My brother has a lad on Dublin development U15 panel, and last year they beat Offaly by some ridiculous score, 15-10 to 0-2 , or something along those lines. Scary stuff. But Kilmacud Crokes probably have as a big a pick as Offaly these days.
Given the numbers and the efforts by the (volunteer!) coaches, Dublin seriously underachieve at minor. Thankfully really! I think it’s probably down to not having a settled line up until just before. It’s very hard to predict what the minor team will be prior to the first championship game, because of the large pick. I honestly never much care about minor All Irelands, unless i’ve a clubman on the team. For me, the most important, is the couple of lads each year who might improve the senior team.
With all the threads about the Dubs, it is funny that there’s never any talk on the board about what other counties can do to copy Kerry. Their recent minor success is absolutely amazing. What can other counties do to try and replicate it?
God almighty, imagine the crying if Dubs were achieving at minor!
You see this is what it leads to. I've been saying it for years. What do you think other counties are going to do to try to keep up? Invest huge money themselves! Some have done it at senior level with varying degrees of success. Others, like Kerry have tried to emulate Dublin's method, player creation is the key. Where does that leave us? Only counties with money can compete! That's the road we're going down. That's why this is such an important issue and one we have to tackle now. Look already at the calls for the b championship. That's the beginning of the end for Gaelic football in many counties. It'll be like hurling!
25 of those counties never kept up...
That's fair enough. I remember Jimmy Grey, the club chairman, saying when the controversy over the proposed Dublin Metro erupted, that upwards of 2,000 youngsters used the club's facilities. That's an unbelievable number but Jimmy is a gentleman and I wouldn't doubt his word.
I have also heard of a junior club (Rathmines Gaels?) that was protesting at City Council plans to take away their only pitch, which is out somewhere in Inchicore. According to their spokesman, they had 400 kids involved. Again, the number is amazing. I can also see why the junor club needs extra help but Na Finna is not in the same category, IMO.
They already have the pitches and changing rooms and most of their activities are internal games. They also depend on selfless volunteers to organise and coach the underage players. Do they need the same per capita grant aid as does the junior club? I often think that Dublin's volunteer coaches perform a massive baby sitting service for busy mums and disinterested dads all over Dublin.
To see what I mean, take a good look at the hordes of kiddies, running about an generally having a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
Then try to viualise the number that will still be around at senior level. Better still, how many would you expect to be still active club members at minor level or , say, u15 and other age levels you care to think of? There is a frightening haemorrhage of members as the age levels increase.
Why is this?
If you were looking at the number of children involved in most rural clubs at weekends, you'd be lucky to count thirty or thereabouts. Yet the percentage of those who will stay with their clubs and become active members of their community will be far higher. Again, the reason for this should be fairly obvious to all.
