Down Club Hurling & Football

[downjim]

Great to see the County Board doing their bit again for hurling in the County. A Down Junior hurling championship match played last night between Shamrocks and Ballela at a football club (Mayobridge) just doesnt work. Nothing against Mayobridge club itself they have great facilities, although when a U-14 match gets played on the main pitch and an adult championship match gets shipped over to the training pitch which has no lines markings clear on pitch and no flags it is clear County Board has not got a clue and must have their head in the clouds! Although the standard wouldnt be of the highest quality these players put the same amount of effort and commitment as any GAA team. A lot of their time (CB)must be took up with dealing with the Senior football team, which is going nowhere fast which is a shame as the County hurlers have recently brought All Ireland silverware to the County. Also I believe the Down ladies football team got treated magnificently to post match meal of sandwiches after their historic Ulster Final win. Just a bit of common sense lacking at the top, sort it out folks and go have a look at how other County Boards are running their successful counties and clubs!!

It was an under 14 championship match which we won with ease, because it was that one sided , I seen a bit of the Hurley and the pitch was in excellent condition for the time of year and the weather we had. Hurling is a minority sport in the county and I personally think the hurlers gets looked after well.

[Mourne Rover]

Downjim,  the game is called hurling and not hurley. It is reasonable to expect that a championship match involving adult players at any level in either code should be staged on the main available pitch.

[downjim]

Mayobridge owns the fields and the footballers of Mayobridge were entitled to host Burren in their main field. It was a championship game!
Their training field is one of the best surfaces in the county and is used for plenty of league and championship games over the year. "Hurling" men yapping about anything as usual. I'm sure it won't be long to we get another east Down football bias in the county post as well .

[Mourne Rover]

The post was about respect, rather than any particular code or geographical area, but at least you now know the actual name of the game you wish to discuss.

[johnneycool]

Great to see the County Board doing their bit again for hurling in the County. A Down Junior hurling championship match played last night between Shamrocks and Ballela at a football club (Mayobridge) just doesnt work. Nothing against Mayobridge club itself they have great facilities, although when a U-14 match gets played on the main pitch and an adult championship match gets shipped over to the training pitch which has no lines markings clear on pitch and no flags it is clear County Board has not got a clue and must have their head in the clouds! Although the standard wouldnt be of the highest quality these players put the same amount of effort and commitment as any GAA team. A lot of their time (CB)must be took up with dealing with the Senior football team, which is going nowhere fast which is a shame as the County hurlers have recently brought All Ireland silverware to the County. Also I believe the Down ladies football team got treated magnificently to post match meal of sandwiches after their historic Ulster Final win. Just a bit of common sense lacking at the top, sort it out folks and go have a look at how other County Boards are running their successful counties and clubs!!

It was an under 14 championship match which we won with ease, because it was that one sided , I seen a bit of the Hurley and the pitch was in excellent condition for the time of year and the weather we had. Hurling is a minority sport in the county and I personally think the hurlers gets looked after well.

What hurlers? The county teams or clubs hurlers?

IMHO The senior county hurlers get treated very well in terms of resources available to them, but the average club hurler gets the shitty end of the stick in Down with very sporadic and low volume fixtures.
Even with the haphazard Ulster league intermingled with it the average adult club hurler in Down would be looking at 10 to 15 games in a year, a club footballer will be looking at almost twice this with extended leagues and round robin championships, how is that conducive to the development of the game?

FWIW,
If the pitch was the proper size and in a playable condition for hurling, I wouldn't be overly concerned if its called a training pitch or not, however it should be properly marked out and flags available, if not the referee should have jumped back into his car and drove home along with both teams.

[bridgegael]

We didnt even know the match was happening til both teams turned up at the field.

[downexile1]

We didnt even know the match was happening til both teams turned up at the field.

My point exactly, it was not me having a go at Mayobridge in any shape or form! As I said great club and great facilities. The pitch played on for the hurling was indeed suitable for football but too long for hurling and was not marked out or flagged. As its a football club they dont need to worry about cutting pitch tight for hurling. Downjim im not having a rant its just a little bit of common sense we are looking for, and yes couldnt agree more that hurling is a minority sport in the county, so it shouldnt take much to keep the hurling man happy especially for adult championship matches!!! And having Down hurlers travel the whole way to Newry to play on a bog standard pitch to play County home matches is not hurlers being well looked after!Especially when their are clubs in Ards could host these matches, with better surfaces and get slightly larger attendances.

[johnneycool]

We didnt even know the match was happening til both teams turned up at the field.

Which all but supports downexiles point.

[downup]

Was at the Drumgath v Ballyholland game last night. The standard of football was very low and Drumgath very nearly upset the odds and would have been well worth a win. The poor crowd at this game and the game which preceded it is another example of this round robin type championship is not working. There is absolutely no edge to matches now, the crowds are as bad as league games and it in no way improves footballers for county football which was one of the reasons for this system being adopted. The strong teams will continue to progress to knockout stages and the odd upset in round robin is worthless. Will we ever revert back to the old knockout system, decrease leagues to 10 or 12 teams and go back to having regular competitive football for clubs in the county or will we continue to limit the type of footballers produced for county level and feed the county with money making schemes called championship that are not working. Football used to be exciting in our county but for whatever reason the excitement has all but gone bar a few ripples now and again.

[thewobbler]

Was at the Drumgath v Ballyholland game last night. The standard of football was very low and Drumgath very nearly upset the odds and would have been well worth a win. The poor crowd at this game and the game which preceded it is another example of this round robin type championship is not working. There is absolutely no edge to matches now, the crowds are as bad as league games and it in no way improves footballers for county football which was one of the reasons for this system being adopted. The strong teams will continue to progress to knockout stages and the odd upset in round robin is worthless. Will we ever revert back to the old knockout system, decrease leagues to 10 or 12 teams and go back to having regular competitive football for clubs in the county or will we continue to limit the type of footballers produced for county level and feed the county with money making schemes called championship that are not working. Football used to be exciting in our county but for whatever reason the excitement has all but gone bar a few ripples now and again.

I don't honestly believe the changes in football structures were an attempt at money-making schemes.

The genesis of these things comes from the democratic system in GAA, where any club can come up with a proposal, and if it's backed, it's then implemented.

So if a club feels the current systems are (for whatever reason) failing them, then they have an opportunity to make it change for everyone. Ultimately there is a paradox created by any competitive system, in that only one team can win, which by virtue means everyone else is a loser, and in turn unsettles many of those clubs.

The thing is - whether we like to admit it or not - there's a spirit of tinkering in the GAA, a spirit of "the grass is always greener".

This (unfortunately in my mind) means proposals like those that brought the current league and championship structures, will always tend to get through. I've no doubt that we'll go back to the old league structures in a few years time, before reverting back to the current ones, a few years after that again.

[southdown]

Championship really needs to go back to the old format.

[DownFanatic]

Clubs overwhelmingly voted for the changes in championship/league structure at county board level and so are responsible.

The JFC is on a knockout basis this season and anyone involved in this will tell you that the buzz before a one off "do or die" game is far greater than that of preparing for a group stage game.

The fact that we changed our system shows that we are generally open to alterations which is a good thing.

Best system in my opinion is Div 1, 2, 3 and 4 with 10 teams in 1 and 2 and 12 in 3 and 4. Two way leagues with straight knockout championships. Guarantees teams in 1 and 2 at least 19 games and teams in 3 and 4 a minimum of 23 games.

[supersub]

These league & championship structures are in place until end of next season at least, correct?

[DownFanatic]

These league & championship structures are in place until end of next season at least, correct?

Yep, end of. 2015 I think.

[outinfront]

Does anyone know if Destination Newry are doing any streaming of the club championships this year?