG. More representation would have been made to reduce the sanction imposed (it's called politics). The fact that st brendans are a smaller club with fewer contacts at county level has meant that the full force of the rule book has been applied in this case and not in others (both at club and county level)

And in reality sweeping things under the carpet (or better to say downplaying the seriousness of certain offences) is more consistent with GAA disciplinary sanctions. To think otherwise is very naive.

I don't know why you keep stating that because it was in the referees report somehow made it more serious that other incidents which have not made it into another's referees report.
I think your being to black and white about this

[podge]

Skull

Sorry to have not replied to the previous post but I didnt want to be boring the rest of the guys on here with another post on the subject.

But here goes.....

Would people have the same sympathy for bigger clubs such as Rossa, Loughgiel, Cushendall and Dunloy if they had recieved 7 suspensions arising from a row, I will answer that for you no they wouldnt. I think the fact that this is St Brendans is clouding your judgement, yes I am annoyed that they arent able to field because of it. However these are 17-18 yr old men we have all been in that kind of situation some more than others when you have to look at the big picture and say I want to play in a semi final and some wee toe rag from the Falls Rd isnt going to stop me.

I think yes we could have swept this under the carpet but where is the consistency in that?

Until we get a system that is completely consistent then these are the kind of issues that will cause arguements and discussions. But the fact that these guys warranted to be in the referee's report means they did something wrong and should have to pay the consequences.

NAG, Its the complete lack of consistency that stinks about this whole thing.  The action is completely unprecedented.


As said before, the referee (and his umpires) just needed to apply a bit common sense. ..

[NAG]

Lads

We are all kind of arguing the same point. The poiint I am making is that just because they had 7 players suspended doesnt mean we should feel sorry for them.

Skull - I am being black and white about this but what im trying to say is that it is time that the GAA went black and white these slimey grey areas have bugged us all for too long.

Its time to say do the crime do the time. None of the constant appealing. The laws are there to be enforced so enforce them

Yes use common sense when possible but this still shouldnt go into these grey areas.

[milltown row]

as a club we gave taken some decsions this year and got on with it, no appealing.

all clubs should be able to just get on with it, and maybe if clubs took a look at themselves and how they go about their team talks, tactics at training then maybe we would have fewer situations.

if these were to happen on the street, they would be in the news every day with police involved

[theskull1]

This black and whiteness gives every incentive to a losing championship team to start these free for alls at the end and try and get the winning teams players suspended for the next match does it not? Both teams get hit but it only matters to one of them. What good will that do?

IMO the aggressors should have the book thown at them and the club fined but the other side penalised to a much lesser degree. That way both teams learn the right lessons
i.e
The aggressors learn that the full weight of the rule book will be applied and that the club feels the pinch of having to pay out for their sides poor discipline
The other side learn that reacting to these incidents in this way is not condoned and will be penalised (but that it is accepted that extreme provocation made it difficult to sit back and watch such thuggery happen therefore a lesser penalty imposed).

[Balboa]

As John Mullane said "If you do the crime, do the time".......

[NAG]

What are the chances tonight in the second place play off?

Can ballycastle put it up to St Johns in Corrigan, any word of whether McFall got the red card changed?

[maxpower]

What are the chances tonight in the second place play off?

Can ballycastle put it up to St Johns in Corrigan, any word of whether McFall got the red card changed?

certainly think ballycastle can put it up to them, i'd say home advantage may just sway it the way of st johns but the town will give it a right lash.

if ballycastle do win, it would be four north antrim teams in the semi finals, been can't remember that happening in a while.  if all goes as expected in other group as well

[milltown row]

give us a chance max!!!!!

we go down tonight hoping we can turn them over, not going to happen usless we click, some of our better players have went missing in the last few games and if they turn it on tonight it should be close.

looking to keep it tight and see what happens.

so has everybody got their tickets for the Final this Sunday? hopefully Limerick wont fall apart at the start and make this final a nail biter, for me the last few finals although good have never been like previous rounds, i think Limerick will play a blood and thunder game and Kilkenny i'm sure will step up to that and should make it tight for 60 mins

after that the Cats should pull away and win by 6