Down Club Hurling & Football

[NP 76]

yes canal court still the sponsor

[Banana Man]

picture of it in todays irish news

[knockitdown]

picture of it in todays irish news

Can anyone post a link?

[umpire]

President of Rostrevor GAA club died early yesterday morning.
Jim Curren RIP

[5 Sams]

picture of it in todays irish news

Poor enough picture but from what I can see there's not a big pile of difference between it and the last one....no black sleeves on this one....sorry can't post a pic...

[Agent Orange]

picture of it in todays irish news

Can anyone post a link?

[PAULD123]

I like it. But too many colours on the front. Would prefer the GAA logo not to be white and there's no need for the Canal court logo to be included along with the name. The whole sponsor logo is too big for my liking. I do like the more or less all red shirt with the black trim.

[supersub]

Looks like Martys gonna be deployed in a new position this year given his shirt number..

[snoopdog]

looks a bit sh1t going by that picture,couple of shades of red, but will hold judgemnet until i see it properly.

[RadioGAAGAA]

With regards the amalgamation argument...

IMO Premier Reserve 1 is probably about equal to Division 3. It is very unlikely a county standard player will not stand out significantly in Div 3, so throwing teams together for the championship is unlikely to work... I think.


Perhaps it is worth considering combining all teams into one league structure, across 6 or 7 divisions, rather than splitting reserves from 1sts; with more teams involved (1sts, 2nds and potentially 3rds), it should be easier for clubs to find their "level" in 6 or 7 divisions rather than 4.

[DownFanatic]

With regards the amalgamation argument...

IMO Premier Reserve 1 is probably about equal to Division 3. It is very unlikely a county standard player will not stand out significantly in Div 3, so throwing teams together for the championship is unlikely to work... I think.


Perhaps it is worth considering combining all teams into one league structure, across 6 or 7 divisions, rather than splitting reserves from 1sts; with more teams involved (1sts, 2nds and potentially 3rds), it should be easier for clubs to find their "level" in 6 or 7 divisions rather than 4.

There is a lot of merit in that suggestion.

[outinfront]

Restructured like Antrim leagues?

Leagues have just been restructured so I can't see that happening soon. ACPR1 may be division 3 standard but would you not say ACPR2 is better than most of Division 4 standard?

[thewobbler]

For league structures, I'd suggest along the lines of:

Division 1: 10 teams
Division 2: 12 teams

Then

Division 3 (Mussen Section): 10 teams
Division 3 (Doherty Section): 10 teams


Division 1 should be kept as lean as possible to ensure the highest quality of games at this level. Division 2 needs to stay a little bigger to allow more players to play at a regularly higher level of football than what Division 3 would offer.

The two-up, two-down approach would stay the same between these leagues.

Division 3 would have two sections, and there would be a changeable number of teams as and when teams are created, amalgamated, reinstated, closed. But based on recent evidence, this is steady enough at around 20 teams in total, divided equally in two (or as close as possible).

The Division would not be geographically split by the traditional East Down / South Down lines, but geographically split by proximity, and would be re-assessed each season to minimise travel times for each club. So although St John's, for example, could be in the Mussen Section for three years and play mostly Mourne/South Down teams during that time, if a couple more teams from Belfast or the Ards were to end up in Division 3, they could find themselves moved the next year to the Doherty section, and travelling north the whole time.

At the end of each year, the top two in each Division 3 section would play off in a round-robin league, with the top two in that mini-league switching places with the bottom two of Division 2.

I favour this split approach to Division 3 as it does a few things to help the game:

1. It gives every footballer in the county the chance to be playing Division 2 football, at the start of the following season. For most players, this a great level to aim towards.
2. It gives all Division 3 players a chance to play against good and very good sides at that level, which should help standards improve for the lower teams, and also give each of the better teams a series of crackerjack fixtures.
3. It adds to the number of lcoal derbies, which always generates local interest, passion and pride.
4. It means the number of awkward, long away journeys are reduced for the teams that struggle to find dedicated players - which tend to be those clubs towards the bottom of the tree. This can only help playing numbers, and improve team spirits.


I'd also bring this approach into ACPRL football, where I've found the requirement to traverse County Down on summertime Sunday afternoons to be the single biggest repellent to Ballyholland (and nearly every other club) being able to field consistent teams. 

We do want to keep the ACPRL standard high, so it should remain as two sections of 10, and split along geographical lines. The bottom two in each section should be replaced by the top two in the SDRFL and EDRFL each year, and the top two in each section should again form a round-robin mini-league to determine the outright winner.

[superblues]

could anyone tell me when championship draws are been done and when the first round of reserve championship is

[spiritof91and94]

Jody Gormley and Longstone have parted company after last nights defeat.

Have they replaced him or is John Poland permanent?