London prevented from coming to Ireland to play friendlies

[theticklemister]

Why should London be treated differently from anyone else? If they reckon abroad is different then let them not play in the All Ireland championship. New York and London are a cause of immense hassle to the championship and are no benefit whatsoever.

Arrah, let's go the full hog and take out the passengers and just let the 26 counties play the championship. I'm sure we can convince Kilkenny to take the big ball up again.

Bejaysus, buck - perspective, please.

well said.

what manager in their right mind anyways would take their team on a training weekend 13 days before the championship???

[BennyHarp]

Why should London be treated differently from anyone else? If they reckon abroad is different then let them not play in the All Ireland championship. New York and London are a cause of immense hassle to the championship and are no benefit whatsoever.

What hassle are London exactly? Lets hope you don't find yourself away from home and looking to kick a bit of ball. The GAA has a responsibility to everyone playing the game, not just those in Ireland.

[Rossfan]

He referred to the hassle of  them being in the Championship.
Nobody is stopping exiles playing football but do they really HAVE to be in the Championship and why poor Connacht?
However, seeing as London are still in it-  not letting them play a few warm up challenge games is taking the letter of the law a biteen too far

[BennyHarp]

He referred to the hassle of  them being in the Championship.
Nobody is stopping exiles playing football but do they really HAVE to be in the Championship and why poor Connacht?
However, seeing as London are still in it-  not letting them play a few warm up challenge games is taking the letter of the law a biteen too far

That's nice that they won't stop exiles playing - how very decent! 

But, seriously, what is the hassle of London playing in the championship? The GAA is quite happy to spend thousands of pounds sending a team to Australia to play in a bastardised version of our game which adds nothing to the GAA, yet its a hassle to enable lads who put an immense amount of time and effort into the sport to compete in the championship - which is an hour on a plane away! With more and more players heading to London, a shock may not be too far away.

[Hound]

Is everyone getting the wrong end of the stick I wonder? (Or maybe its just me?)

If Dublin were organsing a training weekend this weekend to play say Cork on Saturday and Kerry on Sunday, it is my understanding that they would not be allowed to do so, because the league is finished and its more than 2 weeks until championship starts.

The purpose of this rule is that clubs come first in the intervening period. Thus Dublin for instance have a round of club championship games on over the next few days and it could mess everything up if the county manager wanted to arrange a training weekend.

So of course London should not be granted a special exemption from this rule.

I think possibly the initial article was misleading (whether deliberate or not?) 

[Zulu]

Why should London not be exempt from this rule Hound? Dublin could organise 10 challenge matches over the next 10 weekends if they wanted but London clearly could not due to the expense (among other reasons) so they must get as much out of a trip to Ireland as they can, thus the two games.

[screenexile]

Why should London not be exempt from this rule Hound? Dublin could organise 10 challenge matches over the next 10 weekends if they wanted but London clearly could not due to the expense (among other reasons) so they must get as much out of a trip to Ireland as they can, thus the two games.

I agree Zulu. It's a ludicrous decision in this day and age. Is someone going to tell me that none of the Counties in Ireland aren't having a "Training Weekend" between the end of league and Championship. No way that's not happening!!!

[Hardy]

Again and again we see this farcical ritual played out.

Start:
Propose a rule.
It goes through Congress without any consideration of unintended effects.
Said effects become obvious in a particular case.
A hue and cry erupts, with widespread calls for this rule not to applied in this case (generally known as the "common sense" solution).
The rule is applied anyway (rightly, of course – "common sense" is just shorthand for complete anarchy).
Obviously a rule is needed to nullify the now-obvious shortcomings of this rule.
Go to Start.

Is it in our DNA or something?

[deiseach]

Again and again we see this farcical ritual played out.

Start:
Propose a rule.
It goes through Congress without any consideration of unintended effects.
Said effects become obvious in a particular case.
A hue and cry erupts, with widespread calls for this rule not to applied in this case (generally known as the "common sense" solution).
The rule is applied anyway (rightly, of course – "common sense" is just shorthand for complete anarchy).
Obviously a rule is needed to nullify the now-obvious shortcomings of this rule.
Go to Start.

Is it in our DNA or something?

+1. The farce over Division Four teams going into the Tommy Murphy Cup rather than the qualifiers was the classic example of this. Everyone voted for it, then were agin it when they saw what it meant.

[johnneycool]

Again and again we see this farcical ritual played out.

Start:
Propose a rule.
It goes through Congress without any consideration of unintended effects.
Said effects become obvious in a particular case.
A hue and cry erupts, with widespread calls for this rule not to applied in this case (generally known as the "common sense" solution).
The rule is applied anyway (rightly, of course – "common sense" is just shorthand for complete anarchy).
Obviously a rule is needed to nullify the now-obvious shortcomings of this rule.
Go to Start.

Is it in our DNA or something?

+1. The farce over Division Four teams going into the Tommy Murphy Cup rather than the qualifiers was the classic example of this. Everyone voted for it, then were agin it when they saw what it meant.

Ditto the current NHL scenario.

[Rossfan]

That happens with the hurley crowd nearly every year 

[BennyHarp]

Lucky they squeeze into the 13 day rule, London missed out by 2 days as they wanted to play on the 11th and 12th.

Donegal head for training camp
10 May 2013
Donegal footballers will spend five days at a training camp in Co Meath, next week.

The All-Ireland champions are heading for the renowned Johnstown House Hotel next Tuesday and they will stay there till Saturday.

The squad will work intensely ahead of their Ulster SFC clash against Tyrone in Ballybofey on May 26th.

Training camps are an integral part of a county team's preparations for the championship with the likes of Kerry going to Portugal earlier in the year, while Mayo spent a few days in Belmullet.

[Rossfan]

That Hotel is in Co Kildare isn't it?

[rodney trotter]

Enfield. Meath

[Rossfan]

I know Enfield is in Meath Rodney but that hotel is on the south of the Motorway and is as far as far as I know in Kildare - Johnstown Bridge.
Dinny or Donnelly's could confirm.