Texting is banned ! Good idea or more nonsense ?

[orangeman]

GAA bans text messaging directly to teenage club members



Thursday March 04 2010

A GAA move to stop clubs from sending round-robin text messages directly to juvenile players because of a new child protection regime is set to have sweeping implications for Irish sports clubs. The GAA, under an initiative triggered by Croke Park's new code of practice for juvenile members, is telling its 14,500 clubs that text messages can only be sent directly to under-18s with the written consent of their parents or guardians.

While a majority of soccer, athletics, swimming and rugby clubs already send such alerts directly to parents, some have used round-robin text messages to brief players in their late teens about matches, training sessions and upcoming club events.

The GAA move is set to trigger a copycat move by other sports bodies that text messages. Like other Irish sports clubs, the GAA -- with 250,000 members -- had found round-robin text messages to be a cost-effective way of alerting players to match times and training sessions as well key pieces of club news.

The GAA has started briefing club officials on the policy which has been matched by the GAA moving to have all its juvenile mentors submit garda vetting forms before such measures become mandatory.

GAA Children's Office director Gearoid O Maolmhichil said it did not make sense for middle-aged people to have the mobile phone numbers of young teenagers.

"Of course there can be an exception to the rule for a 16 or 17 year old where the parent chooses that that is the person, for domestic purposes or other purposes, that should get the text, then fine," he said.

- Ralph Riegel

Irish Independent

[Bensars]

Not suprised at all, and when you think about it , totally reasonable.

I recently attended a coacing course and was suprised at the volume of child protection information and procedures within the course.

And theres a new regulation ( north anyway) coming out in june or july where all information will have to be submitted for approval once again.

[boojangles]

We were told at the latest Code of Best Practice course that texting kids directly was frowned upon by Croke Park. And I can definitely see where they are coming from but texting parents is just not an option. My club has just given a letter to each player looking for their parents written consent that the club can text them for events and also that their image can be used in team photographs,match reports etc. Its the best way around it.

[haranguerer]

Non-story - hardly banned: just requires the written consent of the parents, which is pretty sensible, and relatively hassle-free to obtain.

[thewobbler]

This is madness.

[ziggysego]

Non-story - hardly banned: just requires the written consent of the parents, which is pretty sensible, and relatively hassle-free to obtain.

The best solution. Another way would be to set up a twitter account for your club/team and post the changes there.

[longrunsthefox]

How did we manage to get to games and training in the old days at all... jees! a note in  a local shop window and newspaper and word of mouth...

[ziggysego]

How did we manage to get to games and training in the old days at all... jees! a note in  a local shop window and newspaper and word of mouth...

Get with the programme fox, you're embarrassing yourself 

[magpie seanie]

Non-story - hardly banned: just requires the written consent of the parents, which is pretty sensible, and relatively hassle-free to obtain.

Yeah and when all clubs move to the Membership & Registration system this year its set up in such a way that a parent/guardian is copied on text to juvenile. Part of me feels its a bit ott but its better than anything dodgy ever happening so even though its a bit more hassle for team organisers overall the GAA is to be commended. Other sporting organisations will struggle to keep up with this.

[longrunsthefox]

How did we manage to get to games and training in the old days at all... jees! a note in  a local shop window and newspaper and word of mouth...

Get with the programme fox, you're embarrassing yourself 

Wise up Ziggy... I'm not embarrassed... if I see you soon throw another cup of tea around you... be warned   

[DownFanatic]

This is ridiculous.

[saffron sam2]

Perfectly sensible move.

Could you imagine the uproar if ONeill was texting one of his female students about "coursework"?

Didn't go down well the last time.

[DownFanatic]

It is now getting to the point were coaches are walking on eggshells in case they say/do something innapropriate at underage trainings and matches that contravenes the myriad of Child Protection laws.

It will get to the point in the next few years when coaches will just not want to be bothered with taking a team. Child Protection and related forms are going to get more plentiful and eventually a system will be in place where coaches will be very vulnerable to accusations and the like.

I don't mind having the basic Child Protection principles in place but we are going to get bogged down in political correctness.

[pintsofguinness]

We've gone from one extreme to the other.

[thewobbler]

The bottom line on this is that if you have a quick, cheap and highly effective way to communicate plans to people who want to play sport, it should never be interfered with.

Little Johnny's parents - even if they're biggest fcukwits in the world - cannot fail to appreciate it when their child gets informed that a match or training has been cancelled, therefore saving a trip to the club to find the gates are closed with nobody home.