Down Club Hurling & Football

[Born Ready]

On the new proposals, I personally think they could be worth a go. On the topic of boys coming home from uni I think these changes could actually help in some cases. The majority of boys in uni over the water are gonna miss football for most of the year no matter what tea they would be playing for but in terms of coming back from Belfast or the south for training and matches, surely a 19 year old would be more willing to go back for a team he would be a key player for rather than a senior team he is nowhere near even competing for a place on. The u19 could be run off with leagues of 8 or 9 teams and then a knockout championship which would only mean around 10-12 games for most clubs to play which is handy enough to work around for a senior team for the few players in each team that would have a chance of playing senior balland imo more football for these lads would benefit them if they were playing for the senior team.but still enough of a season to entice lads at 19 to play, and if that works out for them you'll have boys with an extra year of football under the belts and who are a lot closer to challenging for a senior team. The age groups below shouldn't take much adapting to odd number age groups.

[SamFever]

I don't understand why Jackie Lynch hasn't been brought back onto the down set up, he suited the tactics Jim McCorry was trying to play and no doubt he will suit Eamon Burns' set up. No doubt he is in the top 3 midfielders in the county at this rate.

Sweet Je-us! We've no County Manager appointed yet and you are wondering about a now dOWN Div 3 ex-County player who is well past it and wasn't good enough when in his prime.
What a great first post.I look forward to you reading more from you.

[OgraAnDun]

Can someone please explain what benefit these proposed changes are going to make to all stakeholders ie. players, clubs, county teams?

Ultimately, participation numbers is the key marker of a sport's health. So like all sports, the GAA has an important task in minimising player burnout and drop-outs.

Somebody somewhere has put forward a case that that the longstanding age group brackets is a likely cause of player drop-outs. Nobody* can actually prove or disprove this theory until the water is tested, so in the time-honoured fashion of economic experiments, a sweetener has been put on the table for any counties that will dip their toes.

When setting this process in motion, personally I don't believe that central council, Down GAA or our clubs realised just how havoc it would cause for the group of players who should have been in their last year of minors.

---

* When I say nobody, in all honesty the theory is a crock of horse shit. There are three main reasons for player dropouts between the ages of 16 and 20 and none of them have anything to do with juvenile football.

1. Most clubs outside Dublin only have two or three adult teams, which means that if a youth structure is actually delivering players in abundance (8-10 per annum), they will also actually have nowhere to go. In any given week you cannot expect the majority of your adult players not to play, and that's what would happen if you had unusually strong player retention.

2. Ask 10 full-time students to travel home 2-3 times per week, all year round, for a local commitment. How many of them do you realistically expect to fulfil this request? So why would we expect GAA players to be any different, while simultaneously making it so difficult for them to transfer to another (university area) club while they are a student?

3. The most important one. Gaelic football is absolutely no fun to play unless you are physically fit, otherwise you will be exposed by just about any opponent. Maintaining physical fitness requires dedication, commitment and control. These are not things that come easily to the average teenager, and to a large amount of teenagers, will never come at all.

Have to agree with 6thSam and the wobbler-this is an experiment to see will children drop out of our games as much by introducing new age limits.The world has changed a lot and reading Paddy Heaney's Irish News column today it shows that it really is not the GAA's fault about drop-off-it's just the new world of instant info on smart phones and people not really caring about anything anyone. Depressing stuff. I'd love to hear the views of any Down poster under the age of 20 on here but this Forum would be all too "old hat" and boring for them.
    We've more chance of trying to keep the youth engaged in our games with the existing age-groups than we have by introducing some new and alien format to them and indeed to their parents and Coaches.

I'm 19 and I think the article isn't really that accurate as it seems to describe virtually the same emotions I went through when I was a bit younger. I would have played football with my friends on the road or in someone's garden, and when football started to become serious (around U16s), when I wasn't/when I'm not injured I still did and do try and get out to the pitch with a couple of friends to improve our ball skills at least once a week if possible.

I think the age boundary changes are mental though. U19s will be a disaster - half the team will be at college in either Belfast, Dublin or across the water. Getting home from Belfast for training isn't too bad but getting home from Dublin is a nightmare and abroad is impossible - once assignments, readings etc are added into this it's nearly impossible to find the time. I just have to hope that my timetable has me finishing before 4pm on the night training is on and starting after 11 the next day. No football for me these days because my timetable doesn't allow it - this could be the situation for half an U19 team.

This would just be made worse if U17 becomes the new minor underage and U19 is confined to a secondary competition - which it will be when 50% of a panel may be unavailable or at least unavailable during the week.

A far better option, I think, would be to move U21s to the summer time, playing a league match every second weekend or so, when most people are at home and able to train/play - in good conditions, OK relatively warm and hopefully sunny days - not in horizontal, lashing rain on a frozen or semi waterlogged pitch. It's a good way of keeping up with the football, meeting your school friends who may be living miles away these days and keeping interest going without having to travel five or six hours (minimum) a week.

[wobbller]

Can someone please explain what benefit these proposed changes are going to make to all stakeholders ie. players, clubs, county teams?

Ultimately, participation numbers is the key marker of a sport's health. So like all sports, the GAA has an important task in minimising player burnout and drop-outs.

Somebody somewhere has put forward a case that that the longstanding age group brackets is a likely cause of player drop-outs. Nobody* can actually prove or disprove this theory until the water is tested, so in the time-honoured fashion of economic experiments, a sweetener has been put on the table for any counties that will dip their toes.

When setting this process in motion, personally I don't believe that central council, Down GAA or our clubs realised just how havoc it would cause for the group of players who should have been in their last year of minors.

---

* When I say nobody, in all honesty the theory is a crock of horse shit. There are three main reasons for player dropouts between the ages of 16 and 20 and none of them have anything to do with juvenile football.

1. Most clubs outside Dublin only have two or three adult teams, which means that if a youth structure is actually delivering players in abundance (8-10 per annum), they will also actually have nowhere to go. In any given week you cannot expect the majority of your adult players not to play, and that's what would happen if you had unusually strong player retention.

2. Ask 10 full-time students to travel home 2-3 times per week, all year round, for a local commitment. How many of them do you realistically expect to fulfil this request? So why would we expect GAA players to be any different, while simultaneously making it so difficult for them to transfer to another (university area) club while they are a student?

3. The most important one. Gaelic football is absolutely no fun to play unless you are physically fit, otherwise you will be exposed by just about any opponent. Maintaining physical fitness requires dedication, commitment and control. These are not things that come easily to the average teenager, and to a large amount of teenagers, will never come at all.

Have to agree with 6thSam and the wobbler-this is an experiment to see will children drop out of our games as much by introducing new age limits.The world has changed a lot and reading Paddy Heaney's Irish News column today it shows that it really is not the GAA's fault about drop-off-it's just the new world of instant info on smart phones and people not really caring about anything anyone. Depressing stuff. I'd love to hear the views of any Down poster under the age of 20 on here but this Forum would be all too "old hat" and boring for them.
    We've more chance of trying to keep the youth engaged in our games with the existing age-groups than we have by introducing some new and alien format to them and indeed to their parents and Coaches.

I'm 19 and I think the article isn't really that accurate as it seems to describe virtually the same emotions I went through when I was a bit younger. I would have played football with my friends on the road or in someone's garden, and when football started to become serious (around U16s), when I wasn't/when I'm not injured I still did and do try and get out to the pitch with a couple of friends to improve our ball skills at least once a week if possible.

I think the age boundary changes are mental though. U19s will be a disaster - half the team will be at college in either Belfast, Dublin or across the water. Getting home from Belfast for training isn't too bad but getting home from Dublin is a nightmare and abroad is impossible - once assignments, readings etc are added into this it's nearly impossible to find the time. I just have to hope that my timetable has me finishing before 4pm on the night training is on and starting after 11 the next day. No football for me these days because my timetable doesn't allow it - this could be the situation for half an U19 team.

This would just be made worse if U17 becomes the new minor underage and U19 is confined to a secondary competition - which it will be when 50% of a panel may be unavailable or at least unavailable during the week.

A far better option, I think, would be to move U21s to the summer time, playing a league match every second weekend or so, when most people are at home and able to train/play - in good conditions, OK relatively warm and hopefully sunny days - not in horizontal, lashing rain on a frozen or semi waterlogged pitch. It's a good way of keeping up with the football, meeting your school friends who may be living miles away these days and keeping interest going without having to travel five or six hours (minimum) a week.

At last,a young person's viewpoint.

[C Carr]

If my resources are reliable I heard that Cory Quinn from Mayobridge has been handed a soccer transfer for Sligo rovers meaning he will be a big miss to Mayobridge. Anyone from Mayobridge hear about this? T O'Hare?

[Aristo 60]

If my resources are reliable I heard that Cory Quinn from Mayobridge has been handed a soccer transfer for Sligo rovers meaning he will be a big miss to Mayobridge. Anyone from Mayobridge hear about this? T O'Hare?

Your resources? Do you mean your sources?

Or is the money in your pockets and your shares in BT talking to you now?!

[SamFever]

The Cardinals have been summoned to St Peter's Square tonight .
White smoke later in the Sky.

[5 Sams]

The Cardinals have been summoned to St Peter's Square tonight .
White smoke later in the Sky.

After this long of a wait it'll be a stench not smoke.

This is going to be interesting.

[imagine]

The Cardinals have been summoned to St Peter's Square tonight .
White smoke later in the Sky.

After this long of a wait it'll be a stench not smoke.

This is going to be interesting.

What about a few quick predictions before tonight.
    Shorty Treanor with maybe Gerard Colgan or some ex Development coach.

[SamFever]

  Benny Coulter for No.1 and some other similar slabber to be No2 possibly Danny Hughes after their rip-roaring success over the County boundary?
   What a lot of dribble Benny comes out with and Hughes in his Irish News column is as bad. Bring back Mickey Harte.

Benny Coulter has expressed his interest in becoming Down manager-in-waiting Eamonn Burns' number two.

It's believed that Mourne County chiefs are delaying Burns' appointment because they have not yet got an assistant in place, with reports suggesting that former Dublin and St. Vincent's manager Mickey Whelan was among those who turned down the job.

But writing in his Newry Democrat column this week, Coulter believes Down should get on with the job of appointing Burns and worry about his assistant later.

"Just come out and name him as number one, we don't need to wait to see who is number two. We have another few weeks before we need to sort a number two and the backroom team," the 2010 All Star said.

"I am available to take the number two role if the chance comes as I have great faith in the players in Down. I would go surely, but I would need to be approached. If it is not Eamon then fair play to the county board for being able to keep a secret.

"Get him named and let the work start."[/i]

[5 Sams]

  Benny Coulter for No.1 and some other similar slabber to be No2 possibly Danny Hughes after their rip-roaring success over the County boundary?
   What a lot of dribble Benny comes out with and Hughes in his Irish News column is as bad. Bring back Mickey Harte.

[SamFever]

  Benny Coulter for No.1 and some other similar slabber to be No2 possibly Danny Hughes after their rip-roaring success over the County boundary?
   What a lot of dribble Benny comes out with and Hughes in his Irish News column is as bad. Bring back Mickey Harte.

You agree?

[rosskarr]

  Benny Coulter for No.1 and some other similar slabber to be No2 possibly Danny Hughes after their rip-roaring success over the County boundary?
   What a lot of dribble Benny comes out with and Hughes in his Irish News column is as bad. Bring back Mickey Harte.

Benny is paid to write and may as well give his own opinion and will make a good Manager some day but not just yet.

[SHEEDY]

  Benny Coulter for No.1 and some other similar slabber to be No2 possibly Danny Hughes after their rip-roaring success over the County boundary?
   What a lot of dribble Benny comes out with and Hughes in his Irish News column is as bad. Bring back Mickey Harte.

Benny is paid to write and may as well give his own opinion and will make a good Manager some day but not just yet.

i think 5 sams summed this up well.

[charlieTully]

  Benny Coulter for No.1 and some other similar slabber to be No2 possibly Danny Hughes after their rip-roaring success over the County boundary?
   What a lot of dribble Benny comes out with and Hughes in his Irish News column is as bad. Bring back Mickey Harte.

Benny Coulter has expressed his interest in becoming Down manager-in-waiting Eamonn Burns' number two.

It's believed that Mourne County chiefs are delaying Burns' appointment because they have not yet got an assistant in place, with reports suggesting that former Dublin and St. Vincent's manager Mickey Whelan was among those who turned down the job.

But writing in his Newry Democrat column this week, Coulter believes Down should get on with the job of appointing Burns and worry about his assistant later.

"Just come out and name him as number one, we don't need to wait to see who is number two. We have another few weeks before we need to sort a number two and the backroom team," the 2010 All Star said.

"I am available to take the number two role if the chance comes as I have great faith in the players in Down. I would go surely, but I would need to be approached. If it is not Eamon then fair play to the county board for being able to keep a secret.

"Get him named and let the work start."[/i]

Are you not from Saval?  Could you not speak to Danny face to face instead of slabbering on a discussion forum about him?