Messages

[Football is very competitive in Down at U11s]

its happening in the  team my lad plays with U11. players drifting away. in our club its by and large the coaches fault. its a pity, in a good few cases its lads that have loads of potential just not there yet, now they might never be ''there'' but they have potential.
but as others have said its easy to criticize from the sidelines the reality is any of the coaches would  probably gladly hand me the whistle if i thought i could do better. in my defense i do coach with another team in the club, with my younger lad and at this stage the best i can hope to do is learn from the mistakes of this bunch.

firstly they each have a kid on the team and each seem to believe that their lad is the next cillian o connor. this is bad enough but the real problem is they are bizarrely obsessed with winning U11 games. this results in team selection that leaves loads of player out and piles huge  pressure on those who play.
at one game the ''A'' team had 3 subs whilst the ''B'' team had 11 subs
now the result of this Cody like desire to win is that so far they have lost every game they have played ( GO games, so no one keeping score only themselves). and worse the other result is good lads/girls walking away (luckily the girls walk around the corner to the girls club).
now my lad would not be the greatest but not the worst either, incredibly enthusiastic absolutely LOVES football and  has a super attitude, never gives up, never complains. but after one recent match he was down in the dumps and upset for a week. i was so mad i was going to talk to them but he begged me not to.  instead he killed himself training for a week at home and when he went back things were  a bit better (only because 3/4 other players were away on holiday) but it will happen again next week, nothing surer and to be honest i will not  have him like that again,  ill sooner  pull him out, he plays soccer and rugby as well and while football is his first love they will have to do.

its a huge pity but the reality is the coaches have no interest in lads they dont think will be good enough  and they dont care if they go in fact i think they are happier. nothing is going to change this attitude and the longer my lads sticks it out the more knocks he going to have to take before he eventually gets the message and gives up.

Could the club not have 3 teams in that case?

Our club had too many for 1 team for the first time this year so entered a B team. A team carried 11 players and no subs, B team took whatever was left and maybe had a couple of very young U9s on the line in some games. It's worked well - not perfect by any means but better than we expected.

Football is very competitive in Down at U11s, in contrast the hurling is seen as a bit of a run out and lads enjoy it more. There's nowhere near the same yapping from the sidelines etc.

Made  my morning

Probably should have explained that better - the way games are set up leaves things very competitive for the age of the players involved. If coaches are getting sent off for slabbering at refs at U11s or starting rows with other coaches etc you're not doing it right.

Anyone taking U11 football seriously needs to see a Doctor. They're a danger to society unless they get medical help.

One of my first experiences of helping out with coaching structures within my club was trying to use young lads to referee the U12 games which up to that point was an official referee and £30 a game IIRC. I thought it was madness as it was Go Games so no score was kept and there was a middle third where the weaker lads got a run out, so in my simplistic view it was a no brainer. So our secretary was dispatched to a CB meeting to bring this up and he was met with a wall of incredulity at suggesting such a thing as the young lads would be killed by the parents and coaches if this was brought in. Mostly Down football clubs I might add. Nuts I tell you 

We don't have official referee's which is now U11.5 or P7 in old money, so kind of a win but just checking there an U11.5 football still appoints official referee's but as before they're nuts over there..

Each club should have a policy of sorts defining who gets what in terms of meaningful gametime.

We up to go games try to ensure that every kid at whatever agegroup gets a minimum of 50% of gametime available to them. Go games allows for that as you can have as many subs as you like, so roll them on and off. Every kid of a certain age gets an invite without exception as in the past we found that some coaches were "inclined" not to invite the weaker kids in an attempt to win a blitz of some sort or other.

The "competitive" age groups we deploy the 4 A's. Age, Attendance, Attitude and Ability (to compete, defend themselves) plus being a small rural club where we've overlaps between teams the amount of opportunity a kid gets at another level should be taken into consideration.

For instance if we've two 15yo's, one plays a lot for the U17's and one doesn't. The one who plays for the U17's should be taken off first and if we bring on an U13 then we need to be sure they are relatively comfortable to compete and look after themselves at that level and have the wherewithal to protect themselves.

Reflective glory by some of the coaches is still an issue..

It's mad the difference in dealing with the same clubs at different codes over here. There is refs sometimes at U11 football, sometimes not. But they get a load of shit whether its an official ref or not. Saw it only yesterday but it's the boards fault for setting up competitive leagues at that age. The blitzes going away has helped up at U9 to make it less competitive.

Boards by and large only put in place what the respective clubs want.

Clubs and respective boards need to step back and take the heat out of the environment we're expecting kids to develop, thrive and ultimately enjoy themselves if there's shouting and balling at referees at a Go Games match..

[Football is very competitive in Down at U11s]

its happening in the  team my lad plays with U11. players drifting away. in our club its by and large the coaches fault. its a pity, in a good few cases its lads that have loads of potential just not there yet, now they might never be ''there'' but they have potential.
but as others have said its easy to criticize from the sidelines the reality is any of the coaches would  probably gladly hand me the whistle if i thought i could do better. in my defense i do coach with another team in the club, with my younger lad and at this stage the best i can hope to do is learn from the mistakes of this bunch.

firstly they each have a kid on the team and each seem to believe that their lad is the next cillian o connor. this is bad enough but the real problem is they are bizarrely obsessed with winning U11 games. this results in team selection that leaves loads of player out and piles huge  pressure on those who play.
at one game the ''A'' team had 3 subs whilst the ''B'' team had 11 subs
now the result of this Cody like desire to win is that so far they have lost every game they have played ( GO games, so no one keeping score only themselves). and worse the other result is good lads/girls walking away (luckily the girls walk around the corner to the girls club).
now my lad would not be the greatest but not the worst either, incredibly enthusiastic absolutely LOVES football and  has a super attitude, never gives up, never complains. but after one recent match he was down in the dumps and upset for a week. i was so mad i was going to talk to them but he begged me not to.  instead he killed himself training for a week at home and when he went back things were  a bit better (only because 3/4 other players were away on holiday) but it will happen again next week, nothing surer and to be honest i will not  have him like that again,  ill sooner  pull him out, he plays soccer and rugby as well and while football is his first love they will have to do.

its a huge pity but the reality is the coaches have no interest in lads they dont think will be good enough  and they dont care if they go in fact i think they are happier. nothing is going to change this attitude and the longer my lads sticks it out the more knocks he going to have to take before he eventually gets the message and gives up.

Could the club not have 3 teams in that case?

Our club had too many for 1 team for the first time this year so entered a B team. A team carried 11 players and no subs, B team took whatever was left and maybe had a couple of very young U9s on the line in some games. It's worked well - not perfect by any means but better than we expected.

Football is very competitive in Down at U11s, in contrast the hurling is seen as a bit of a run out and lads enjoy it more. There's nowhere near the same yapping from the sidelines etc.

Made  my morning

Probably should have explained that better - the way games are set up leaves things very competitive for the age of the players involved. If coaches are getting sent off for slabbering at refs at U11s or starting rows with other coaches etc you're not doing it right.

Anyone taking U11 football seriously needs to see a Doctor. They're a danger to society unless they get medical help.

One of my first experiences of helping out with coaching structures within my club was trying to use young lads to referee the U12 games which up to that point was an official referee and £30 a game IIRC. I thought it was madness as it was Go Games so no score was kept and there was a middle third where the weaker lads got a run out, so in my simplistic view it was a no brainer. So our secretary was dispatched to a CB meeting to bring this up and he was met with a wall of incredulity at suggesting such a thing as the young lads would be killed by the parents and coaches if this was brought in. Mostly Down football clubs I might add. Nuts I tell you 

We don't have official referee's which is now U11.5 or P7 in old money, so kind of a win but just checking there an U11.5 football still appoints official referee's but as before they're nuts over there..

Each club should have a policy of sorts defining who gets what in terms of meaningful gametime.

We up to go games try to ensure that every kid at whatever agegroup gets a minimum of 50% of gametime available to them. Go games allows for that as you can have as many subs as you like, so roll them on and off. Every kid of a certain age gets an invite without exception as in the past we found that some coaches were "inclined" not to invite the weaker kids in an attempt to win a blitz of some sort or other.

The "competitive" age groups we deploy the 4 A's. Age, Attendance, Attitude and Ability (to compete, defend themselves) plus being a small rural club where we've overlaps between teams the amount of opportunity a kid gets at another level should be taken into consideration.

For instance if we've two 15yo's, one plays a lot for the U17's and one doesn't. The one who plays for the U17's should be taken off first and if we bring on an U13 then we need to be sure they are relatively comfortable to compete and look after themselves at that level and have the wherewithal to protect themselves.

Reflective glory by some of the coaches is still an issue..

The cups like christy ring lory meghar  Nicky Rackard  if a casual sees that they dont have a clue what they mean or what level they are at can they not change it to something like all Ireland B  Championship or intermediate  or even all ireland plate all ireland vase etc why are the gaa obsessed with names.

Image trying to commemorate sporting greats for posterity by naming a competition after them... Madness I know.

Maybe someone in years to come will ask who was Christy Ring or Nicky Rackard and be told exactly who they were.

Would you prefer the LVD vans AI intermediate hurling final?

Buy at least you know immediately what the LDV trophy is. Why not rename the CR cup a the CR third tier cup or similar.

99% of GAA folk couldn't put Liam, Joe, Christy and Nicky in the correct order, so how are the floating punter meant to?

You forgot about Lory ya philistine ye..

I see where you're coming from as per the floating punter but any of the counties competing in them know only too well the steps of progression..

but for the ignorant on here I'll put them in terms of English Soccer.

Premiership           - Liam McCarthy
Sky Championship - Joe McDonagh
Sky Div1               - Christy Ring
Sky Div2               - Nicky Rackard
National League     - Lory Meagher

Fair play to you johnny cool on using google to double check that before you posted it

Ha Ha, used google for the soccer which I wasn't sure of but no doubt all Accrington Stanley fans would have known that like I know all the hurling ones as will all Donegal or Louth hurling followers.

Not sure why Donegal on winning the Nicky Rackard weren't promoted to the Christy Ring, unless there was some sort of evening up of the numbers per group as the Joe McDonagh is only a year or two old and was squeezed in between the Liam McCarthy and the Christy Ring.

Sigurdsson trending on Twitter.

And not in a good way..

The cups like christy ring lory meghar  Nicky Rackard  if a casual sees that they dont have a clue what they mean or what level they are at can they not change it to something like all Ireland B  Championship or intermediate  or even all ireland plate all ireland vase etc why are the gaa obsessed with names.

Image trying to commemorate sporting greats for posterity by naming a competition after them... Madness I know.

Maybe someone in years to come will ask who was Christy Ring or Nicky Rackard and be told exactly who they were.

Would you prefer the LVD vans AI intermediate hurling final?

Buy at least you know immediately what the LDV trophy is. Why not rename the CR cup a the CR third tier cup or similar.

99% of GAA folk couldn't put Liam, Joe, Christy and Nicky in the correct order, so how are the floating punter meant to?

You forgot about Lory ya philistine ye..

I see where you're coming from as per the floating punter but any of the counties competing in them know only too well the steps of progression..

but for the ignorant on here I'll put them in terms of English Soccer.

Premiership           - Liam McCarthy
Sky Championship - Joe McDonagh
Sky Div1               - Christy Ring
Sky Div2               - Nicky Rackard
National League     - Lory Meagher

Couple of great games over the weekend.

First up, the Tipp v Limerick battle.

Tipp had a plan, get the ball in deep over the Limerick halfback line, central and let the forwards bat it down for the oncoming runners to attack and hey presto they'd two goals in the bag and were motoring all over the field with Limerick burning off a bit of dirty diesel. 10 points up at the interval and Shefflin saying they were home and hosed, it was in the bag for Tipp..

The introduction of 2 All stars at the end of the first half also gave Limerick a glimmer of hope at both ends of the field, Gillane a threat that wasn't there for the first 25 minutes and Tom Morrissey who went on to command the airways back there.

But the restart of the second half was pure power hurling and no little skill. Limerick were winning everything in their own half a power through the Tipp midfield and Lynch (who was fouled an awful lot IMO) started to exert an influence once Dan McCormack eventually picked up a card for yet another foul.
Kyle hayes goal was a thing of beauty, he started the run for it just outside his own 20 metre line before taking the ball on 50 metres from his own goal, sidestepping two Tipp lads on his way in on goal before drilling a ball low into the ground beyond Hogan in the goals.

Tipp tried to introduce fresh, younger legs but their race was run. A goal at the end for them put a bit of a gloss on the scoreline but they'll have to reconsider where this team is going for the short and intermediate term.

Much being made of the refereeing and TBH Gullane's slash back with the edge of the hurl on Barrett was a red all day long as was Flanaghans driving the hurl into Paudie Mahers head at the end. Further over the weekend we see another Kilkenny defender driving the head into a Dublin attacker and whilst the free was awarded, the red card should have followed.
For the Gullane incident at least Duignan on co commentary was entirely right to call it, but Cummins kinda skirted round the kilkenny one with a comment of getting his tackling technique totally wrong..
No shit Sherlock.

The Clare, Wexford game had a few penalty shouts, the first Wexford one where the referee didn't award was probably right as O'Connor was going down already but the Clare lad was probably intending to go for the ball but when O'Connor stooped down it was going for his head but he fended it off with his own hurl. The only cop out there was the throw ball. Free out for fouling the ball IMO.
Shanagher had a better shout up at the other end later on, but in fairness to the ref, the belt to the head he got from O'Hallorhan was to his blind side, but the umpires would have seen it clear as day.

With lads who are now baring down on goal throwing the ball up to bat it down to prevent being hooked, there are going to be more of these incidents and whilst I've a lot of sympathy for referee's you either enforce the rules that are there or change the rules. This "common sense" approach has proven that common sense isn't that common..

As for the sqaure ball shout, You'd need hawkeye or the likes to call them...

I think the heat is affecting some people.
The All Ireland SHC never had all of Ireland taking part.

At one point it did. Just that a lot of counties never bothered to enter it as that would mean trying to put a bit of effort into developing the game in their respective counties.

The cups like christy ring lory meghar  Nicky Rackard  if a casual sees that they dont have a clue what they mean or what level they are at can they not change it to something like all Ireland B  Championship or intermediate  or even all ireland plate all ireland vase etc why are the gaa obsessed with names.

Image trying to commemorate sporting greats for posterity by naming a competition after them... Madness I know.

Maybe someone in years to come will ask who was Christy Ring or Nicky Rackard and be told exactly who they were.

Would you prefer the LVD vans AI intermediate hurling final?

Forgetting the whys and wherefores of vaccinations etc. I would like to know what is deemed as a better alternative? I have no idea what is perceived to be a(viable) way out that's not a vaccine.

The UK way is to open everything up and let people get Covid by transmission.

It's f**king stupid.
It risks creating a new variant.

Exactly and then we run the further risk of current vaccinations not working on any new strains...

It's a big gamble and it looks like its being taken to give the hospitality sector a chance of getting some money in before the winter hits.

Shít gets real this weekend;

1st round qualifiers

Laois v Waterford
Clare v Wexford


2nd round qualifiers bye
1. Cork
2. Galway

Cork's last all Ireland was 2005. Hard to believe. In retrospect, the 2006 final was a watershed.

2020 U20 AI under their belts last week, gave Clare U17 hurlers a fierce beating last night as well, 40 odd points in it!!!

They've got their act together at underage it seems.

Antrim Minor hurlers beat Carlow by a point last night in the Peadar O Liathain cup. 1-13 to 1-14

Down play Meath this Saturday in the same competition.

Scholes was a top player. Being English he'd get a bit of extra hype, but his shy demeanour kept him from being seen as a fancy-dan player and kept him under the public radar. So he often got away with stuff that a player like Beckham would never get away with.

Oh yeah, for a midfielder - he had a shite tackle!

I liked Scholesy as a player, he was neat and tidy on the ball, but was easily bullied off it and shíte is being kind, he put in a few downright dangerous tackles in his day.

He was good but I wouldn't consider him great.

Welcome to Nazi Germany

https://www.rte.ie/news/coronavirus/2021/0714/1235091-hospitality/

Absolutely disgusting. Hopefully any restaurant that asks for prove of vaccine is boycotted.

yes, and put a star above their doors while you're at it.

They're inadvertently vindicating every killing by the IRA by doing this.

They don't care.

The spin that this is an amnesty for their soldiers will sit well with their gammon voting base.

The fact that it's an amnesty for everyone else who committed a crime here in the name of the troubles will also walk scot free will not be part of the headlines...

they need to bury the story that the state forces were murdering scumbags and not the peacekeepers they like to portray them as.

British establishment doing what it does best.