Refusal to allow kids to transfer clubs could lead to them quitting GAA.....

[Louis the Red]

Going by this we should expect to see JP Donnellys sob story in the papers any day soon.  He'd love the attention

[DUBSFORSAM1]

DubNut

You suspect something even though the parents say it was the kids choice and then you say they shouldn't be in the GAA......

BrokenCrossbar -

If your father wasn't from Crossmaglen, if your brother played for Cullyhanna and nearly all the team you played for left Crossmaglen would you have stayed there???

What would you do if your son says he wants to move clubs or he will quit playing???

[dubnut]

You suspect something even though the parents say it was the kids choice and then you say they shouldn't be in the GAA......

Dubsforsam dont misquote me, I didnt say they shouldnt be in the GAA I said we could do without them if that was the attitude, here read it again.

"The whole mentality is that winning things is paramount as opposed to having pride in your local jersey.
I believe these are the people the GAA can do without"

[realredhandfan]

Could the parents not get a caravan in the carpark of the club that their kids want to play for.  How desperately inconsiderate of them?
"remember folks - only a fool breaks the parish rule"

[Captain Scarlet]

Dubs4sam they say it was the kids choice and maybe the kids want to leave now but thoughts of tranfers dont just pop into 13 and 14 year old heads. it other influences.

you seem to be the only person defending this move. if we let this happen paoching would be rampant. how come these lads never seem to want to step down to a smaller club to 'play with their friends'.

[lynchbhoy]

I think it is a tad wrong for the kids to do this, but I can certainly see where the kids families are coming from.
Rem if the kids were rubbish - there would prob be no furore.

This is a particularly messy situation as seemingly precedents have been set with other kids transferring.
Captain Scarlet, being a JTB man, you are not in a position to comment, your club being one of the biggest offenders in the late last millenium for 'approaching' players !

IMO the kids are wrong to move. Obv th parents are blow ins too and have no loyalty to athgarvan (I dont blame them).
If the parents had any idea of clubs and how the GAA work then they would have sent them on to the bigger and better club in the first place.
If I had kids - thats what I'd do. Its easier to change clubs later to a lesser club if yer kid is rubbish.
Then again thats the benefit of being in the same position as these kids myself many moons ago.
Underage football was fine - never a great team etc
but after minor , the intermediate team we joined - were rubbish.
Sorry that we didnt join johnstownbridge instead, so when the club we were playing for started giving us grief and other reasons, we did the glory hunting thing and transferred to a club in meath.
(didnt do much there either and it was a bad choice, but at least it was senior football).

So pintofguinness - come on and kick me ! !

The lads shouldnt be transferring now. Or shouldnt be let - thats what I think.

Kildare co board are not too great either.
I know a situation where two young lads living just inside the kildareside of the kildare/meath border were complained about to the kildare co board who took on their objection to the leinster council.
The lads were playing u14 & u12 for their fathers old team in co meath, and where they went to school (as their mother was a teacher there).
I think this appeal was rejected eventually - but a disgrace by the objecting club and kildare co board.

[Six Inch Nail]

A couple of points, Indiana, the old rule of not playing for a year and then being a "free agent" is gone.  If you register with a club you need their permission to transfer, regardless of how long you sulk.  

Dubsforsam, one of the parents refers to a number of friends already having left the club, could this figure possibly be exaggerated to further their case or are we to take it as fact.

Club transfers are a disgrace in my opinion, unless there is a serious geography issue.  These boys are simply transferring for glory reasons and nothing else.  The whole ethos of the GAA is that your club is everything and unless you're full of yourself and above your station, your team mates become your friends (this clearly doesn't happen when you think you are better than your team mates).

Also, lets not forget that the competition is between GAA, Soccer and Rugby, but also between neighbouring clubs.  Are smaller clubs to act as some sort of feeder clubs to the bigger ones (the strong get stronger and the weak get weaker).  

Like Brokencrossbar1, I have friends in Crossmaglen and Cullaville, how could I expect to be taken seroiusly if I wanted a transfer to one of these clubs so one of my friends could hold my hand.  If I was involved in the Athgarvan club I would do everything in my power to make things as awkward as possible for these 2 braves.

[Captain Scarlet]

Bit of a dirty dig there Lynchboy. There were only about two lads who could have been swayed and the lad who had to stay out of football for a year to join us is now getting back in the groove and i really dont think that shite went on to the extent people believe.

we are hardly a superclub and the lads were big enough and bauld enough to make a choice as to what would be better in terms of develpment as a footballer. look at the last 2 minor teams, its a good mix and lads with known allegiances will not be swayed either way.

[uselessfootballer]

Encountered the reverse of this situation recently (sort of).

My 12 year old daughter had been playing in a boys team for the past 2 years, she wouldn't be a stand out player but really enjoys the training and matches and has been improving steadily from a fairly low start point. There is no way I'd let her play U-14 Boys as it's a lot more physical than U-12's.

So although she now trains with the clubs ladies squad, the club has no underage girls teams therefore she will struggle to get any games this year. I discussed this with the club registar and secretary and they informed me that it is permissible at underage level to play on a specific team with another club if your own club has no team at that level.

I explained this to my daughter asking her if she wanted me to look into it. Her response was "no way I'm St Pauls (Co. Down) til I die", a wee bit melodramatic maybe but it was great to hear that response. There was just no way she would have considered playing for a neighbouring club and that's without any family pressure or history.

So even in a town club some kids are still getting and valuing the  "my club " concept.

Thankfully she is now getting some matches through her school team

[lynchbhoy]

Bit of a dirty dig there Lynchboy. There were only about two lads who could have been swayed and the lad who had to stay out of football for a year to join us is now getting back in the groove and i really dont think that shite went on to the extent people believe.

we are hardly a superclub and the lads were big enough and bauld enough to make a choice as to what would be better in terms of develpment as a footballer. look at the last 2 minor teams, its a good mix and lads with known allegiances will not be swayed either way.

no dirty dig at all SC
I was thinking of myself when writing that, I was always pressurised to join JTB for years from I was 15 up until u21
but as I had played for th clocks at 14, I was already declared for them - worse luck
I would have loved to play with JTB - it was just too late!

[darbyo]

When people with no involvement in the GAA try to brand us as 'backwoods men' etc. it really bugs me as by in large most of the people I know are reasonable people with a general love of sport. However reading some of the comments on this thread would make you wonder. Two children want to join another football club, rather than allow this some feel they should "F**k off and play some other sport", another poster would do all he could to make things as awkward as he could for these kids FFS, think about that, an adult out of spite preventing two young children from playing football!!. The main reason most kids play sport is for FUN not pride in the parish or glory hunting. I understand that the backbone of the GAA is the club and it is a great strenght of the GAA, but the times are changing, transport is easier now, more and more people live in the urban centres and this is a challenge for the GAA in general and rural clubs in particular. It must be met, but preventing children playing GAA is not the way to promote the GAA especially when other sports are more readilly available now and they will only be too glad to take them.

[pintsofguinness]

The main reason most kids play sport is for FUN not pride in the parish or glory hunting. I understand that the backbone of the GAA is the club and it is a great strenght of the GAA, but the times are changing, transport is easier now, more and more people live in the urban centres and this is a challenge for the GAA in general and rural clubs in particular. It must be met, but preventing children playing GAA is not the way to promote the GAA especially when other sports are more readilly available now and they will only be too glad to take them.

So like a few others you are advocating abandoning our rules to keep someone playing, I'll make the point again, where would be draw the line?  Any kid I know that plays underage has great pride in their jersey and their club.
And no, you clearly don't understand that the backbone of the gaa is the club. 

[Treasurer]

You'd have to wonder sometimes what does the club actually mean to some people.  Allowing transfers from small rural clubs to bigger urban ones would sound the death knell for a lot of clubs, many of whom are already struggling. 

[Rick O Shea]

an adult out of spite preventing two young children from playing football!!.
.......
preventing children playing GAA is not the way to promote the GAA especially when other sports are more readilly available now and they will only be too glad to take them.

No-one is preventing, or wanting to prevent these kids from playing football!!! They are currently members of a gaa club offering them the chance to play football. It's the transfer that the qualms are about...

[Treasurer]

Rem if the kids were rubbish - there would prob be no furore.

Not necessarily true - if you're coming from a small club.