Messages

Don't understand the argument 'you can control adults easier'

Contact is contact, it's either permitted or it's not!  I think it's entirely reasonable to assess That Children  mature enough to sit a Transfer Test are mature enough to be coached appropriately in small sided sessions under the supervision of a coach and additional Covid Supervisor!

The reality is our children have suffered the most in lockdown, it has had a serious impact on physical and mental health as well as their ability to integrate socially.  This is not my opinion but the view of the 160 GP's who have written to the education minister calling for urgent action.

Schools are now closed until at least September, and so a lockdown that began with the St Patrick's day bank holiday will extend to at least 5.5 months, possibly longer!

There is no safe option here, cancelling all activities will ensure no community transmission of Covid-19 through our grounds, but it will exacerbate the growing social isolation issues with our youth.  The children will suffer.

The club will suffer also, children with a proclivity for sport will find alternate options, numbers cycling, golfing & running will increase.  Those are the lucky children other will simply drift away from organised sport.

The risks are on both sides, the official guidance from Croke Park states Child to Child or child to adult transmission remains incredibly low, reduced further by being outside and with each club taking the adequate precautions.

If they don't play a game or a blitz, that's fine, but the Association should be looking at solutions to make play available and not just throw the baby out with the bathwater!

Would it not have made sense to use the full 11 week window to complete the games, give players a chance to build up match fitness before being thrown straight into Championship action.

Shamrocks v Ruairi Ogs in Championship will be each teams first game of the season!

Also I couldn't disagree more about the approach taken on Juvenile activity, they should be an absolutely priority and an absent year could have serious implications for both the children and the sustainability of many clubs!

Email came out from the County secretary recommending all age grades revert to the new format in 2018.  This email came out in December 2017 to which the clubs opposed, stating they needed time to prepare for such a change.

In September clubs were informed the status quo would continue for another year.  Then again in December we are informed the change is to be adopted.

This is after clubs have held their AGM, Divisional boards have meet to discuss early season tournaments and coaches have been put into position.

I am not opposed to the change, though I see no benefit either.  However I think it's shameful how little preparation has went into the proposal, no guidance on Feile, which tournaments will fall into which grades, will u13 be on the shorter pitch or will it drop to u11! What about u21?

I think it's actually quite insulting to a huge population of our County to think a change so fundamental as this can just be implemented with no thought, consultation or proper communication.

County held a fixture meeting for Senior teams recently and they aren't changing!

Do you honestly think this has been well handled by the County?

Clubs informed in the middle of the season that it would remain status quo for 2019 and any changes taking affect 2020 only to be told on the 13 Dec (after AGM's) that everything is changing a year early.

The change is inevitable but it has been handled dreadfully.

Too many unanswered questions, Feile for one, will Camogie move in line, how does it impact the competitions?

The principle of Development Squads is fine and honourable and the work the coaches do is admirable.  However the benefits are negligible overall.  Certainly in my experience in Antrim.

Is the coaching any better than the boys would get at their own clubs, maybe but i'm Not sure.  What I am sure off is the impact taking the best players out of a club session has on that session.  I am sure the stop start nature of our fixtures is harming the development of the larger body of players. 

I believe a rising tide lifts all boats and rather than us try and accommodate dev squads into a hugely congested Calendar we would be better served sorting the fixture issue.  Supporting clubs that cannot provide quality coaching and looking at amalgamations for clubs struggling to field.

Just isn't the room for a proper club season, schools, county teams and dev squads! IMHO

Any confirmation on juvenile age structures for next year? Are we moving to u15 etc?

Rossa best Cushendall in the fiele final last year, can't remember the score line but it was a fairly wide margin.  That same Cushendall were very strong in North Antrim!

I'd be shocked if Paddy Burke doesn't go to 6, Martin in at 3 and DK to 7!

McManus will surely play 11 and assuming they improve on the last day i'd Make them favourites to go through.

In fact I think they'll win it this year, they have the physical power up front to combat LG negative tactics and always pose a goal threat even when they don't have much of the ball.

These ultra defensive systems have served football well since  Donegal's won at all costs!

Plenty of comment on Dunloy ill discipline, the venue, the ref but is anyone going to call out the anti hurling tactics employed by Loughgiel! 8 defenders ffs, persistent time wasting and breaking up the play. 

Cushendall v St. Johns Saturday 29th @ 4:30 in Dunloy
Loughgiel v Dunloy Sunday 30th @ 3:30 in Ballycastle

Mouthwatering fixtures

I have no idea why some rank St John's as complete outsiders, gave Dunloy all they wanted in last years championship, 2 years ago had Cushendall to the pin of their collar and put up a very competitive display against Loughgiel in this years group stage.

They need a few things to go for them but they have the potential to win a championship!

Dunloy are absolutely the favourites and rightly so, current league and county champions and unbeaten in 7 league/championship games against the teams that remain in the competition.

Why would anyone not want to be favourites, does losing hurt any less, do teams not try as hard?  I have no idea! My idea of favouritism is an assessment that if everyone plays to their absolute best, the favourite wins!

Dunloy will relish going in as favourites (albeit very marginal) it's a change from outsiders role we have performed the last 10 years.

Any one of the four teams can win this championship, next weekend promises to be a cracker!

Cushendall, dunloy ended in a draw. Dunloy must of had plenty of short comings today as there wa plenty of shouting at the ref 

No issue with the referee whatsoever, a lot of the shouting was to draw his attention to the serious amount of off the ball holding going on! Impossible for him to see it, but come championship that won't be an option for teams!

Decent game last night without really sparking into life, both teams will be unhappy not to win.  I'm sure the cushendall men will disagree but I thought in a game where defences dominated our forwards looked that bit more threatening and really should have scored a couple more goals.

St Johns going well this year, not unexpected, they have pushed both Dunloy and Cushendall all the way in recent championships and could be a real threat this year.

Fall all the way the focus of my suggestions was on underage's as opposed to senior, though I would concede a starred type format would be better than no senior games.

At juvenile level I strongly believe the need 1 session 1 game for development, however the games should vary in rules, numbers a side etc.  Underage players will learn different facets of the game playing 7 a side v 15 a side (and all the variations in between). 

However organising a structured season the offers kids these opportunities is a difficult job, but it's a crucial job and requires an appreciation of the developmental value of games/blitzes with everyone playing.  Development officers are there for the development of the game, otherwise they would be coaches.  In my experience each club has good coaches but they need the opportunities and these are limited.

I certainly don't share that optimism, County seniors struggled in both Div 1B and the Joe McDonagh, the key players are over 30 and no obvious replacements lined up.  U21's beat by Kildare and minors thumped by Dublin.

Senior club fixtures are a shambles, nowhere near enough games on a regular enough basis to really engage the local community.  Club players are training circa 140 times now for 14 league matches and maybe 4 games between feis and championship! Barring Rossa's fully deserved championship victory in 2004 we've seen the title shared by just 3 clubs over nearly 3 decades and we've now witnessed the Ulster Club Championship reside outside Antrim for 2 consecutive years.

If we are looking to our under safe structures for inspiration we are going to be sadly lacking, apathy has seen the collapse of the excellent North Antrim festival of hurling, under age players in Antrim can expect circa 12 games a year! Soccer teams get triple this, they can almost virtually guarantee the schedule despite it being a winter sport.

Every club has good men working in isolation but we need to admit we have problems, I am convinced participation levels are dropping or at best have hit a plateau.

How would I solve the problems
1. Paid development officer should as a priority focus on fixtures and support for clubs. 
2. Guarantee each team 25 games, switch the balance from 80/20 training games to 50/50
3. Structured, promoted adult leagues
4. Divisional boards to have a unified approach to age grading and fixture schedules to addresss the ludicrious situation where players have to choose football or hurling at u8's!!!
5. These underage blitzes to be reviewed, all of them, football, hurling and camogie are on Sun resulting in clashes
6. Astronomical amount of games called off due to waterlogged pitches, with the amount of money washing through the GAA now it would be a massive investment in infrastructure if they built a number of 3G pitches around the county available for games
7. Clubs to take responsibility for the improvement in skill standards and to be given the opportunity to do this.
8. Schools to be supported but only with the  involvement of the local clubs