Anyone got historical statistics on the age of inter-county players when they retired? I get the impression the retirement age is getting younger.
Eamon Ohara involuntary retirement at age 38 ;) ;D :)
Peter Crowley Kerry retired during the week.
Christy Ring 42, Mickey linden 40. Think linden himself said recently that inter county players retire way before they should physically.
County careers are way shorter now because of the workload and lifestyle expectations. You're expected to behave like a monk. Basically it's no craic anymore. The fun has been sucked out of it. Social media hasn't helped either. A player chilling out having a few pints in his local soon morphs into airlocked and wheelbarrow races down the main st with hookers, snorting coke off their backside.
Quote from: Silver hill on April 24, 2021, 10:59:52 AM
Christy Ring 42, Mickey linden 40. Think linden himself said recently that inter county players retire way before they should physically.
County careers are way shorter now because of the workload and lifestyle expectations. You're expected to behave like a monk. Basically it's no craic anymore. The fun has been sucked out of it. Social media hasn't helped either. A player chilling out having a few pints in his local soon morphs into airlocked and wheelbarrow races down the main st with hookers, snorting coke off their backside.
Main Street where? Just for the summer y'know.
The game has changed. Dublin in Leinster is a huge factor to the interest in staying in the game.
Mayo have had a Plethora of Retirements the last 3 years. Most of those guys would have played way more intercounty games than Mickey Linden and the price is probably a legacy of life changing chronic injuries.
Bernard Flynns recent documentary showed how bad things can get.
The inter county game isn't the best players from each county, it's the players who can commit to the schedule of a part to full time athlete while holding down work/ story and family commitments. Go and look at the pen pics on a programme at a county game, how many tradesmen etc do you see compared to years ago? Average age very low also. That's not because players are too old after 26 but other things In life become a priority. I look at Antrim last year, we were able to get some of our best players back out because the management were willing to work with them to make it workable for them. I think it's def the way smaller counties need to go. Better to have your best squad training together twice a week than not having a lot of your best players available but training 4 times a week.
Quote from: themac_23 on April 24, 2021, 10:34:23 PM
The inter county game isn't the best players from each county, it's the players who can commit to the schedule of a part to full time athlete while holding down work/ story and family commitments. Go and look at the pen pics on a programme at a county game, how many tradesmen etc do you see compared to years ago? Average age very low also. That's not because players are too old after 26 but other things In life become a priority. I look at Antrim last year, we were able to get some of our best players back out because the management were willing to work with them to make it workable for them. I think it's def the way smaller counties need to go. Better to have your best squad training together twice a week than not having a lot of your best players available but training 4 times a week.
Mickey Graham in Cavan said something similar, it wasnt about dropping standards but it was about allowing lads to do their bit on their own, tryst them to do it. It worked as last yrs Cavan team were physically as strong as any team we've had in decades. We also have a huge proportion of our team living away from home.
Quote from: themac_23 on April 24, 2021, 10:34:23 PM
The inter county game isn't the best players from each county, it's the players who can commit to the schedule of a part to full time athlete while holding down work/ story and family commitments. Go and look at the pen pics on a programme at a county game, how many tradesmen etc do you see compared to years ago? Average age very low also. That's not because players are too old after 26 but other things In life become a priority. I look at Antrim last year, we were able to get some of our best players back out because the management were willing to work with them to make it workable for them. I think it's def the way smaller counties need to go. Better to have your best squad training together twice a week than not having a lot of your best players available but training 4 times a week.
True however the majority do give that commitment for Dublin, Kerry, Tyrone, Donegal, Mayo, Monaghan the rest has to deal with a lot more early retirements or players opting out.
Philip Austin of Tipp retires.
Another good one.
Quote from: Captain Obvious on April 25, 2021, 01:48:40 PM
Quote from: themac_23 on April 24, 2021, 10:34:23 PM
The inter county game isn't the best players from each county, it's the players who can commit to the schedule of a part to full time athlete while holding down work/ story and family commitments. Go and look at the pen pics on a programme at a county game, how many tradesmen etc do you see compared to years ago? Average age very low also. That's not because players are too old after 26 but other things In life become a priority. I look at Antrim last year, we were able to get some of our best players back out because the management were willing to work with them to make it workable for them. I think it's def the way smaller counties need to go. Better to have your best squad training together twice a week than not having a lot of your best players available but training 4 times a week.
True however the majority do give that commitment for Dublin, Kerry, Tyrone, Donegal, Mayo, Monaghan the rest has to deal with a lot more early retirements or players opting out.
Yeah it's easy to commit when you're getting well looked after and winning. Hard to justify the sacrifices when you know you're not gonna be challenging at the business end of the season. I actually think for teams in the new 2nd tier championship when it eventually comes in have a chance to change things. They should be capped at 2 group sessions a week. Not as much commitment with a realistic chance of winning something would probably get smaller counties better players to commit.
And managenents/players will adhere to the two sessions.?
There wasn't meant to be any activity from early January....
Quote from: Rossfan on April 25, 2021, 04:09:54 PM
And managenents/players will adhere to the two sessions.?
There wasn't meant to be any activity from early January....
The main problem tends to be a case of keeping up with the Jones' teams think they have to do more because other counties are doing it. There was an article I read last week about GAA players over training even compared to pro athletes. It's not sustainable. I think if county boards take the lead and do it then there is a chance for change. Co boards are running up crazy bills. If they interview a manager and tell him they are only authorising mileage, meals etc for 2 sessions a week then yeah I'd say they'll go for it or else not take the gig. Co boards need to lead for a change.
Exactly!
But if a sponsor/benefactor/sugar daddy is financing the manager and loads of extra training and the general lack of adhering to instructions in GAA world I think we are expecting miracles.
Quote from: themac_23 on April 25, 2021, 04:15:32 PM
Quote from: Rossfan on April 25, 2021, 04:09:54 PM
And managenents/players will adhere to the two sessions.?
There wasn't meant to be any activity from early January....
The main problem tends to be a case of keeping up with the Jones' teams think they have to do more because other counties are doing it. There was an article I read last week about GAA players over training even compared to pro athletes. It's not sustainable. I think if county boards take the lead and do it then there is a chance for change. Co boards are running up crazy bills. If they interview a manager and tell him they are only authorising mileage, meals etc for 2 sessions a week then yeah I'd say they'll go for it or else not take the gig. Co boards need to lead for a change.
There was already talk about restrictions on the number of training sessions per week - I really wouldn't be a bit surprised to see moves being made on that front before long.
It's one measure that would be relatively easy to put in place to try and curb Dublin's advantages.
I think the fact that Croke Park are now administering player expenses makes it a good easier to bring in these kind of restrictions.
The vast majority of counties will be fine with this if they feel that every team is operating on the same level in relation to the number of training sessions allowed.
If they do bring in rules like these they need proper punishments for teams breaching these rules i.e actual suspension of players/teams as opposed to the current barely noticeable pubishments.
There's no point bringing in rules with punishments so feeble, that teams will feel that it's worth the risk of breaching them.
Kick any team found in breach out of the league for a first offence and the championship for a 2nd offence and I'm sure that the number of counties willing to risk being caught would be minimal.
The problem with what you're suggesting there is that counties could take the hit for individual indiscretions.
Say a dozen to 16 lads from Down started "filling the void" be meeting each other every Tuesday and Thursday morning for a training session.
Would this count as the "rules being broken"?
Quote from: thewobbler on April 25, 2021, 05:32:21 PM
The problem with what you're suggesting there is that counties could take the hit for individual indiscretions.
Say a dozen to 16 lads from Down started "filling the void" be meeting each other every Tuesday and Thursday morning for a training session.
Would this count as the "rules being broken"?
You can't really stop people doing what they want with their free time, what I'm saying is that if the managers aren't getting paid and the players aren't getting their expenses, is there the appetite to have extra training? And outside the big counties would there be the sponsors to fire money at it on the sly? That's why I think the 2nd tier comp would be a great chance to trial it, I'm sure county boards would be happy with it and players would be more than happy with it. Like anything, it takes a brave decision to change what's currently going on
Quote from: themac_23 on April 25, 2021, 08:06:02 PM
Quote from: thewobbler on April 25, 2021, 05:32:21 PM
The problem with what you're suggesting there is that counties could take the hit for individual indiscretions.
Say a dozen to 16 lads from Down started "filling the void" be meeting each other every Tuesday and Thursday morning for a training session.
Would this count as the "rules being broken"?
You can't really stop people doing what they want with their free time, what I'm saying is that if the managers aren't getting paid and the players aren't getting their expenses, is there the appetite to have extra training? And outside the big counties would there be the sponsors to fire money at it on the sly? That's why I think the 2nd tier comp would be a great chance to trial it, I'm sure county boards would be happy with it and players would be more than happy with it. Like anything, it takes a brave decision to change what's currently going on
Of course if a dozen to 16 lads from Down started "filling the void" be meeting each other every Tuesday and Thursday morning for a training session, it would count as breaking the rules.
The fact that your team-mates would get punished if a couple of lads break the rules increases the incentive to follow the rules.
This is about collective intercounty training sessions, so I would have no problem with collective responsibilty and collective punishments.
Tell the players - if you break the rules, it's not just you who will be punished, but your team-mates as well and I'd imagine it would help massively with compliance.
In terms of stopping people doing what they want in their free time, if lads want to play in the GAA competitions, then they have to follow the GAA rules.
It would be pretty much the same as the current rule around inter-county teams collective training out of season.
QuoteCollective training: Collective training is where one or more player(s) is/are required to be at a specific place at a specific time on a specific date.
Inter-County panels may return to collective training and/or games for the following year on a timetable determined annually by the Central Council.
As part of the COVID rules, last year intercounty teams were strongly advised to have a maximum of 3 collective training sessions (or 2 training sessions and a game) per week.
I'm sure the vast majority of intercounty teams have records on each individual player's training loads/attendence/number of gym sessions/what GPS trackers are recording at training etc.
Simply bring in a rule that each intercounty team has to provide Croke Park with access to this data to audit the amount of training each county is doing.
I'd imagine that this would be a relatively simple way to monitor this rule and give all the teams a good level of confidence that other teams aren't getting an advantage by sneaking extra sessions [I'd say the odds of teams trying to play silly buggers with this kind of data would be fairly remote]