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

[DUBSFORSAM1]

Article from the Independent today which shows how to influence young people to play GAA...



Transfer timebomb

These two talented 13-year-old boys are on the brink of quitting Gaelic football because the GAA's transfer rules have left them in limbo. Cliona Foley reports on a row that has rocked a parish

TWO Kildare teenagers who are being blocked from moving clubs are likely to give up Gaelic football altogether if they are not allowed to transfer, their parents have warned.

The row, involving two 13-year-old members of Athgarvan GFC, has once again raised questions about the strict transfer rules which apply to children and adults alike in the GAA.

If they were playing juvenile soccer or rugby, the youngsters could move freely at the start of a new season, but not in the GAA.

Jamie Smith and Shane McSweeney's parents are afraid that by blocking their sons transfers, the GAA will drive them into the arms of other sports.

Smith (13) - who moved from England to Athgarvan in County Kildare just four years ago - is already a promising soccer player with Newbridge Town. He has played for his local league in the Kennedy Cup, the country's most prestigious U13 soccer tournament and a haven for scouts from English clubs.

But he has also played Gaelic football for Athgarvan, winning a place on a South Kildare team.

Shane McSweeney, almost 14, has played Gaelic football alongside him for their local club which provides the main sporting outlet in a burgeoning village on the edge of the Curragh.

His younger sister is already playing at U11 level for Sarsfields, in the nearby town of Newbridge - a club he, like Smith, now wants to join.

And his mother Mary fears that not allowing him transfer will create a vacuum which rugby - which he has taken up in his new secondary school (Newbridge College) - will inevitably fill.

Both families are desperately disappointed that their local club (Athgarvan) has blocked the children's transfer to Sarsfields and are now questioning the fairness of the GAA's strict transfer system.

It feels like he is being treated unfairly and that adults are putting up barriers for their own small victories

Newbridge is less than three miles away and Sarsfields could be fairly described as an urban 'super-club', given its facilities, structures and past successes.

In comparison, Athgarvan is a tiny rural club which has to amalgamate with another club (Nurney) to make up the numbers at U14/U16 level.

Athgarvan officials have declined to speak to the Irish Independent, but they refused to sanction the youngsters' transfers and countered the children's requests before a Kildare transfer hearing last Monday night.

In arguing for holding onto the two players, Athgarvan suggested during the hearing that this was a case of poaching - a claim strenuously denied by Sarsfields.

Smith's father Liam has also denied the poaching claim, insisting that his son instigated the move because many of the children he knows from playing soccer, and from school, are Sarsfields' members.

Liam Smith says there is no question of his son being poached and, as an FAI Emerging Talent coach, is surprised that young GAA players cannot transfer unless their clubs release them.

"There's complete freedom of choice in soccer, the children can play for whatever club they choose at the start of the season. As a coach, in any sport, your priority would be the development of players and ensuring they are playing," Smith explains.

"I know GAA players traditionally would stay with their parish club, but our view is that Jamie has just turned 13, has made new friends and it is very short-sighted of Kildare GAA to stop him.

"He loves playing Gaelic football. But if he can't move GAA clubs, he will probably either play more soccer or basketball or rugby."

Mary McSweeney also believes her son - who has played with Athgarvan since he was eight and reached a county final at U12 level - will not play for them this season, even if they retain his membership.

"He's nearly 14, an age when a lot of kids give up sport. Six of his U12 team have gone to rugby, four have transferred elsewhere and four have given up.

"It's not the end of the world, no one is dead or anything," she stressed. "But it feels like he is being treated unfairly and that adults are putting up barriers for their own small victories.

"He wants to move now and if he is not allowed I can see him playing rugby, even though he much prefers Gaelic."

Ironically, Kildare has no 'parish rule' which often restricts players' movements between neighbouring clubs.

However, the dilemma occurs because GAA players, at all levels, cannot move clubs without the permission of their last one.

Athgarvan's refusal to rubber-stamp these transfers is far from unique.

The Kildare County Board heard 21 transfer appeals last Monday and held firm on 14 refusals. Ten of the 21 appeals, at least, came from juvenile players.

Dilemma

Kildare GAA secretary Kathleen O'Neill says there is a valid reason for having juveniles governed by the same, strict transfer rules that govern adults.

"The problem is that a lot of children who travel into big towns for secondary school and make new friends, have been nurtured, from their primary school days, in small country clubs," she reasons.

"There are lots of volunteers who have invested time and effort in those children and the transfer rules, as they exist, at least offer some kind of protection to those small GAA clubs for all the effort they have put in to developing those players."

Because young soccer players automatically become free agents at the end of each season, such a row would not have occured in that sport, although underage soccer still sees its share of inter-club rows once the transfer window opens.

Club transfer controversies simply do not exist in underage rugby, according to Leinster's Provincial Domestic Games Manager David Ross, who works at the heart of their amateur game.

"Our clubs are very spread out across the country, so you simply don't have the case of children moving to another club nearby," he explained.

Automatic

"We don't actually have a 'transfer system' for youths (U18 players) because they simply do not move clubs unless their families re-locate, and then they will automatically be cleared to move."

However, he stipulated that "we would not encourage the concept of one club taking underage players from other clubs, especially if they were obviously making up a strong team.

"If we got a request from an eight-year-old looking to move to a club 15 or 30 miles away, simply on the grounds that they had a really good coach or something, that would not be encouraged," Ross added.

Meanwhile, the refusal of the youngsters' transfer request is expected to be rubber-stamped by Kildare County Board next Tuesday.

[pintsofguinness]

Let them f**k off to some other sport.

[realredhandfan]

I blame the parents.

[pintsofguinness]

Aye, sound like right knobs.

[tayto]

Sher jesus the indo was saying mattie forde was going to bugger off to soccer when he was banned. Rules is rules.

[slow corner back]

Well said pints

[deiseach]

Love the use of "rubber stamp". Why don't they just refer to the Kildare Politburo and be done with it?

[DUBSFORSAM1]

How do they sound like knobs??? There children are good sports players and want to play with their own friends on a team.....surely we should be doing everything possible to keep children playing GAA??

[pintsofguinness]

Yes dubsforsam why don't we just let everyone move to wherever they want. We could do what soccer apparently do, let everyone decide their club at the beginning of the year.  That wouldn't kill off smaller clubs like Athgarvan at all. 

The parent's are knobs for going to a bloody national newspaper to try and force Athgarvan to allow the move.   

[deiseach]

How do they sound like knobs??? There children are good sports players and want to play with their own friends on a team.....surely we should be doing everything possible to keep children playing GAA??

Do you want the rules changed so that small clubs can be forced to relinquish their players, because this is the upshot of what is being asked for here

[behind the wire]

thats great DUBSFORSAM1, looks like u really want to help gaelic games.would u be any relation to dublinfella?

our games thrive because of the way teams are based. the way each of us takes pride in the local club brings amazement to those outside gaelic games. ever heard of pride in the jersey dubsforsam1? im proud of my club, and id say most of the true gaa men and women on the board are too - its a pity some people in the country dont take pride in their clubs. it would be different if there was some form of row in the club, but this seems like simple glory hunting.

p.s. sorry about the rant, but i cant stand transfers to neighbouring clubs.

[neilthemac]

especially from a small club to a big club

[DUBSFORSAM1]

thats great DUBSFORSAM1, looks like u really want to help gaelic games.would u be any relation to dublinfella?

our games thrive because of the way teams are based. the way each of us takes pride in the local club brings amazement to those outside gaelic games. ever heard of pride in the jersey dubsforsam1? im proud of my club, and id say most of the true gaa men and women on the board are too - its a pity some people in the country dont take pride in their clubs. it would be different if there was some form of row in the club, but this seems like simple glory hunting.

p.s. sorry about the rant, but i cant stand transfers to neighbouring clubs.

Behind the wire - I take exception to being compared to dublinfella.......

Yes I have heard of pride in the jersey but when we have all the competition to attract young players to play GAA from rugby/soccer etc and we then throw barriers in the way of 12/13 year old kids which is likely to possibly stop them playing it is a terrible shame.....

The fact is that most kids (and at 12/13 that is all they are) want to play with their friends who they know and go to school with etc especially as they already have family in the other club as it is...

Especially considering that players are allowed change counties etc when it suits them and adult players change clubs willy nilly at times.....should all players who move jobs be banned cause of the pride of hte local jersey etc?

[armaghniac]

If this kid moves to a different place, he'd have a case, he just wants to play with the "super" club, without moving anywhere! If  a kid can join any club just because he/she happens to go to secondary school in a bigger town, then the whole structure of the GAA is gone.

It is a disgrace that these parents are trying to use the newspaper to claim that there is something wrong with being expected to stay with the club in the place where they've chosen to live!  They are saying to their neighbours, we don't want to mix with you, our son is too good for all this. If that is so why don't they move to Newbridge.

[DUBSFORSAM1]

Armaghmaniac - Agree that it shouldn't have been brought to the papers but still the issue arises...

1 - 4 of his teammates have already had transfers approved...so there was no problem approving them transfers....
2 - 10 of his teammates have either quit or have taken up rugby.....

So that is probably a large part of hte people who he knew and played with........and all he wants to do now is play with his friends where he goes to school.....what good does forcing him to stay where he doesn't want to do?