Antrim Hurling

[paddyjohn]

the question is: why was it scheduled in Ballycastle in the first place?

Why was the game moved?

Can county games not happen outside of the City? dont forget Ballycastle & other clubs were quite happy to hold while Corrigan was being made into the county ground.

[Saffron71]

When is the confirmed league start date for the club leagues?  I've heard 13th April and then in recent days I'm hearing back to the 30th March.

[Ciallmhar]

It's not the ten year investment though, what about the next ten year set of kids and the ones after that, Offaly are in a unique part of the world were exposure to top class hurling is available they have history also.. they probably took their eye off the ball which left them in the doldrums for a bit.

My point is we in Antrim (being short sighted) don't or haven't really invested in the grades up from well before under 12.. you gotta be hitting lads from the ages of 6 upwards, investing in 12 year olds is great but I think we could be better.

Walk the streets of Belfast and you'd do well to see kids dandering about with hurls, striking the ball against gable walls and the like.

More needs done, plenty have the passion for it but their really needs ( there probably is one ) a fully laid out 30 year plan that brings about better players..

Clubs have to look at how they can improve the pool of players and training, I still think there are too many clubs in Belfast, a condensed set of hurling teams at senior level will produce more competitive teams

 

Gaelfast is a disaster tbh, and also no trophies below u13 now? It happens at all other sports why not gaa?
Ive seen kids leave for soccer because they want to play for trophies, they all keep the score anyway and kids need to know what its like to lose and also win well before 13/14 years of age.

More often than not its left upto mentors at clubs to sort games out which isnt good enough.

Why do you consider Gaelfast a disaster?

What exactly do they do?

Kids need into the game early, at schools etc yet i can count on one hand the amount of times gaelfast has been in my lads school who are p7 and p6.

More underage tournaments and exposure to games should be taking place, all my own opinion.

I'm not sure on the exact facts but the fly on the windscreen analogy is a good perspective.

In west Belfast alone there must be over 30 schools. I'd hazard a guess and say across the whole county there are 100 schools. Gaelfast have 10 staff or thereabouts.
Now I'm no mathematician but to say the spread of resources is thin would be an understatement.
The principle of what they are trying to do is correct but the gradient they are up against is near impossible.

Don't forget they spend a lot of time on coach education which is aimed at empowering those in clubs and schools to develop their own resources to improve coaching.

Unfortunately Gaelfast hasnt had its full staffing compliment since pre-covid. Once the lockdown hit (a year into the programme), staff were furloughed for the majority of 2020 and some of 2021. A few staffing departures, a reluctance from a then new GAA Head of Coaching & Games to approve staff in counties, along with a HR Review of the whole association really put the brakes on staffing in most counties in Ireland. The same amount of funding was never given to Antrim post Covid, and in my opinion, not enough was done to get that agreed money re allocated to the County.

A new staffing structure was proposed to Croke Park at the end of 2021, basically doubling the no staff recruited via Gaelfast monies, where each staff member was assigned to 2 x clubs in Belfast to coach in feeder schools, recruit for the clubs, develop coach and player pathways within and educate coaches in each club. Basically a whole year round part-time staff member for each club in Belfast at a cost of 4.5k per annum to the clubs involved, with the Gaelfast funding providing the remaining salary. Staff could help in some fundraising toward that 4.5k, by delivering summer skill development camps etc at a small cost to participants, but if you're aware of the value of development your juvenile structures you'd know 4.5k is nothing compared to the benefits to a club.

Unfortunately it was radio silence from Croke, and the new staffing structures from the HR Review implemented across Ireland (except of course in Leinster who still have their previous structures).

More recently, around 2023/24, there was a fair bit of stalling from the County to get staff back into post; a by-product of needing the cash for the Dunsilly S&C suite unfortunately.

You wont hear this from the staff, they'll continue to plug away and fair play to them. They're required to work in Primary Schools, Secondary Schools, Development Squads, Cúl Camps, organise games at different age grades, develop coaches within clubs and every other thing that National/Provincial/County require them to do at any given stage.

The Gaelfast funding itself is long gone, its a shadow of what it was and even then, the original budget was a shadow of what we needed! The new strategy is a step in the right direction, its a chance to get back to Croke to say "look what we do, we follow good Sport Development practice, we'd like to do more - help us!" They need support, and a county board cognisant of the importance in developing our games at the younger ages via staff.

There are copious amounts of children within Belfast not playing ANY sport, there is so much potential, but so many clubs sit on their hands asking what someone else will do for them. The onus will always go back to clubs, what are you doing to develop yourself? Are you capable of developing yourself? If not, are you asking for the help? or are you on a discussion board complaining about the people you've yet to even hold a conversation with?

[Around the glens]

Players voted on having it in corrigan. Think corrigan will bring a better atmosphere. You'd near need twice the amount of supporters in ballycastle to have the same noise.

[SaffronSports]

Will the match be called off due to this bug?

[Saffrongael]

Will the match be called off due to this bug?

Close to zero chance I would have thought

[SaffronSports]

Will the match be called off due to this bug?

Close to zero chance I would have thought

Yeah I'd expect it to a case of man up. The Tyrone thing during covid was different as they had to isolate etc.

[paddyjohn]

Will the match be called off due to this bug?

What bug?

[Tony Baloney]

Will the match be called off due to this bug?

Close to zero chance I would have thought

Yeah I'd expect it to a case of man up. The Tyrone thing during covid was different as they had to isolate etc.

Hmmm

[SaffronSports]

Will the match be called off due to this bug?

What bug?

Apparently 12 members of the Antrim panel have some bug.

[johnnycool]

Will the match be called off due to this bug?

What bug?

Apparently 12 members of the Antrim panel have some bug.

The other 24 will be champing at the bit  .

[Tony Baloney]

Will the match be called off due to this bug?

What bug?

Apparently 12 members of the Antrim panel have some bug.

There is a lot of norovirus about at the minute

[Around the glens]

Anyone that can't get to the game tomorrow its live on the tg4 app/ player.

[paddyjohn]

Anyone that can't get to the game tomorrow its live on the tg4 app/ player.

Thanks - seems like I've got the dreaded bug 😢

[SaffronSports]

Great first half. Finish the job here and hope Carlow or Dublin can put Laois down.