awol MARK MCHUGH awol

[PAULD123]

I think players don't get enough football.

Soccer players train every week 3-4 days but this is at least rewarded with a match every week. Gaelic players are training 7 days a week with around 3-4 days team training and they may not pull on a county shirt for weeks maybe months. Even then they may not even get to play. I think every player would ask for only one thing. To get the chance to play matches. That's what they train for yet so many of them have to train from early April to June with not a single game. Also with so few games there are few opportunities for fringe players to justify all that hard work and sacrifice.

For the effort put in I think the players deserve to be playing a minimum of 20 matches a year. But in fact if you win a McKenna Cup, A National League and an All-Ireland final only then would you be playing around 20 games.

A team beat in McKenna group stage, not qualifying for a league final would have only 10 matches played going into a championship which would likely be over in about 2-3 games.

Burnout does not come from regular matches it is much more likely from pushing physically when all there is for a reward is the requirement to push physically gain with no actual match in close sight.

[muppet]

I think players don't get enough football.

Soccer players train every week 3-4 days but this is at least rewarded with a match every week. Gaelic players are training 7 days a week with around 3-4 days team training and they may not pull on a county shirt for weeks maybe months. Even then they may not even get to play. I think every player would ask for only one thing. To get the chance to play matches. That's what they train for yet so many of them have to train from early April to June with not a single game. Also with so few games there are few opportunities for fringe players to justify all that hard work and sacrifice.

For the effort put in I think the players deserve to be playing a minimum of 20 matches a year. But in fact if you win a McKenna Cup, A National League and an All-Ireland final only then would you be playing around 20 games.

A team beat in McKenna group stage, not qualifying for a league final would have only 10 matches played going into a championship which would likely be over in about 2-3 games.

Burnout does not come from regular matches it is much more likely from pushing physically when all there is for a reward is the requirement to push physically gain with no actual match in close sight.

Good post.

Think of Bingo's OP on this thread: http://gaaboard.com/board/index.php?topic=24597.0

Surely Gaelic Games is as much about the games as anything else, and actually playing them?

Most people here will recall really looking forward to games whether it was school, club, college or a higher level. Most of us don't like to remember the periods of training to sit on the bench.

[rrhf]

I agree some good points here.  Its training that is burning gaelic players out not games. 
If we can attempt to stop training in Novemeber and December we should be curbing and restricting training throughout the year.  How? I dont know.   

[Ciarrai_thuaidh]

I agree some good points here.  Its training that is burning gaelic players out not games. 
If we can attempt to stop training in Novemeber and December we should be curbing and restricting training throughout the year.  How? I dont know.   

If Jimmy is still using the same training methods as were used 3 years ago, then I would find it very believable than McHugh left partly because of that. There is no way you can keep that kind of slog going for even 2 years, let alone 4. I don't know for sure, but I'd guess this was a large part of the rift between Jimmy and Rory..Jimmy probably was of the view "why change a winning formula" and Rory and others may have wanted to adapt their approach. Ultimately Jimmy is in charge, so that was only going to end one way.
It'll be interesting to see how Donegal perform this year though as they went well enough up to the Division 2 final. I don't see them winning the AI, but depending on how Ulster goes, they might have a say in things yet.

[Fuzzman]

I think Jimmy was obsessed with the defensive packed systems and he knew other teams would try the same with them. McFadden dealt well with being double marked but Murphy was too good of an all rounder to be taken completely out of a game. We watched other great players like SoN, Gooch and Coulter not given a sniff in some games so I think Jimmy managed that well by moving MM back and forward often. Even M.Harte tried moving SON out to MF a few times last year

[johnneycool]

I agree some good points here.  Its training that is burning gaelic players out not games. 
If we can attempt to stop training in Novemeber and December we should be curbing and restricting training throughout the year.  How? I dont know.   

Reduce the needless time between games in the championship.

Tyrone and Down play in the preliminary round on the 18th of this month and the winners won't play again until the 29th of June, lord knows when the loser will play again.

There's nothing to stop two quarter finals being played over the one weekend, a saturday evening and the sunday afternoon, ditto the semi-finals, and still have the two week gap for teams even though it seems to be alright to play week after week in the qualifiers!

This would condense the championship calendar, reducing the amount of training players go through and also free up more weekends for club games.

[DJGaliv]

I agree some good points here.  Its training that is burning gaelic players out not games. 
If we can attempt to stop training in Novemeber and December we should be curbing and restricting training throughout the year.  How? I dont know.   

Reduce the needless time between games in the championship.

Tyrone and Down play in the preliminary round on the 18th of this month and the winners won't play again until the 29th of June, lord knows when the loser will play again.

There's nothing to stop two quarter finals being played over the one weekend, a saturday evening and the sunday afternoon, ditto the semi-finals, and still have the two week gap for teams even though it seems to be alright to play week after week in the qualifiers!

This would condense the championship calendar, reducing the amount of training players go through and also free up more weekends for club games.

That did hit me when I was listening to the embarassing Sky Sports News piece on Mayo beating New York last week. jim White said something like, " Mayo play the winners of Leitrim and Roscommon in five weeks time".

You'd be hard pressed to find many other sports that wait five weeks in between games.

[ck]

Very valid points covered here. Very interesting.

I hear that Jimmy McGuinness trained his lads twice per day in Portugal then rang home to get the weekend club fixtures off cos the players would be "tired", his wish was granted. He then proceeded to train the lads 3 times over that same weekend.
Players doing this kind of training for weeks on end and then not getting playing (like McHugh) surely will be mentally f*cked and be asking questions like Why!

3 days after all of this 4 Donegal players walk away from it all. Is it any wonder?

[Bingo]

It will never change, because there is not will at present to change it. Not from managers, administrators, Croke Park or the GPA. And probably the players themselves as well who are been lead by everyone else. There is selfishness in the GAA in terms of using players.

I laugh when I read about players playing Sigerson, County senior, County U21, Club etc. Its beyond the pale at this stage the demands on some players and in fact, the demands on these players is preventing others playing.

You take standard club football - if a player is good enough, he doesn't play Junior B. Take soccer - a young player, say 19, if good enough he plays/trains/commits to the full squad. He doesn't play an U21 game and then travel to play a senior game the next day, or two days later.

I think the GAA needs to take same approach - anyone on the senior panel - just plays senior Intercounty. Can't be pulling them through sigerson and u21 competitions as well. Same with minors - they either minor or U21.

In addition - the club season and intercounty season need to be officially defined. By officially, it seems to be unofficially split in many counties. Its as clear as day that the intercounty season is too long, particularly when the championship starts. Condense it. When the club season starts officially, no intercounty training. When the intercounty season is on, the intercounty players don't train with there clubs. Can be room for playing matches depending on the changes made to intercounty season.

Very rough and ready but some structure needs to be made and some leadership needs to come from the top and decisions taken out of managers and players hands.

[ck]

Would agree with all of this however as a county board official said to me recently - we are amateur games therefore we can't stop players playing for whatever team they want. So if they want to play Sigerson, U.21, Senior, Club senior, Football, Hurling, and every manager demanding 100% commitment and slogging the sh*te out of them.

Then on the other side of the coin you have a county senior player who trains 8 or 9 times a week to sit on the bench for his county, he's not allowed to play club football or club games are called off.

The whole thing is a mess. We train professionally within the same structures as was the case 100 years ago. There is zero will to change. I'm sick hearing big wig officials telling managers to communicate and then throw in terms like "Player welfare" as if they give a sh*te about it.

[armaghniac]

Would agree with all of this however as a county board official said to me recently - we are amateur games therefore we can't stop players playing for whatever team they want. So if they want to play Sigerson, U.21, Senior, Club senior, Football, Hurling, and every manager demanding 100% commitment and slogging the sh*te out of them.

Not true. There are already some rules about players not playing for more than one team, more rules can be added if the will was there.

[orangeman]

There has been fall out at all.

MARK McHugh insisted last night that he has "not fallen out with anyone" involved in the Donegal set-up and stressed that his reason for withdrawing from the panel recently was purely personal.


There has been speculation that the 23-year-old withdrew after the Division 2 final because he was not getting his starting place in Jim McGuinness' team which is now playing a different style than in 2012, when he played a key roving role in their All-Ireland victory.

But speaking publicly for the first time since he left on Newstalk radio, McHugh said he had been thinking about it for some time.

"It wasn't a decision I made overnight. If I felt myself that I wasn't a benefit to the Donegal team, or I wasn't enjoying life or my football, there was just no point me being there," he said.

"I still love Donegal. I'll go up and support them against Derry next week.

"It's not that I've fallen out with anybody. I just made a decision on my own behalf, talked to people that I trust and I made the decision.

"When you're not enjoying it and it's not a job, and you're not being paid for it, then you do question why you're doing it," added the 2012 All Star.

"I wasn't enjoying it and just felt I needed a break at the moment and I will look at it again next year."

McHugh said he was enjoying playing with his club since and has played three games with them already. He also said he has exams next week which was a factor in his decision.

[J70]

He's doing his finals, isn't he? That could shape the rest of his life. The Donegal team will still be there next year.

[Syferus]

He's doing his finals, isn't he? That could shape the rest of his life. The Donegal team will still be there next year.

The tests started yesterday. He mustn't have exams until next week since he was climbing Carrauntoohil yesterday!

[J70]

He's doing his finals, isn't he? That could shape the rest of his life. The Donegal team will still be there next year.

The tests started yesterday. He mustn't have exams until next week but he was climbing Carrauntoohil yesterday!

Let's see....hundreds of miles driving each week and hours of heavy training or a weekend break in Kerry. Which is more likely to impact exams?