Dublin CB reject Eamon Fennell's transfer request - were they right or wrong ?

[heffo]

dont know if this has been said prev - too lazy to look - but an account of this from a high up member of our own club said -
part of Fennells appeal to the board was that he is now being attacked in nightclubs by former otooles team mates.
At the meeting otooles representatives ignored this and said that once his appeal fails, they will 'welcome' him back to the club.
Fennell stated that there was no way he could or now would go back to o'tooles.
Otooles then stated that if he didnt go back to them they would lobby for his removal from the Dublin panel !!
what a nice bunch of lads.
Not only will Fennell now be looking at the best club in the area to go to (undoubtedly in meath) he will possibly have to join the royals if he is kicked out of Dublin intercounty squad !
That would solve meaths midfield problem and stop people moaning about poor mark ward !

Though as Fennell is very friendly with the Plunketts crew, I would say they would nearly go on strike if DCB try to kick Fennell out of Dublin panel !

what a disaster of affairs. I can understand Otooles annoyance, but he's gone - let him go.

I can't it coming to that LB

One of three things will happen IMO:

1. He makes himself available for the next O'Tooles SFC game in late August and all is glossed over
2. He doesn't make himself available for that game, O'Tooles don't object but the DCB inform the Dublin mgt that he's unavailable for selection until further notice
3. He transfers to a nearby club in Meath and continues with Dublin

[orangeman]

I'm hearing a Kildare club might put in a bid for him.

[lynchbhoy]

dont know if this has been said prev - too lazy to look - but an account of this from a high up member of our own club said -
part of Fennells appeal to the board was that he is now being attacked in nightclubs by former otooles team mates.
At the meeting otooles representatives ignored this and said that once his appeal fails, they will 'welcome' him back to the club.
Fennell stated that there was no way he could or now would go back to o'tooles.
Otooles then stated that if he didnt go back to them they would lobby for his removal from the Dublin panel !!
what a nice bunch of lads.
Not only will Fennell now be looking at the best club in the area to go to (undoubtedly in meath) he will possibly have to join the royals if he is kicked out of Dublin intercounty squad !
That would solve meaths midfield problem and stop people moaning about poor mark ward !

Though as Fennell is very friendly with the Plunketts crew, I would say they would nearly go on strike if DCB try to kick Fennell out of Dublin panel !

what a disaster of affairs. I can understand Otooles annoyance, but he's gone - let him go.

I can't it coming to that LB

One of three things will happen IMO:

1. He makes himself available for the next O'Tooles SFC game in late August and all is glossed over
2. He doesn't make himself available for that game, O'Tooles don't object but the DCB inform the Dublin mgt that he's unavailable for selection until further notice
3. He transfers to a nearby club in Meath and continues with Dublin

Heffo, there is no way apparantly that he will go back to otooles after what has happened - and I cant blame him.
can see scenario 2 happening - but after otooles 'secretly' having a word to them !
I think his best bet is Dunshaughlin, celbridge are apparantly interested - but they are not good enough imo !

[fearglasmor]

This is a bit of nonsense. I've no idea what went on here but what should have happened is O'Tooles should have made every effort to try to persuade him to stay and if that failed they should have reluctantly ok'd his transfer.

This is nothing new. Going back thirty years my own club then a first division senior club, had a number of players who transferred in from nearby rural junior clubs and there was no dig deal about. Of course they werent senior county players at the time but a few of them did play minor and u-21 and this is why they wanted to be playing top flight football.

[supersarsfields]

This is a bit of nonsense. I've no idea what went on here but what should have happened is O'Tooles should have made every effort to try to persuade him to stay and if that failed they should have reluctantly ok'd his transfer.

This is nothing new. Going back thirty years my own club then a first division senior club, had a number of players who transferred in from nearby rural junior clubs and there was no dig deal about. Of course they werent senior county players at the time but a few of them did play minor and u-21 and this is why they wanted to be playing top flight football.

I can't agree with your second paragraph Fear. I hate seeing players tranfering because they "want to play at the top level". If all good players thought like that then you'd end up with only a few big super clubs in each county that pick the talent from the rest of the smaller clubs. This is despite the smaller clubs doing the graft and coaching the player at under age. If a player has to move for genuine reasons such as moving house, work etc then fair enough. But I don't agree that players should be allowed to move willy nilly because they want to play at the top level.


By the way, my views aren't in relation to this case, more of a overall view.

[cornafean]

Didn't hear that one lynchbhoy,but if its true about attacks in pubs and clubs then eamo has every right not to set foot near o'tooles again,what player in their right mind would?it must be a very very small minority against him from the o'tooles senior panel,cause any lads i've talked to from o'tooles are at ease with eamon and his decision.To think that with eamon being a GPO,he is coaching out in finbarrs on behalf of the county board,what happens there?Would you work for those dinosaurs who are in control of your footballing career.Must be a frustrating situation to be in.

I think we have tolerated this carry-on for far too long. The time for action is now. We need an Emergency Special Congress to ensure that all the GAA rules don't apply to players who have been beaten up in nightclubs by their clubmates 

[ricky-bobby]

here here

[fearglasmor]

This is a bit of nonsense. I've no idea what went on here but what should have happened is O'Tooles should have made every effort to try to persuade him to stay and if that failed they should have reluctantly ok'd his transfer.

This is nothing new. Going back thirty years my own club then a first division senior club, had a number of players who transferred in from nearby rural junior clubs and there was no dig deal about. Of course they werent senior county players at the time but a few of them did play minor and u-21 and this is why they wanted to be playing top flight football.

I can't agree with your second paragraph Fear. I hate seeing players tranfering because they "want to play at the top level". If all good players thought like that then you'd end up with only a few big super clubs in each county that pick the talent from the rest of the smaller clubs. This is despite the smaller clubs doing the graft and coaching the player at under age. If a player has to move for genuine reasons such as moving house, work etc then fair enough. But I don't agree that players should be allowed to move willy nilly because they want to play at the top level.


By the way, my views aren't in relation to this case, more of a overall view.

Yea, take your point. I wasnt actually condoning it, just saying that its nothing new and not just in big name cases. But the thing is if a guy wants to go and you cant persuade him otherwise, is it better to stop the transfer and end up with him going to play soccer or rugby or just chalk it up as a loss. Because for every guy that did tranfer to our club, there were lots more very talented players who never dreamt of leaving.

[Zulu]

Regardless of anyones opinions on whether players should transfer from their own club to another when it isn't a geographical necessity so to speak it is in everyone's best interests to allow a player who won't play to leave. You can talk all you like about ethos, small clubs, etc. but at the end of the day this is amateur, low level sport and if a guy wants to play elsewhere then he should be allowed. Put in a geographical boundary if you want but signing up for a club as a kid shouldn't mean they have the final say on who you are allowed to play for for the rest of your life.

[supersarsfields]

Sorry Zulu I disagree. I know it sounds harsh but I believe it's the only way of ensuring smaller clubs don't dissappear. And if that means taking a stance on a few players then so be it, if it might prevent others trying it in the future.

If it comes down to it and you have a good reason to transfer then fine.

If not then I'd expect the GAA to make a bigger effort to protect the smaller clubs than trying to ensure a player doesn't walk away from Gaelic. For me it's the clubs that keep the gaa going and they're more important than individual players.

[Zulu]

SS I know what you're saying but this isn't a case of a smaller club trying to prevent a bigger club get its star player. This is a club which isn't treating football as serious as they should be and they don't want him to go to a certain club. Now maybe Fennells reasons for moving to Vins are dubious but O'Tooles are stopping him moving out of spite not out of any higher purpose and no club should be allowed to do that. Like I said, you can make it difficult for lads to transfer and limit the area in whaich they can transfer, i.e you can only transfer to a club within a 5 mile radius (for example) but no club should have the power to say you can't play your chosen sport unless it is for us That isn't what any sport should be about.

[supersarsfields]

None of my points were in relation to this case, TBH I don't know enough of the goings on with it to pass comment directly on it. Mine were more in general. But I still believe that if a club refuses to let a player transfer and the county board also look at it and agree that there's not geniune reasons for the player transfering then I'd be happy enough with their decision to prevent the player playing for another club. I'd rather that, than say the move santioned and the grip on these transfers getting looser and looser.

[Zulu]

But this is the point, at some point a player must be allowed to leave if he doesn't want to play for a certain club. I agree with having limitations on player transfers but if I fall out with a set of brothers in my club team from an influential family (for example) and I want to leave then I should be able to. If we accept that club or county administrators should have the ultimate say then my sporting career is at the mercy of individuals and that is wrong. There comes a point where everyone should be able to leave any club, maybe they might have to sit out for 2 years but if they are willing to do that to leave then a club should no longer have a right to prevent him moving. Transfers happen all over the country every year and there has to be a means for players to leave, it isn't the mafia a 7 year old signs up for.

[orangeman]

No winners here I'm afraid. Basically the vote imo was the smaller clubs standing up and saying "no more" to poaching. EF was a pawn caught in the power struggle and I feel sorry for him. I can well believe him when he said that during the summer there would be only 5/6 at football  training at O'Tooles.
Still think we (in Dublin) need a wider spread of clubs on our county teams. Thankfully our underage teams are reflecting this wider spread.

I'm not doubting you but that's incredible.

This isn't right for a start.

[Hound]

No winners here I'm afraid. Basically the vote imo was the smaller clubs standing up and saying "no more" to poaching. EF was a pawn caught in the power struggle and I feel sorry for him. I can well believe him when he said that during the summer there would be only 5/6 at football  training at O'Tooles.
Still think we (in Dublin) need a wider spread of clubs on our county teams. Thankfully our underage teams are reflecting this wider spread.

I'm not doubting you but that's incredible.

This isn't right for a start.

For sure, as soon as that rumour became public, there were 20+ lads up at training. But I don't think anyone from O'Tooles would deny that some nights in the previous year or two there were very poor attendances and nobody seemed to care. Arguably this controversy will benefit the football team in any event as there will be more attention paid to it.