Belfast GAA is dying...

johnnycool · May 02, 2025, 08:26:02 AM

Quote from: BigGreenField on April 30, 2025, 09:07:31 AMEast Belfast having to put out a statement clarifying they are only using a council facility at Cairnshill on a temporary basis.

Presume local agitators have been making noise again. City is coming down with soccer pitches, god forbid a Gaa club might wish to book some council facilities.

If the Gaa made the same demands on councils as soccer the City would need to provide another 20 Gaa pitches, at the minute any dog and his mate can start a soccer team, enter a league and expect the council to find them room.

If the soccer lads are feeling the squeeze perhaps they could stop inviting non city teams into the Belfast leagues, effectively a national league largely being run on Belfast pitches and paid for by Belfast ratepayers.

Boils my brain.

Boils my brains too as I'm sure there's loads of rate payers within the ranks of East Belfast GAA and they're entitled to council facilities as much as anyone.
That area would be semi middle class, so you'd have to wonder who the agitators are!

imtommygunn · May 02, 2025, 08:46:23 AM

Agitators don't need to be from that area I would expect. The henry jones playing fields are a decent job now too - I imagine they near have too many for those pitches.

There are just bitter twisted people who have it in for east belfast gaa as they don't want GAA in east belfast. They may suck it up.

BigGreenField · September 26, 2025, 05:02:38 PM

https://antrim.gaa.ie/news/belfast-schools-unite-to-launch-cathair-bh%C3%A9al-feirste-team-for-ulster-colleges-rannafast-cup

Grace Murphy · September 26, 2025, 09:08:11 PM

Fecking rap groups to get the Irish language goin

Now super school teams to get the GAA goin.

What next?

Combining 5 bakery's to get Helen's goin on the Ormeau road again???

You know what I mean mucker!

Northbelfastgael · October 06, 2025, 06:47:10 PM

Just need the county to put investment in Wolfe Tones and well be saved.

johnnycool · October 07, 2025, 10:01:14 AM

Quote from: BigGreenField on September 26, 2025, 05:02:38 PMhttps://antrim.gaa.ie/news/belfast-schools-unite-to-launch-cathair-bh%C3%A9al-feirste-team-for-ulster-colleges-rannafast-cup

Howl on there. Is it now OK for Antrim (and one Down) schools to amalgamate for colleges football when it was the Antrim schools who kicked up the most fuss when Down schools did the same for the hurling?

tiempo · October 07, 2025, 10:05:54 AM

Cavan started it

imtommygunn · October 07, 2025, 10:14:30 AM

Quote from: johnnycool on October 07, 2025, 10:01:14 AM
Quote from: BigGreenField on September 26, 2025, 05:02:38 PMhttps://antrim.gaa.ie/news/belfast-schools-unite-to-launch-cathair-bh%C3%A9al-feirste-team-for-ulster-colleges-rannafast-cup

Howl on there. Is it now OK for Antrim (and one Down) schools to amalgamate for colleges football when it was the Antrim schools who kicked up the most fuss when Down schools did the same for the hurling?

Yes

johnnycool · October 07, 2025, 12:27:19 PM

Quote from: tiempo on October 07, 2025, 10:05:54 AMCavan started it

When did Cavan start it?

I think that Down amalgamated schools played in the hurling was almost 10 years ago before they went and won it and then got booted out.

thewobbler · October 07, 2025, 12:34:13 PM

Merged teams should not be allowed anywhere near a tier 1 schools competition.

The schools that spent 100 years building up these competitions have not earned the right to a free pass forever, but surely they've earned the right to demand that any school wishing to compete at their level, should have the cultural persuasion to do it, and be willing to put in the hard hours achieve it.

Life it ain't fair folks. Shove your shortcuts where the sun don't shine.

ranch · October 09, 2025, 12:58:22 PM

Quote from: thewobbler on October 07, 2025, 12:34:13 PMMerged teams should not be allowed anywhere near a tier 1 schools competition.

The schools that spent 100 years building up these competitions have not earned the right to a free pass forever, but surely they've earned the right to demand that any school wishing to compete at their level, should have the cultural persuasion to do it, and be willing to put in the hard hours achieve it.

Life it ain't fair folks. Shove your shortcuts where the sun don't shine.

Exactly this.

Amalgamations at club level make sense when you've a few small clubs than can cobble together 20 players between them for a particular age group.
Schools however have no such issues with playing numbers and can compete at the appropriate level that they're best suited to. Amalgamating them just so they can create some sort of 'super' team surely isn't fair on the schools that have put the effort in to compete at 'A' level over the years.