Messages

Belfast has too many clubs, and a lot of kids are not being directed into gaa clubs the way they used too at primary level.. schools have more options, I didnt go to a school that had soccer, both Primary and secondary were all Gaa, teachers seemed to have more time to coach and I can remember coaches coming in from other clubs to help out (or poach  )

Now you have soccer in all schools, parents arent bothered anymore also, as long as they are doing something they seem happy enough.. Can't blame soccer for that, its wall to wall coverage on TV so it will have an impact, plus their fixtures are run a lot better TBH..

Drink was always there but drugs now is big factor, mental health issues are another thing on the rise, not sure what the clubs do now for awareness on these areas, but that needs to be tackled..

The troubles actually helped with Gaa numbers I believe, mainly because of identity, identifying yourself with Ireland and or national sport, the family side of it increased numbers, brothers all playing for the one club and so on, that's still there of course but getting less and less.. once the troubles had stopped kids started to get their kicks elswhere, Belfast opened up and the club wasnt a place where you hung out, the city centre was..

How do we get it back? back to basics for me, get the planning right in the clubs for starters... I know we have taken our eye of the ball lately and as a club we are going through that down turn that all clubs go through, we need to sort ourselves out and no amount of money from headquarters will fix that unless we create the right mix of coaching, encouragement, attitudes and targets to inspire children to stay at the club through to senior...

Its not that long ago we had 2 senior hurling teams, 3 senior football teams, 2 south antrim (beer belly teams ) all getting games.. we are back to one in each code, feeder teams are important but kids just want to play for the first team and walk away now if they are not getting a chance.. The numbers are there and the facilities/pitches are better than what I played on so hopefully the planning that Antrim will put in place with the investment will sort things out long term.. oh and get Casemnet built!

how the GPOs tie in with the schools and get the kids that they coach midweek to attend a saturday morning GAA club nursery / academy will dictate if this initiative fails or succeeds. the Dublin model is a GPO is club assigned and schools are assigned to that club / GPO

I get the impression there's very few natural boundaries existing between the clubs and schools in Belfast, especially primary schools.

For example at the Shaws Road area, you've St Pauls, Rossa and Sarsfields pitches right beside each other. The old Rossa club house on the Falls road was a stones throw from St Galls and their pitches. O'D's are right beside St Johns with the Gorts further on up the hill. Davitts are in the mix there somewhere as well as well as a few others. It seems to be family orientated, i.e. you ma or da played for such and such a club, so you play for them. That's OK, but new young blood needs to be brought into the fold.

A friend of mine was telling me of a GDO who was in the school he teaches at and the GDO was informing the kids of when the training was at the club he was affiliated to and the next day the school took a call from the chairman of another club giving out about the GDO showing favouritism to his own club. I'd say whoever looks after the GDO's in Antrim got a similar call if not quicker.

As MR suggests probably too many small clubs and none willing to yield an inch to the other.

On the South Belfast side of things, Carryduff do indeed charge £100 per child membership and from all accounts there's very little leeway on that.  I can't say for sure whether Bredagh are in the same ballpark or not, but they both have really big numbers at underage as the likes of the attendances at their Cúl Camps shows.
Problems I have with that are that if a youngster then decides to pick up a hurl, they've to get a helmet at almost £40 if they chose to buy a subsidised one from the club and then a hurl itself at anything from £15 up you're well out of pocket before you even think about boots and playing gear. That's a big ask for any parent.

In terms of how are they doing on the field, hurling wise Bredagh and Carryduff have picked up quite a few underage championships but really haven't kicked on at adult level. I gather that the same may be true at the football, but can't say for sure.
I'd know a few of their coaches quite well and was asking one last year or the year before as to why their minors were so weak after they'd won the U14 Feile at that age group with a very large panel and he was pretty forthright in that a lot of the hurlers just quit when winning started to get harder, "just another middle class sport" were his words, where they pick and choose. Most still lived in the area. He'd an U16 team down in our place a few weeks back and I happened to be complimenting their fullback who I thought was outstanding and one of the other coaches shrugged his shoulders and "sure he plays schools cup rugby for Methody, not sure how long we'll have him for". That can happen anywhere but there doesn't seem to be the connection to adult hurling/football teams there as yet whereas it's a given in some other places. Must be soul destroying for the coaches at times.
I can only think of one lad currently on the Down senior hurling panel from South Belfast at the minute, if even that and its not as if its a strong panel.

On the county development squads I'm in total agreement with Joe as they are getting in the way of clubs developing youngsters due to the asks put on those picked to go on them. The clubs are having to put training and games on hold far too much.
They are meant to supplement clubs and not replace them as per the Kilkenny model.

Someone touched on the recreational aspect and back in my day that was what we called the thirds team or turds, aka junior team where the lads didn't train, were either shite but loved the game, were retired from serious stuff and in it for the craic or the young lads cutting their teeth (literally) at the adult game as well as play underage.
It wasn't for everybody 

What's the story with Antrim U17's in the Celtic Challenge?

Is this a development squad with the bigger effort going into the Leinster championship at U18?

Thanks Owen. We're going to test drive a few in the next week or so. I do like the look of the Ateca though.

One of the best looking compact SUVs. If you need more than 5 seats the Kodiaq from Skoda is the big brother of the Karoq and also highly rated.  Q7 size and near quality for a Skoda price.

Was in one of those Kodiaq's the other day, spacy enough inside without looking like a bus on the outside, was impressed by it.
Didn't get a drive at it though, but I think they're 2 litre diesel engines.

Joint US, UK and French air attacks last night it seems, Syria already saying a lot of the missiles shot down.

What happens next, who knows!!!!

NI win their first medal on the track since 1986 (and first athletics medal since 1990) with Leon Reid's bronze in the 200m.  English favourite Zharnel Hughes was disqualified from 1st place moving Reid up from 4th.

Is he Northern Irish though?

Careful now, he might be Irish at the next Olympics!

How blatant was the 'winner' nudging the guy in the next lane? totally put him off and in a photo finish the other runner would have won!

Thought that myself, although the panel on the BBC were trying to say it was an accident. FFS it was like something you'd see on a GAA field, arm across the man running beside you.
Right decision all day long.

Press reporting some form of "strikes" in Syria this weekend.

With the Russians intermingled with the Syrians and allegedly Syria having a "first world" aerial defence shield in place this could all kick off.

Thankfully Trump is too embroiled in allegations of paying off porn stars to give it his full attention................

To tell you the truth it looks like massive incompetence in the higher echelons of the civil service was a huge factor in RHI.

+1

Incompetence is a strong theme within the managerial levels of NICS.  Public servants only interested in their next move to another department and/or a promotion regardless of previous record.

There's more to this than incompetence but that will be enough to get Arlene off the hook unless holy Joe Jonathan Bell can bring forth manna from heaven in the form of something tangible that ties Arlene into this a bit deeper than she's currently letting on.

So if that gets Nick Cotton off the hook will the shinners go back into Gov?

I don't think Arlene stepping aside was part of the botched deal a few weeks back, so I can't see this making a button of difference if Arlene isn't prepared to sign off on the ILA.

To tell you the truth it looks like massive incompetence in the higher echelons of the civil service was a huge factor in RHI.

+1

Incompetence is a strong theme within the managerial levels of NICS.  Public servants only interested in their next move to another department and/or a promotion regardless of previous record.

There's more to this than incompetence but that will be enough to get Arlene off the hook unless holy Joe Jonathan Bell can bring forth manna from heaven in the form of something tangible that ties Arlene into this a bit deeper than she's currently letting on.

For those interested Arlene Foster is due to appear to give evidence at the RHI Inquiry today at 2:00pm.

Has her statements released last night not thrown some of her SPADs under the bus already?

She'll use the "I left that detail up to the civil servants" and the "no, I wasn't informed of the overspend" even though she was told several times, but alas no minutes were taken!

[if he has the ball and takes four steps and a player stands in his way he has a right to go through him, legally]

Yes. He charges.

Definition of a charge?

I would define a charge as head down, not playing the ball, and deliberately running into a player who is standing in front of you.

Yes, you won't get to many 6'4 players running around in hurling with the head down, if he has the ball and takes four steps and a player stands in his way he has a right to go through him, legally.. he can't charge him i.e turn side on shoulder to his front or back, but can use his strength to get by.. can you imagine stopping all those runs?

A charge is very easy to call as a ref, someone with ball and stick in hand, upright and honest I'll let go. If a defender tries to stop him by putting his arms around him and not trying to play ball it's a foul.. to be fair though he is an awkward big Cnut and t**ker bell feet he's not got, so I'll give him the benefit for now, but I've the game recorded from Sunday so I'll check it

You sure about that?

IMO if someone is straight in front of you and even if you haven't exceeded your 4 steps I don't think you've the right to frontal "barge" them out of the way. You have to at least make an effort to go round them.
The allowable shoulder charge is shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip which you can't do if you're standing face on with someone.


Now, what the rule book says and how hurling is currently being refereed are miles apart when it comes to tackling.

Frontal barge into someones front or back is a charge so its a foul, but he can lift his arms in a way to try and get around him, if the player in front is trying to stop him illegally, i.e putting arms around him, on him, or pulling his arm then its a free, well thats how I read the the game, one person trying to play ball, other not..

Does Magic get pulled for trying to get around players with ball in hand, he's a big lad, whats been your experience of his 'runs' with the ball?

If I see a honest attempt of a player with ball trying to get past an opponent then I'll let him try, if the other players are holding grappling or pulling then I'll give the free, by the same token if the lad with the ball lifts his feet into a tackle thats a charge, if he raises a elbow/arm going into that same takle then thats a foul also, and if he doesnt play the ball within the 4 steps 5/6 seconds then he's foulded the ball (provided he was held up illegally i.e a player just standing his ground and not pulling/holding grappling)

You are all playing it long enough to know what a foul is in those circumstances, while others find themselves in this position a lot due to their awkwardness, style or size the ref can only call it as he sees it.

I prefer a contact sport to no contact sport, there will be ones that take it to the max, its the ref's call at that point, he my not get them all, and I'm guilty of reflecting afterwards of whether I made the right call, but you go with your gut at the time.

Yes, provided they try and go around him. Big Walter doesn't do that a lot of the time and he's not the only one.

Big Magic is a big softie and doesn't use his size the way he could, too much of a ball player. I tried my best to educate him in the darker arts, but he wasn't a responsive student. 

[can]

Some would consider Maghera the first to make the jump, and if you ready the recent MacRory Cup history book that was launched a couple of years ago, the Ulster Council weren't too welcoming to Maghera

In what year did Maghera join the Ulster Colleges set up? From memory, I don't recall them ever winning any Ulster titles at Vocational Schools level whereas St. Pius X in Magherafelt had a string of VS success in the late 70's & early 80's which also powered the Derry county team to several All-Ireland titles before dropping off the radar - presumably they joined the colleges setup at some point in the 80's?

Bessbrook seemed to be lying in the football doldrums for quite some time before they reached a McDevitt (U14) final in 2004 I think. They were definitely defeated that day by Dean Maguirc Carrickmore. They eventually won an Ulster VS title, reached a Markey Cup semi final one year as well before deciding to throw their lot in with the colleges set up as they thought they had the talent coming through to give the MacRory cup a fair go and they certainly did, winning a McCormick Cup and almost a MacRory Cup not long after. While Bessbrook does have an advantage in its sheer student numbers it shows that if you have the talent and facilities available at your disposal to make a go of it and add a bit of belief, you can make a go of it. And to a large extent that's what St. Ronan's have achieved with.

I understand that when St. Pat's were formed in the 60's they applied to play in the Colleges competitions, but got major pushback from the council who believed, that as the school was not a grammar school, they should have been playing in VS football. They had to get written approval from VS to play in the colleges but the colleges still resisted, but St. Pat's won out in the end.

I know from my time there, there was an element of them 'v' us, which help fuel our determination to succeed.

The school structure is the same as St Ronan's, St Paul's, ie it is a non selective college that at the time took both people who got A, M and F in the 11+

Sure a lot of Grammar schools now are filling their seats with children getting a lot less than an A in the entrance exams and that bit of snobbery is being eroded.

St Patrick's Red High in Downpatrick is the same. There's currently talk of an amalgamation with three other comprehensive schools in the area and it isn't going down well with the Red Highers, but it'll happen all the same.

[if he has the ball and takes four steps and a player stands in his way he has a right to go through him, legally]

Yes. He charges.

Definition of a charge?

I would define a charge as head down, not playing the ball, and deliberately running into a player who is standing in front of you.

Yes, you won't get to many 6'4 players running around in hurling with the head down, if he has the ball and takes four steps and a player stands in his way he has a right to go through him, legally.. he can't charge him i.e turn side on shoulder to his front or back, but can use his strength to get by.. can you imagine stopping all those runs?

A charge is very easy to call as a ref, someone with ball and stick in hand, upright and honest I'll let go. If a defender tries to stop him by putting his arms around him and not trying to play ball it's a foul.. to be fair though he is an awkward big Cnut and t**ker bell feet he's not got, so I'll give him the benefit for now, but I've the game recorded from Sunday so I'll check it

You sure about that?

IMO if someone is straight in front of you and even if you haven't exceeded your 4 steps I don't think you've the right to frontal "barge" them out of the way. You have to at least make an effort to go round them.
The allowable shoulder charge is shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip which you can't do if you're standing face on with someone.


Now, what the rule book says and how hurling is currently being refereed are miles apart when it comes to tackling.

Striking just how many lets say unconventional stickmen KK have at the minute.

Big Walter is the most obvious cack hander, but TJ Reid and Joey Holden look like natural left handers who are inclined to strike across the body, nothing untoward about that.

Walter is used to bullying his way through lads
cannot understand why referees don't blow a free against a player who runs straight into their opponent

Because that's what keeping the game flowing and manly hurling is all about (c) Eddie Keher.

[so the depth of their panel - and everyone else's]

Worth remembering

https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/hurling/jamesie-oconnor-kilkenny-look-more-comfortable-with-their-new-style-of-play-but-tipp-have-the-greater-weapons-36785160.html?utm_source=outbrain_top_drawer&utm_medium=outbrain&utm_campaign=Outbrain On Site
With the new championship format, unearthing fresh talent and solid back-up players was always going to be a priority this spring. Tipperary will play four championship matches in the space of 21 days, so the depth of their panel - and everyone else's - is going to be tested. Hence the greater level of experimentation than was previously the case.

That's where I think Clare and Cork will come unstuck as you just don't see the quality after the first 15.

Rates has to be one of the most corrupt taxes in the north i.e. based on value of house, not on what you actually receive for it.  The higher the house value, the higher the rates, with a ceiling of 5k.  Because a house has a higher value doesnt mean you have more cash in the bank to pay for the extra rates.  All houses get the same services, same bin collection, street lighting (in some cases there's none), same leisure centre facilities etc etc.  And it's the direct reason why a couple I know, both now 80, have decided to sell up, can no longer afford the yearly rates of £1800.  None of the political parties are going to want the system changed either.

Agree with all this. An absolute joke of a tax.

It's like road tax, just another tax that goes into the big pot that Amazon, Google and the big Tory party donors don't pay.