Down Club Hurling & Football

[general]

cheers western exile. good report. niall will have 4 big games in 7 days...glenn play on sunday too.weather he plays is a different story.

Where was Niall Donnelly ? Tyrone will give them alot more probelms

from what i seen on bbc newsline last friday..i think i heard he got a phonecall going out the door to training fri night...so that may well be the reason he isnt ther..

[goldenyears]

did league proposals go through county board last night?

[John Martin]

Yes the proposals went through last night.

[here comes 6]

so what now?

[John Martin]

They don't come into effect until 2013. There will be three divisions, 16 teams in one and two with the remainder in three.

[alba2]

Team picked for tomorrow nights adventure - its time to give Armagh a bit of a hammering..... They are short and we should capitalise on this and really get stuck into them.  I would not be satisfied with anything less than a 5 - 10 point victory.  C'mon the lads......

[umpire]

They don't come into effect until 2013. There will be three divisions, 16 teams in one and two with the remainder in three.

And new round robin Championships will start in 2014!!

[here comes 6]

So Div 1 is pointless this year, div 2 is top 6 and bottom 4 and div 3 is pointless apart from bottom2.  Am i correct in my assumption???

[Mourne Rover]

Alba2 can hardly be serious about demanding that we hand out a hiding to Armagh at a venue where we probably have not won for two decades. A draw, which would keep us in division one for a third consecutive season, would be a perfectly satisfactory result, although we will obviously be pushing for a win which would leave us close to a league semi final place.

The intensity which we produced last Sunday mainly resulted from the realisation among the senior players that we had to beat one of the big three -  Cork, Kerry or Dublin - in the league if we deserved to be taken seriously in the summer. The first two opportunities had disappeared through highly disappointing displays, so we had a huge motivation against the Dubs.

The way they pulled so many men back probably suited our passing and running game, but Armagh will probably go for the type of physical, long-ball approach which has unsettled us in the recent past. If we can keep our discipline and our shape, something we have not always managed against the same opposition, we should be in with a decent shout. 

[ardtole]

So Div 1 is pointless this year, div 2 is top 6 and bottom 4 and div 3 is pointless apart from bottom2.  Am i correct in my assumption???

Pretty much. Its kind off taken the buzz out of the league starting on sunday, this year just a case of going through the motions it looks like.

Does anyone else feel that there are just a raft of proposals made each year just for the sake of it, the way the leagues are currently structured there is no team in the county that can say they do not deserve to be in the division they are in. There is a clear distinction in quality between each league like there should be. I was critical last season about the way the fixture calender was/was not prepared but that seemed to be addressed this year.

In the new system I can see a load of meaningless games towards the end of the season when there will be maybe 8/10 teams with no hope of promotion and well clear of the 2 teams at the bottom.

[general]

So Div 1 is pointless this year, div 2 is top 6 and bottom 4 and div 3 is pointless apart from bottom2.  Am i correct in my assumption???

Pretty much. Its kind off taken the buzz out of the league starting on sunday, this year just a case of going through the motions it looks like.

talk for yourself, not like that at my club

[here comes 6]

When Sean og decides he wants somthing he gets it apart from a new sponsor.  can this decision be appealed?

[DownFanatic]

I have no doubt that those that came up with these proposals are genuinely hoping that the changes will be for the betterment of club football in Down. However, when this proposal was put to vote on Thursday night, it was the clubs that voted for it and so the responsibility lies with the clubs for allowing this to go through.

Firstly, there was absolutely nothing wrong with our Leagues as they were. A couple of changes were made a few years ago and they worked well. I agree with Ardtole's assessment that every club is generally in the Division where their abilities are best suited. I also agree with Wobbler's view that this continual intention to try to re-jig the Leagues so that shite Senior teams can be brought up to some level of parity beyond their abilities also infuriates me. As Ive said before, clubs that continually find themselves in Division 4 are there for a reason and similarly clubs that are a constantly perched in Division 1 are there for a reason too.

This re-structuring will simply mean more pointless League games, more hammerings and a bigger gulf in quality within Division 1 and 2 than there has ever been before. I hope they work out but im sceptical. Ultimately, the clubs have voted on this and I wouldn't be 100% sure that the implications of this system have been thought through. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if new plans for change were put on the table at the end of 2013.

[NP 76]

See Mc Keever has had his suspension lifted pending an investigation so free to play tonight . Looks like this is all going to be brushed under the carpet

[here comes 6]

The GAA is away to F**k and this last year has showed it totally has no regard for anyone.