Topics

I had started to put this on another thread and realised it was out of place.   
On the Grimley issue i have been really annoyed at how he has spoken about the Armagh post in the last months. He was treated badly initially granted, the second time he didnt think things were right  - but the way he has gone on you would think Armagh had killed all belonging to him! ruling out ever taking the job etc. Does he forget he is an Armagh man? I already commented previously at how celebrated on the pitch hugging etc when Monaghan trounced Armagh. These are players he previously worked with, could he not appreciate how much they would be hurting? surely he could've had a little more class than to openly celebrate like he did.  Even last weekend, he arrived in Keady to take the Armagh 02 team against the Rest of Ireland select wearing a Monaghan top!!
Im sorry but as a coach he is top notch, he has gone down in my estimation otherwise though.

Reading The Irish News today i came on piece about the Enniskillen Cuhulainns.The piece was accompanied by a photograph of the team on the Croke Park surface. For those who are not aware of this phenomenon, it is a squad which is made up of young people from a mixture of schools and backgrounds, in this case, all in the Enniskillen area- Protestant, Catholic and Integrated who have - and i quote "..little or no experience playing football before getting involved" This squad will now travel to Long Island NY to compete in the U.16 Continental Youth Championships. This follows hot on the heals of the Belfast Cuchulianns project which was similar but focused on Belfast schools. I had previously heard about the Belfast Cuchulianns when attending the Club Maith seminar at the Europa a couple of years ago where it was introduced and explained to club delegates along with a slide show of their visit to the states (in this case they visited more than one city)

On each occasion the emotions i felt were annoyance and even anger. Although it is only right and proper to spread the word of our games and open our games up to all of Irish society, are there not more prudent ways of doing this than taking a squad of 20 along with a clutch of mentors (Ulster council faces i recognised from the slides) to the other side of the world ? These young people never played the game before this year...at 16 what are the chances of them continuing to play GAA beyond this trip? slim to none i would've thought - therefore what has been achieved regarding the promotion of our games?

What about Young people of that age who have trained and played the game since the age of 6/7? where is their reward or trip to the states? Where is their trip to Croke Park? This is a clear PR stunt by the Ulster Council to recieve funding... if they were serious about promoting the games there are more practical, and might i suggest cheaper, ways of doing so ie targeting coaching in non gaa primary and seconday schools and helping provide links between those schools and their local clubs. At least that way there would be a chance of them continuing to play the game - this IMO will achieve nothing as regards furthering the reach of the GAA and results only in a free trip to the states for the Ulster Council guys...

Anyone who has attended McKenna Cup games this year and paid extortionate prices or tried to get a family ticket for the Ulster Championship without success...perhaps now we know the reason.