Antrim Hurling

[Milltown Row2]

Oh, yes, ok then why didn't the rest of Ireland not bring all their games forward that day? Galway Mayo Armagh and a few other counties postponed it instead of bringing it forward. Seems simple enough

[SaffronOak]

background irrelevant.  common sense should have prevailed.  I'm no Barra Best but I knew it was to get worse as the day progressed.

Being at the match, that proved accurate.

madness playing it.  but it is what it is.  both teams had to deal with it, toss was massive.  my point, is the county board could have done more to avoid the likes of this happening

[SaffronOak]

Oh, yes, ok then why didn't the rest of Ireland not bring all their games forward that day? Galway Mayo Armagh and a few other counties postponed it instead of bringing it forward. Seems simple enough

not sure if thats sarcasm but regardless, not interested in the rest of Ireland.  not one sane minded person would have complained at it being moved from Sunday.  now other counties are laughing at the call not to postpone it.  make of that what you will.

[Milltown Row2]

background irrelevant.  common sense should have prevailed.  I'm no Barra Best but I knew it was to get worse as the day progressed.

Being at the match, that proved accurate.

madness playing it.  but it is what it is.  both teams had to deal with it, toss was massive.  my point, is the county board could have done more to avoid the likes of this happening

I'm not privy in how these things are run, I have been involved with organising tournaments and the like for the club, and its not just a case of waying in on a different day and its done. All changes have knock on effects

Both games (intermediate, senior) were being streamed, multiple cameras, stewards to organised on a Sat instead of Sunday (people with other commitments for different days) agreements from both teams on playing the Sat, which when teams can't decide on which dugouts to go to gives you an idea of how thran people can be.

I just think its not as easy as you'd suggested, but that's why we need people like you at the county board with ideas to make it better..

I'm not sure who's laughing, think you have made that bit up

[SaffronSports]

I've absolutely no doubt if they had cancelled it you'd have folk on here saying sure it wasn't even that bad. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

[SaffronOak]

background irrelevant.  common sense should have prevailed.  I'm no Barra Best but I knew it was to get worse as the day progressed.

Being at the match, that proved accurate.

madness playing it.  but it is what it is.  both teams had to deal with it, toss was massive.  my point, is the county board could have done more to avoid the likes of this happening

I'm not privy in how these things are run, I have been involved with organising tournaments and the like for the club, and its not just a case of waying in on a different day and its done. All changes have knock on effects

Both games (intermediate, senior) were being streamed, multiple cameras, stewards to organised on a Sat instead of Sunday (people with other commitments for different days) agreements from both teams on playing the Sat, which when teams can't decide on which dugouts to go to gives you an idea of how thran people can be.

I just think its not as easy as you'd suggested, but that's why we need people like you at the county board with ideas to make it better..

I'm not sure who's laughing, think you have made that bit up

havent made it up - I live west of the Bann.  I've heard it since Sunday!

it is easy when its the logical thing to do.  I know how much organising goes into these things also, I've been involved in plenty of smaller tournaments similar to what you've said yourself.  but it pays to have some critical thinking about these things.
plenty switched on individuals on the county board who surely had a conversation about this at least! (I would hope)

[Around the glens]

Jeez there's a real lack of wits and common since comparing a storm which was upgraded to an Amber warning, only travel if necessary to your normal rain in ballycastle...

Eoghan campbell even called today that it 100% should of been called off. That game ultimately was won on the coin toss.. takes teams 10/15 to get into it.

The word on the street was banagher were out warming up but slaughtneil didn't leave the changing rooms to play it in the conditions. Any truth to it?

[johnnycool]

Cahair O'Kane wants you boys separated after the final on Sunday, what were you at?

I didn't read his article in case you are wondering

[Saffrongael]

Cahair O'Kane wants you boys separated after the final on Sunday, what were you at?

I didn't read his article in case you are wondering

I WILL let you in on a little secret.

At any championship game, I can generally tell if there's been a score a second or two before the majority of people in the ground know.

It is not because I have a time machine or that I come from the future or that I just had laser-eye surgery.

Rather, it is because unless I'm right in line with it, I do not watch the ball when it's in flight towards goal.

I watch the umpires.


You come to learn that umpires are quite excitable.

In football, they could be standing there freezing for long periods of time.

When their opportunity to shine comes along, they are going to repay the trust that's was handed to them in the form of that white coat.

You will notice that is almost always the younger umpire who is on white flag duty.

The only thing younger umpires love more than a summer's day where they get to wear their pristine short-sleeved shirts and sunglasses is a good, excited run to the flag, like a dog whose owner just got home from work.

If they're giving it wide, they'll run a good two or three yards outside the post.

And it will be a slower run, more of a jog.

Sometimes, to build the tension, it becomes a walk. Two arms down by the side, no indication either way.

But there are always clues.

If it's a score, there's just no disguising the run. They can't contain themselves. It's a sprint. Head low, back bent right over, reaching for that flag.

You can see almost them out at umpire training, sprinting between two cones four metres apart, reaching down to touch each of them.

Game-based training.

'How will the world know if it's a score unless I get to that flag within 1.4 seconds?'

Test it out this weekend.

Watch the umpire, not the ball.

Then you can join me in smugly knowing before everyone else.

It is at its most useful when you're on the wrong side of the field to judge a shot for yourself.

On Sunday, there was no need to watch the umpire.

And that's when it struck me – it is time for the GAA to segregate supporters.

How, you might ask, did you arrive at that conclusion?

There was no need to watch the shot because the Cushendall fans on the far side told you long before a shot had arrived at its target whether it was going over or not.

Clumped together from one end of the steps to the other, a whole village knew instantly if it was a score, and they let the Dunloy fans housed exclusively on the other side know in unison.

It created a fantastic noise that bounced back and forward.

They walked in together and walked out together, shook hands and went home, but for the hour's hurling, they stuck to their own.

That creates safety in numbers, which in turn allows for the shedding of inhibitions.

It created a crackling atmosphere.

The absolute best sound of a GAA summer is that delayed roar from a big crowd.

The one where they're on the wrong side and they don't know yet to study the umpire's movements (they will now).

And so the ball might have rested on the catch-net a good few seconds before the official takes command of the flag, at which point the roar rises up out of the collective.

When they are huddled together, it creates a sound that feeds electricity into championship fare.

It's one of the reasons why first-time county finalists often bring a great atmosphere.

In their excitement, WhatsApp groups are created for anything and everything.

One of them will inform the club's fans, newfound and traditional, to congregate in a certain area of the ground.

New fans will think it's great.

Traditionalists will scoff and tut at the idea of being told where to sit, and then they'll sit where they're told.

Their painted faces and their flags and their horns and their flares can breathe a fire through their soldiers down on the battlefield.

Sports psychologists refer to it as "audience effect," which is a type of "social facilitation".

Beyond the parameters of sport, for instance, a 1937 study showed that show worker ants will dig three times more sand for every additional ant that is present and also digging sand.

There is a natural human reaction to the presence of other people that feeds into sport through the crowd.

And a crowd is at its noisiest and most partisan when it is segregated.

We do not need segregation from the point of view of any bother. The opposite. We're just almost too happy to sit beside the enemy.

There's a cycle there where a good game builds an atmosphere that contributes back into the game by driving energy into it.

It's not hard to do because people will generally go along with it.

A lot of clubs are already doing it themselves anyway, except sometimes plans overlap or aren't well enough known by everyone.

If the counties hosting finals this weekend were to tell the two clubs which side of the stand and which side of the terrace to take, publicise it so that everyone knows, then you'd find most people would be happy with it.

There'd be nothing to stop Glen people sitting on the Newbridge side but would they want to? Best to just go with their own.

It's such a simple way of adding to the game.

To create that noise that Cushendall and Dunloy brought to Ballycastle by going their own separate ways the minute they had their tickets scanned.

It doesn't mean they can't still be friends.

It just means you won't have to learn to study the umpires quite as well as me.

[OakLeaf]

The word on the street was banagher were out warming up but slaughtneil didn't leave the changing rooms to play it in the conditions. Any truth to it?

Absolutely true. It's almost as if Slaughtneil knew it was off before the referee

[NAG1]

background irrelevant.  common sense should have prevailed.  I'm no Barra Best but I knew it was to get worse as the day progressed.

Being at the match, that proved accurate.

madness playing it.  but it is what it is.  both teams had to deal with it, toss was massive.  my point, is the county board could have done more to avoid the likes of this happening

I'm not privy in how these things are run, I have been involved with organising tournaments and the like for the club, and its not just a case of waying in on a different day and its done. All changes have knock on effects

Both games (intermediate, senior) were being streamed, multiple cameras, stewards to organised on a Sat instead of Sunday (people with other commitments for different days) agreements from both teams on playing the Sat, which when teams can't decide on which dugouts to go to gives you an idea of how thran people can be.

I just think its not as easy as you'd suggested, but that's why we need people like you at the county board with ideas to make it better..

I'm not sure who's laughing, think you have made that bit up

MR2 in this case it was literally as simple as postpone the game.

Or with a bit of insight review the day and venue and go for the Saturday which was clear on the forecast.

It's too late now, my point is that teams train all year and we give them that day to play on and it is simply not good enough.

Not good enough that our show piece is given that level of respect.

Cushendall dont care and why would they, but it's more of an attitude thing that is creeping in more and more it seems. Just get it played and out of the way and move on.

I've referred to it on here before with other games and different grades so its not a senior thing at all.

[Milltown Row2]

BTW I would much have preferred the game been on a better day, before anyone thinks I'm saying it was grand..

[left peg]

The word on the street was banagher were out warming up but slaughtneil didn't leave the changing rooms to play it in the conditions. Any truth to it?
[/quote]

Yeah Slaughtneil did an intense warm up in Kevin Lynch park prior to playing banagher. Dungiven hate Brian McGilligan that much nothings a problem.

Don't believe all you hear on the streets.

[Tony Baloney]

background irrelevant.  common sense should have prevailed.  I'm no Barra Best but I knew it was to get worse as the day progressed.

Being at the match, that proved accurate.

madness playing it.  but it is what it is.  both teams had to deal with it, toss was massive.  my point, is the county board could have done more to avoid the likes of this happening

I'm not privy in how these things are run, I have been involved with organising tournaments and the like for the club, and its not just a case of waying in on a different day and its done. All changes have knock on effects

Both games (intermediate, senior) were being streamed, multiple cameras, stewards to organised on a Sat instead of Sunday (people with other commitments for different days) agreements from both teams on playing the Sat, which when teams can't decide on which dugouts to go to gives you an idea of how thran people can be.

I just think its not as easy as you'd suggested, but that's why we need people like you at the county board with ideas to make it better..

I'm not sure who's laughing, think you have made that bit up

You also have to factor in the Dall ones not missing Mass or doing a bit of farming.

[paddyjohn]

background irrelevant.  common sense should have prevailed.  I'm no Barra Best but I knew it was to get worse as the day progressed.

Being at the match, that proved accurate.

madness playing it.  but it is what it is.  both teams had to deal with it, toss was massive.  my point, is the county board could have done more to avoid the likes of this happening

I'm not privy in how these things are run, I have been involved with organising tournaments and the like for the club, and its not just a case of waying in on a different day and its done. All changes have knock on effects

Both games (intermediate, senior) were being streamed, multiple cameras, stewards to organised on a Sat instead of Sunday (people with other commitments for different days) agreements from both teams on playing the Sat, which when teams can't decide on which dugouts to go to gives you an idea of how thran people can be.

I just think its not as easy as you'd suggested, but that's why we need people like you at the county board with ideas to make it better..

I'm not sure who's laughing, think you have made that bit up

You also have to factor in the Dall ones not missing Mass or doing a bit of farming.

Maybe that's why they are so successful.