Pauric Duffy

[johnneycool]

Some nonsense here.  Paraic Duffy has been a brilliant DG for the GAA.  Just watch how difficult it will be to get these proposals through on Saturday.  He knows the limits of what he can achieve.
In any case, the proposals are designed for more than the elite young player.  if his proposals get through it will affect positively every club player.

Down were one of the counties who were initially earmarked to 'trial' these new age groups allegedly meant to counteract burnout and high attrition rates with great quotes from Gerry McEntee, Niall Moyna and a few other experts in the field.

What they were saying wasn't wrong, but as the trap pointed out, it was reflective of issues only witnessed by an elite set of late teenagers, early 20 year olds, but the fixes put in place would impact on all youngsters in this age group who in some instances would be inclined to walk away due to a lack of fixtures.
On the face of it banning county minors from playing senior with their club makes sense, but its a balls for rural clubs struggling for numbers in adult levels, plus our minors (hurling) had only 7 league fixtures last year, three championship, so we need to be giving these lads adult fixtures to sustain their interest and development throughout the year.

Fix the problem in hand, not create a whole new pile of them with an all sweeping rule. If a young lad is on a county minor panel, he can't play U21 or intercounty senior, if a lad is on a county U21 panel then he can't play intercounty senior and that would cut down on the double jobbing a lot of young lads are experiencing.
Currently intercounty U21 football and hurling are played at different times of the year, can minor level in particular not do something similar as we'd the Tipp minors playing week on week in the hurling and football last year, the Dubs have had similar issues as well in this regard.

[The Trap]

I am passionate about the club game, always have been always will be. On the ground I can see what is happening to it and it makes me angry. I used to be a big county supporter too but that has really eroded in recent years as I can see the destructive impact the growing county game from development squads up is having. And I really don't know what the end game is for county football.......professionalism is where it is headed with maybe 12 teams able to sustain it throughout Ireland. Is that what people want?

[Syferus]

All you seem to care about is clubs having 'control' of players to use and inevitably use in the wrong ways. Not player safety, not the game as a whole. That myopic view is not needed if we're to solve the scheduling problems that face the GAA.

[The Trap]

Access not control syferus

[manfromdelmonte]

The clubs generally introduce players to the game.

Without the clubs, the GAA is nothing

[DuffleKing]

I agree with Syf here - there seems to be an ownership perception gathering pace. We are all club men first and foremost but if my club ever put their own interests before the best opportunity for the development of any of our players I will be a very loud opposition voice.

[thewobbler]

Syferus and Seany are clearly county first....club bottom of the pile type of GAA people! If Duffy is so good for the clubs then why is the following happening in 2016:

- players good enough to play for their county minor team cannot play for their club until they are out of the championship. They can train 3 time a week at elite level, half of them sit on the bench all year, but cannot play club football. They could play for their club all through GAA history until this year!


[/li]

You made some good points Trap, but this one is so very wrong, and is unfortunately symptomatic of the myopic club man's attitude to young players.

Here's what's you see: Young player not allowed to play senior football.

Here's the reality: Young player going 3 times a week across the county to train / play county minors. Then playing club minor one night a week. Training club minor another day. Senior managers telling him he Wong be picked later the year, so he trains twice a week there and maybe squeezes in a friendly. Reserves are short, so he plays in it as he's a superstar at that level and everyone loves him. Oh he's also studying for his A Levels or leaving Cert and his parents are rightly cracking up.


Here's what you and your ilk need to get your heads around:

1. If he's been chosen to play at an elite level, it's an honour for him and his club. Let him get the absolute most of this chance.

2. If your senior team's season is dependent on the availability of. a 17 year old, then you really aren't going to have a great season. Yes he might be able to make you better. But not that much better.

3. When he's done with county minor, he will be a better trained, more focused, more confident player. If he hasn't been ruined by his club he will also be fresh.


Seriously, take this in and pass it on. Clubs are a problem at this level, as much a problem as the other teams combined.

[manfromdelmonte]

clubs are generally impatient with players coming through.

most of them don't have the luxury of waiting until the players are ready - relegation/promotion/silverware etc

[thewobbler]

clubs are generally impatient with players coming through.

most of them don't have the luxury of waiting until the players are ready - relegation/promotion/silverware etc

Of course they do. But only an exceptional talent gets more than one shot at county minors.

[The Trap]

Wobbler........once again all you can talk about is the elite player........what about the vast majority of lads who don't make county teams? Why stop them from playing? Are you not concerned that a lot of young men could be lost to the game because they don't have an opportunity to play for almost a year?

[redzone]

Trap our own county board had regonised this as a big mistake as have cork. This is to be dealt with at congress I thought. Things are obviously at a low ebb with in your club but maybe it's time to look in the mirror and see what u can do better rather than to blame everyone else

[thewobbler]

Wobbler........once again all you can talk about is the elite player........what about the vast majority of lads who don't make county teams? Why stop them from playing? Are you not concerned that a lot of young men could be lost to the game because they don't have an opportunity to play for almost a year?

I'm not stopping them from playing.

The point that you made about county minors is completely wrong.

They need protection from clubs who'll have them playing 3 times a week and training 3 times a week at 17, then wonder why they're always injured or why they don't want to play when they're 25.

At least central council have finally found the easiest way to stop this happening to our better players, which is sadly to withhold them from their clubs.

I wasn't talking about any of your other points.

[6th sam]

Wobbler........once again all you can talk about is the elite player........what about the vast majority of lads who don't make county teams? Why stop them from playing? Are you not concerned that a lot of young men could be lost to the game because they don't have an opportunity to play for almost a year?

I'm not stopping them from playing.

The point that you made about county minors is completely wrong.

They need protection from clubs who'll have them playing 3 times a week and training 3 times a week at 17, then wonder why they're always injured or why they don't want to play when they're 25.

At least central council have finally found the easiest way to stop this happening to our better players, which is sadly to withhold them from their clubs.

I wasn't talking about any of your other points.

Agree that the priority must always be protecting the player, at the risk of appearing elitist, we particularly need to protect elite players- as they are the ones we should be watching at senior county level in upcoming years. However it is much easier for established clubs to sustain the loss of minor players than up and coming clubs. The problem I have is that for County minors , they may have only 3-4 competitive games in the year, or none in the cases of those outside 1st 15. They are taken out of club circulation for 6months however. I think in an ideal world ,?we alternate 10 week blocks of county football and club football , with 12 week off season/pre-season. During the county block all those club players not on county set ups play league every week , in the knowledge that their county players will return to the fold for an extended club championship . Importantly during the county block there should be loads of county games, rather than continuous training.
This county player/club player protection and provision of regular games must be legislated for, otherwise county players will remain vulnerable to burnout/overuse injury and club players remain subject to weeks without games. The key is that u can not punish clubs for producing county players: ie they are entitled to an extended championship campaign with a full complement of the players they have helped develop. However for "league " games they may have to play without county men- but this is an opportunity for them to develop fringe players who otherwise wouldn't get the chance.

[Rossfan]

A lot of sense there Sam.

[theskull1]

Why does a county player "need" to train 3/4 times a week, week in week out with a county panel?

International soccer teams are happy to train in short bursts ahead of matches and then the players go back to their clubs who look after them week in week out. I fail to see why (both from a financial and player welfare perspective), this shouldn't be the adopted format.