Antrim Hurling

[Minder]

Milltown did your seniors not make it to Glenarm last night ?

[milltown row]

no apparently there was a land slide on the M2 and the only lane open was blocked by a lorry took them an hour to get away from, on the hill towards Glengormley.

we'd finished our game (the seconds) at the pitch and i was having a pint before they made it back to the club just before nine. not happy campers at all.

Minder will Glenariffe drop down to intermediate next year? i think we will also. senior championship will have two less teams in it next year. does not say a lot about Antrim hurling

[Minder]

no apparently there was a land slide on the M2 and the only lane open was blocked by a lorry took them an hour to get away from, on the hill towards Glengormley.

we'd finished our game (the seconds) at the pitch and i was having a pint before they made it back to the club just before nine. not happy campers at all.

Minder will Glenariffe drop down to intermediate next year? i think we will also. senior championship will have two less teams in it next year. does not say a lot about Antrim hurling

Not sure Milltown, it will probably depend on who is managing. I think this will be Raymie Mc Donnells last year managing, it looks like we are headed for Div 2 and as we are a small club and not one of the traditional powerhouses the leagues will probably not be rearranged. So there is no point playing senior championship as a Div2 club.

[NAG]

I dont think that it was regarded as a 'professional foul'

He did trip him which is a sending off offence and he also struck with the hurl which is a sending off offence so he could have gone for either.If he is lucky he will be done for the trip and get the month.

Yes it was a clear stamp on Graffin less than 6 yards away from the umpire so how that didnt recieve the same treatment is unbelieveable.

[the colonel]

Heard Connelly's outburst and he got what he deserved. Have sympathy with why he was frustrated as I didn't feel at that stage that Rossa we're getting their fair share of the decisions, but the manner and tone of his tirade was way out of order.

Did the Rossa line try and promote a bit of the old Dunkirk spirit into their troops  

Kettle was indeed the MOTM

Some other oberservations. Anyone else see Gavin Bell stamp on Aaron Graffin. No one else around me seen it, so I could be mistakenAnd what did use think of the sending off for a "professional foul" . Is that not a soccer rule?

Graffins chest has 2 big foot marks on it and because of that he wasn't fit to play last night against dunloy. definately intended and an act like that (stamping on a man on the ground) was act of a coward

[theskull1]

Garret is flexable you can talk to him but if someone is calling you cheat and questioning your parentage then you only have one weapon to use. if the abuse continues and kids see that you can get away with it then it will continue all the time. i'm all for firing up your team and creating a seige mentality but ya can't abuse the referees

100% right milltown and should be the first thing a young player should learn. You may not like the decisions but that does not give you any right to abuse the referee. If I was a referee, I would red card anybody who crossed that line and would respect any referee who would do the same whether the player was a Dunloy man or not.

NAG hit the nail on the head with this quote however

But there is one issue that I have to take exception with and it is a fault of alot of our referee's, they cannot spot a dangerous foul. They will pull players up on silly technical fouls and let some of the most ridiculously dangerous swinging and blocking go.

I think if they irradicated these dangerous fouls then they could let the game flow by not pulling up every tiny infraction on the minor things.

Last night our centre half whilst contesting and actually winning a dropping ball got a full belt across his face guard and a free against him for what must have been deemed to be pushing. His opponent had nothing said to him. Then he blows for two handpasses deemed very dubiously to be throws. It's so frustrating when you see matches on RTE and then expect the same refereeing attitudes apply to the local game.

Don't be overly fussy. Keep in mind that the game should be encouraged to flow. Blow dangerous and blatent fouls only would be my advice.

[milltown row]

I think consistency is needed; the rule book is clear on fouls and what action is to be taken when the foul is committed. The referees who do the div one games are the ones who are meant to have the experience, and if they referee the same way together then there should be no complaints.  It's when you play a game one week and something is allowed and then play the next and it's not allowed. That's when we complain.

The thing is, what you see from your angle may not be what he sees; the referee gets nothing out of not blowing for the free that you see. If it's a foul and he sees it he'll blow. You'll find that a referee from another club dislikes either team and who wins means absolutely to him.

But if a referee is goaded constantly from a certain team then it will make it harder for him to judge fairly. Its only human nature.

[theskull1]

I think consistency is needed; the rule book is clear on fouls and what action is to be taken when the foul is committed.

No no no no no milltown . This is the problem. Out top referee's are too fussy BECAUSE they have the rule book on their side. Watch the AI semi finals and I guarentee you that I could pick out countless numbers of rulebook infractions that just don't get blown, because IMO both teams don't expect "fussy fouls" to get blown. What happens as a result of is that the game flows better. Referees in croke park know that just like the players, they have a role to play in making the game worth watching. That means they have to exercise judgement not continually refer to the rulebook to support the decisions they make.

[milltown row]

ok Skull, but if i go back to one of my original posts on this matter, if the referees did referee this way in Antrim then there would be a riot. i've played too many games when the referee has let it go and it boils over and someone is on there way to the hospital. the attitude then is 'fcuk the referee is letting things go, get stuck in'

i would advise anyone to go to the course on refereeing, if not to be a referee but understand and maybe even voice your views about refereeing

on another note:
was playing last night and won a couple of balls off the guy i was marking, the manager shouted to the marker 'if your going to foul him then f**king hurt him, take him down' now i'm old enough to not give a shite about that talk from the line but what gets me is that these were only kids and have been trained and coached to play like that.

[NAG]

Milltown is correct that it woudl result in a riot sometimes which is probably true.
But as skull suggested it is going to take a mind set change from players and clubs to achieve this, to this end what would be wrong with a referee dropping in to St Galls, rossa cushendall loughgiel on a training night and taking 5 mins to explain to the players that they want to let the game flow but if that is going to happen they need the players to realise that there is sometimes that they wont get that cheap free.

The should also IMO drop into the managers before the games how they are going to handle the game this can be done informally in 2mins and get agreement from the managers and then it is up to the managers to pass this on. Therefore this takes away the suprise element to  it and it means the ref can say to the manager who is complaining 'I told you beforehand what the case was'

Sounds too simplistic to actually work!

[theskull1]

ok Skull, but if i go back to one of my original posts on this matter, if the referees did referee this way in Antrim then there would be a riot. i've played too many games when the referee has let it go and it boils over and someone is on there way to the hospital. the attitude then is 'fcuk the referee is letting things go, get stuck in'

i would advise anyone to go to the course on refereeing, if not to be a referee but understand and maybe even voice your views about refereeing

Yes. If it was left to individual referees to "let the game flow" (as apposed to "let the game go") then you could well be right. However what I have said in an earlie post is that it needs to communicated from the top down through all levels to ensure everyone is aware that the style will be changing and that clubs need to ensure that their players are ready for it. Everyone should also be made aware of the motivations to change the way games are refereeed as well. If that was done then I don't think that there would be any riots especially if dangerous and blatent fouling are still blown.

on another note:
was playing last night and won a couple of balls off the guy i was marking, the manager shouted to the marker 'if your going to foul him then f**king hurt him, take him down' now i'm old enough to not give a shite about that talk from the line but what gets me is that these were only kids and have been trained and coached to play like that.

Should that guy not be reported milltown? Obvious that this would have been they way that the manager played and  felt it made him a hard man. So easy to stay behind and cut someone up. Gutless bsatrad

[milltown row]

Milltown is correct that it woudl result in a riot sometimes which is probably true.
But as skull suggested it is going to take a mind set change from players and clubs to achieve this, to this end what would be wrong with a referee dropping in to St Galls, rossa cushendall loughgiel on a training night and taking 5 mins to explain to the players that they want to let the game flow but if that is going to happen they need the players to realise that there is sometimes that they wont get that cheap free.

The should also IMO drop into the managers before the games how they are going to handle the game this can be done informally in 2mins and get agreement from the managers and then it is up to the managers to pass this on. Therefore this takes away the suprise element to  it and it means the ref can say to the manager who is complaining 'I told you beforehand what the case was'

Sounds too simplistic to actually work!

i put this to the panel when doing the course and was advised against this, the reason being, you'd be the worst in the world if you failed to act on something you said beforehand, it could be the case that the referee did not see it. which is fair enough. ex players need to be referees.

as for that guy on the line Skull, i dont think he'd have the sense to understand what he was saying, or the damage it's doing to the game.

[davincicode]

Lads, im a blow in from the Northside of Dublin, i concur with what most of what you are saying, i have watched two Antrim Referees do games at national, Owen Elliott and Garrett Duffy to be honest they both have refereed excellent across the boarder, they let a lot go, especially Duffy in a game against Louth v Fingal excellent game full blooded. MR is right it does,nt end up in a free for all down here, and both boys seemed to have clicked to that, the do referee differently at home it obivious if you have seen them away from antrim. Duffy does seem to be tough on the verbal aspect, but thats not a bad thing in my book, so MR im with you in that in Antrim it just cant happen and that is due to players managers/selectors, you are just not used to it up here full stop!!!!

So until players managers etc get it into their thick heads that knocks will be given and have to be taken without reprisal then antrim will always be a soft touch to say the least. Dont give it if you can,t take it.

[girt_giggler]

no apparently there was a land slide on the M2 and the only lane open was blocked by a lorry took them an hour to get away from, on the hill towards Glengormley.

we'd finished our game (the seconds) at the pitch and i was having a pint before they made it back to the club just before nine. not happy campers at all.

Minder will Glenariffe drop down to intermediate next year? i think we will also. senior championship will have two less teams in it next year. does not say a lot about Antrim hurling

had been looking forward to a good game too!! Only 4 of your men appeared to make it on time, we trained instead then a few more of your men appeared.

[milltown row]

Yes girt very unfortunate for yourselves and the seniors that tried to get down in time. all the games are important to us as we need to finish second and hope that the county change their minds again and make it a ten team div one instead of the 8 team div one at the minute.

ourselves and Tir-na-og are pushing for that position, not surprised that they have come good, we've played them in many challenge games over the years and they have improved greatly.