Antrim Hurling

[theskull1]

It is only human nature for someone to help out his own when one has been given such powers...........

[Stillwater2]

Stick a roof over our (Sarsfields) terracing and there you go, we suggested this to the county 5 years ago along with a detailed plan we had to host county games.

4 New changing rooms getting built at the minute.

[Milltown Row2]

Have you been the the Johnnies ground since the stand has been gone? They have to their credit, have great changing room facilites an indoor training center underneath the clubhouse and a decent pitch,

Like every other club the Johnnies have been doing fundraisers for years, their major handicap is having so many teams, ladies teams hurling and football to support that's a lot harder to support than lets say, Cushendall or Cargin who have one code to cater for... the money raised is going three ways instead of one

If they get a stand (thats a big if) then so be it, I (being a Naomh Gall man) wouldnt begrudge them it as all the clubs, our's included need to update our facilites, its wont make us a better team or encourage more kids to play, but will certainly bring the GAA into the 21 centuary

Yeah I have been up to see the 'new' facilities.

I would say they are not on their own in running so many teams, but to me that would actually increase the number of people/ families that they would have in the club? No?

I am not arguing that it is not needed, but totally smacks of opportunism to me. This if you look back is a historical element linking back to the whole redevelopment of Casement.

You have the same core element within a club that do all the work, all clubs have it, be it coaching managers, groundsmen.

Parents of kids is a very small percentage of generating income in my opinion unless they get involved with helping out, in Belfast people drop their kids off and pick them up at the end of a session/match, very rarely do they stay, in most cases the kids are picked up by another parent who'll be a clubman of sorts whose own kid is a player...

The community aspect is not the same as it would be in Cushendall, or other clubs which have a very small town or village set up, the hurling field is part of their community hub, most people have hurled for that club or have had some input into the running of it so they have bought into it a long time ago and feel the need to improve on it and that means funding, be it lotto, or Gala nights and other fundraisers...

Based on what ive seen at my own club having so many teams doesnt translate into making more money, just draining the club even further of the money its got....

People have very short memories of the facilities that were on show in their own clubs recent pasts, Belfast clubs for most parts have let that go, you cant start knocking them now if they make inroads into improving their clubs now!!

No one is knocking anyone for trying to improve their club.  Hard work via fundraising activities for improvement will be well supported. If St Johns men arrive at the doors in Cushendall, Loughgiel, Dunloy etc they will be well received, of that I have no doubt.  What is grating people here is opportunism of trying to leverage funds that other clubs should be just as entitled to. Why would/should St Johns be seen as the natural location for a new stand? I would argue that there are half a dozen clubs in Antrim that have better supporting infrastructure and the investment in a stand would make more sense at these clubs.

Transparency in the decision making process is essentially what it all boils down to.

I'm all for it, some sort of criteria to get the best possible venue, Belfast needs to have a stadium of sorts and thats not biased at all, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Kilkenny and a host of other major towns/cities in Ireland have that, Antrim has not got it in its major city where most of its clubs are based.... I'd much rather we had teh money to do our club up as place to host county games

[paddyjohn]

Stick a roof over our (Sarsfields) terracing and there you go, we suggested this to the county 5 years ago along with a detailed plan we had to host county games.

4 New changing rooms getting built at the minute.

Aye but its not Corrigan! I agree that you lads would be a good option but what would you do with parking?

[north aontroim gael]

Have you been the the Johnnies ground since the stand has been gone? They have to their credit, have great changing room facilites an indoor training center underneath the clubhouse and a decent pitch,

Like every other club the Johnnies have been doing fundraisers for years, their major handicap is having so many teams, ladies teams hurling and football to support that's a lot harder to support than lets say, Cushendall or Cargin who have one code to cater for... the money raised is going three ways instead of one

If they get a stand (thats a big if) then so be it, I (being a Naomh Gall man) wouldnt begrudge them it as all the clubs, our's included need to update our facilites, its wont make us a better team or encourage more kids to play, but will certainly bring the GAA into the 21 centuary

Yeah I have been up to see the 'new' facilities.

I would say they are not on their own in running so many teams, but to me that would actually increase the number of people/ families that they would have in the club? No?

I am not arguing that it is not needed, but totally smacks of opportunism to me. This if you look back is a historical element linking back to the whole redevelopment of Casement.

You have the same core element within a club that do all the work, all clubs have it, be it coaching managers, groundsmen.

Parents of kids is a very small percentage of generating income in my opinion unless they get involved with helping out, in Belfast people drop their kids off and pick them up at the end of a session/match, very rarely do they stay, in most cases the kids are picked up by another parent who'll be a clubman of sorts whose own kid is a player...

The community aspect is not the same as it would be in Cushendall, or other clubs which have a very small town or village set up, the hurling field is part of their community hub, most people have hurled for that club or have had some input into the running of it so they have bought into it a long time ago and feel the need to improve on it and that means funding, be it lotto, or Gala nights and other fundraisers...

Based on what ive seen at my own club having so many teams doesnt translate into making more money, just draining the club even further of the money its got....

People have very short memories of the facilities that were on show in their own clubs recent pasts, Belfast clubs for most parts have let that go, you cant start knocking them now if they make inroads into improving their clubs now!!

No one is knocking anyone for trying to improve their club.  Hard work via fundraising activities for improvement will be well supported. If St Johns men arrive at the doors in Cushendall, Loughgiel, Dunloy etc they will be well received, of that I have no doubt.  What is grating people here is opportunism of trying to leverage funds that other clubs should be just as entitled to. Why would/should St Johns be seen as the natural location for a new stand? I would argue that there are half a dozen clubs in Antrim that have better supporting infrastructure and the investment in a stand would make more sense at these clubs.

Transparency in the decision making process is essentially what it all boils down to.

I'm all for it, some sort of criteria to get the best possible venue, Belfast needs to have a stadium of sorts and thats not biased at all, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Kilkenny and a host of other major towns/cities in Ireland have that, Antrim has not got it in its major city where most of its clubs are based.... I'd much rather we had teh money to do our club up as place to host county games

Casement is surely the answer. It should still be operating as our county ground but we'll not get into the mess that has got us to where we are now.

[Milltown Row2]

It is the answer but as yet its not!! We'll be having this Casement chat for another ten years the way things are carrying on, get something built !!

[hurlingstick]

Stick a roof over our (Sarsfields) terracing and there you go, we suggested this to the county 5 years ago along with a detailed plan we had to host county games.

4 New changing rooms getting built at the minute.

Great facilities but parking would be an issue surely?

[Stillwater2]

We had an agreement with a local school for the use of there facilities for parking.

Was part of the plan presented.

[paddyjohn]

We had an agreement with a local school for the use of there facilities for parking.

Was part of the plan presented.

Cant understand why it wasn't taken into consideration. Bear Pit is as good a surface as any in the county.  Also better viewing with the terrace and seating now than Corrigan.

Looking to get a stand at Corrigan is opportunism by the county chairman and indeed looking after your own. As somebody else posted, clubs like Cushendall, Dunloy, Ballycastle and Loughiel all hosted Hurling & Creggan and Ahoghill hosted Football, surely they can feel aggrieved that they haven't been offered this. In fact would Ahoghill not be the place for it as it has Floodlights for those championship games like St Galls V Lamh Dhearg last year. Does this plan for the stand inclued floodlights?

Do the powers that be think a stand at Corrigan will increase attendances and before its cast my direction, I didn't attend all county games this season in Corrigan due to other commitments.

[Jeepers Creepers]

We had an agreement with a local school for the use of there facilities for parking.

Was part of the plan presented.

What school was that Stillwater?

[hurlingstick]

We had an agreement with a local school for the use of there facilities for parking.

Was part of the plan presented.

St. Genivieves?

[NAG1]

We had an agreement with a local school for the use of there facilities for parking.

Was part of the plan presented.

Did you not also have a plan to run a road up the Rossa pitch to the Shaws Road?

Now there's an idea I can get on board with 

[paddyjohn]

Be interesting to see it. Was it dismissed by the Co Board at the time?

[theskull1]

Rightly or wrongly ...... I think we'll see a decrease in financial good will toward our county fund raising efforts on the back of this suggestion the chairmans club really needs these facilities ahead of others who've been regularly hosting for years in the wind and sleet.

There's a distinct inability to make good strategic decisions around facilities that makes total sense

[johnneycool]

there's no need now, Davitts have it all sorted over at Beechmount.