Down Club Hurling & Football

[Aghdavoyle]

Club down dissolved after the marshes completion because of difficulties and barriers that the county board were poutting in front of them. i know a couple of fellas involved. sean o'neill simply took that opportunity to end things without drama.

[behind the wire]

does anyone know where we could build one of those training facilities? looks like a good job.

was also talking to a fella the other night about development squads, he was involved with one of them. it would appear that we are far behind in that respect as well. his opinion was that it was almost embarrassing to go to tournaments etc and seeing how well other counties were turned out when down looked as if they had simply been thrown together.

[behind the wire]

Club down dissolved after the marshes completion because of difficulties and barriers that the county board were poutting in front of them. i know a couple of fellas involved. sean o'neill simply took that opportunity to end things without drama.

not the case

[johnneycool]

Club down dissolved after the marshes completion because of difficulties and barriers that the county board were poutting in front of them. i know a couple of fellas involved. sean o'neill simply took that opportunity to end things without drama.

not the case

I heard the same as Aghdavoyle, so enlighten us as to what is the case?

[DaddyLongLegs]

does anyone know where we could build one of those training facilities? looks like a good job.

was also talking to a fella the other night about development squads, he was involved with one of them. it would appear that we are far behind in that respect as well. his opinion was that it was almost embarrassing to go to tournaments etc and seeing how well other counties were turned out when down looked as if they had simply been thrown together.

I agree that we are far behind at development squad/juvenile levels. There are a lot of people putting a lot of time into these age groups which has to be applauded but I dont think the underlying enthusiam or foresight is there at County Board level. Building a lovely training centre is far from what we need right now - we need to build from the bottom, in the clubs and in the primary schools to generate the skills and enthusiam for gaelic games. This needs a solid, co-ordinated, committed & funded approach at county level - the primary school part used to be carried out by teachers - thats no longer the case due to under resourcing, child protesction etc etc. This isnt a role for Club Down - its a role for the County Board with the full backing of Club Down in providing funding and backroom support.

[DownFanatic]

This is in regards to the structures within the county in terms of Juvenile organisation. It may be a bit leftfield but it is something that Ive thought about a few times. Now, feel free to shoot me down but is there any merit in dissolving the East Down and South Down Divisional Boards and replacing them with an all encompassing Bord na Og which would have full control over the organisation of Juvenile football from U-6 to U-18?

[lfdown2]

does anyone know where we could build one of those training facilities? looks like a good job.

was also talking to a fella the other night about development squads, he was involved with one of them. it would appear that we are far behind in that respect as well. his opinion was that it was almost embarrassing to go to tournaments etc and seeing how well other counties were turned out when down looked as if they had simply been thrown together.

I agree that we are far behind at development squad/juvenile levels. There are a lot of people putting a lot of time into these age groups which has to be applauded but I dont think the underlying enthusiam or foresight is there at County Board level. Building a lovely training centre is far from what we need right now - we need to build from the bottom, in the clubs and in the primary schools to generate the skills and enthusiam for gaelic games. This needs a solid, co-ordinated, committed & funded approach at county level - the primary school part used to be carried out by teachers - thats no longer the case due to under resourcing, child protesction etc etc. This isnt a role for Club Down - its a role for the County Board with the full backing of Club Down in providing funding and backroom support.

i understand what you are saying though its all well and good continually blaming the county board, do the clubs not bear some responsibility, surely the clubs dont need to be told everything they should be doing, i know our club this year (granted late) has put a big emphasis on coaching the kids, with seminars information evenings while also doing their best to get both parents and playing members especially involved in the coaching, while also drawing up coaching proposals for each age group, this is in the interest of our club and if every club does it the county!

[DaddyLongLegs]

I am not directly criticising the County Board nor those involved in the development of juvenile gaelic games. But looking at the set-up in counties like Tyrone, they have obviously done something which we havent. There has been a different focus - a focus that I think was developed around the time of our 91 success when Tyrone (& other notables such as Armagh) looked at Down's then 4 AIs and took steps to address the imbalance. And they started at the bottom, esp Tyrone. Meanwhile, after 94, we basked in the glory of two AIs in one decade (with 6 years left!) and took our eye of the ball as other counties put structures & facilities in place which eventually matured into what they have today - much superior than that which is in Down.

The easy thing for any of us to do is to be a critic (& you will usually find that the critics are never criticised because they never do anything to be criticised for). But I do believe we need a form of Club Down back- not to masternind the building of a Pairc Esler but to mastermind the development of juvenile hurling & football within our county. And we are far from down, given our success over the to be crowned AI chamipions earlier this year. But we need to move to a new level.

[5 Sams]

http://www.downgaa.net/

New jersey...looks good to me.....no fancy design on it....simple Red and Black...excellent.

[Minus15]

yes looks great

[Open yer eyes Man]

The development squads are a good idea but you need the best involved.  The best in terms of both players and coaches.  Some clubs wont send their players as they see it as a step down from the work they are doing in the club.  WTF - a club dictating to the County whether they will let their players play for Down?  Surely there is something wrong here?

The other problem is the standard of coaching available here.  The County board should be trying to attract the top coaches in the county to become involved here, and some of the squads do have good men on board.  But then they decide to throw some clown in to help out or take a squad, just because they can't get anyone else.  Clubs sometime use this as another excuse for not sending their players.

Also, in other countys there are excellent coaches doing top class work in primary schools.  Not only do we have no top coaches doing this in Down, we don't have enough second rate coaches to cover the number of primary schools we have.  Club Tyrone contribute money to the coaching structure in Tyrone to attract top coaches to do this work in the primary schools.  The DCB pay peanuts hence attracting monkeys to coach - this applies all the way from the top, down.

Surely there is a role for Club Down here?

[behind the wire]

the new jersey looks good. hopefully will be a big hit at christmas.


it will be on sale in donaghys in banbridge 5 on friday evening as far as i know, then i think a couple of the players are coming down to do a photoshoot on saturday morning.

[thegael]

The New Jersey Launch - Crazy Timing

Another marketing disaster for  Down - Leaving it until less than a fortnight before Christmas is complete stupidity , this could have been a great stocking filler but missing out on a large chunk of the Christmas shopping period is a disaster ,
whoever picked the timing of this launch is a complete idiot !!




                                             the gael takes no prisoners!!

[THE DADGA]

dodgey enough lookin jersey....it looks like they've took the one form 94 and changed the material from cotton to polyester....could be  an omen though

[DaddyLongLegs]

Its more than the jersey need changing.

What was wrong with the current one? Is this done for fund-raising purposes or because someone thinks we will play better in a new jersey. If its soley for fundraising, I have to agree that the timing is poor.