Antrim Football Thread

[bannside]

ATM we dont even have a County Coaching & Games Development Officer.

Start from there.

I travelled to a few occasional matches with Paddy Kelly and got a fairly full overview of what he was trying to deliver.

No NIL, he wasnt getting paid. Nor was he going around ticking boxes. For 5 years he stuck at the post and delivered much more than anyone gave him credit for. At the end he was truly worn out, a long hard thankless task that only someone with a genuine passion for his county could complete.

If anyone thinks they can step up and make a positive difference that would be great. But...I still say they need a vibrant and proactive football sub committee behind them - with the full support of coiste bainisti - to make any relevant headway.

[bannside]

Agree, but change will take time...if ever.

For now you need to work within current structures.

Even setting up a "football sub committee" is outside of existing structures. But thats whats badly needed.

What youre suggesting is a think tank, a group of people who come up with ideas. That wont work either unfortunately.

We need a county chairman, a leader who is motivated at the highest level, to set up internal structures (call them what you like) that will result in us having competitive county teams in 10 years. On top of that, an equally motivated executive committee who all buy in/share the same view.

Not a hurling person or a football person, but someone who is committed to driving both, in tandem, and not in competition.

Change can only come from within. It will take a very special kind of individual we need to drive this.

[Spike]

BS agreed that individual is needed, and also agree that without a strong subcommittee behind him/her they will eventually get burned out.

I see coaches coming to the primary schools and i am sure it does raise standards a bit but i can also see it turns out to really be little more than a PE session given the coach has an hour per week to get around a school full of kids.

Half time games gives some link with the schools to antrim.  cumann na mbunscoil certainly doing good work.  but as we have said before the gulf between us and other counties seems to appear in the early years of secondary school.    the antrim schools cup i believe is a good idea though too soon to see its effect.  will the Belfast schools amalgamation entering the mccrory cup have an effect? - hopefully but again too soon to tell. 

going slow or standing still will mean we will never catch up with the big boys in ulster - agree time for radical change and rethink.  will the Antrim Development Plan launched last year make changes or was it just fancy wording that no one could be bothered finishing as it sounded very familiar?

IMO the Divisional Boards have a chance to step in here.

   

[Spike]

a very quick visit around the Divisional Board websites tells me the last post by SW Antrim was 2020, the last by South Antrim was 2020 and North Antrim was July last year.

Covid appears to have demolished them. Some rumblings are occurring with competitions like the O'Cahan cup again taking place but it is nowhere near enough. 

Dont know if moving underage leagues to All County has dampened their power or spirits but they need rejuvenated quickly as i feel they could be extremely important in all of this if the clubs back them.

[Milltown Row2]

We have been running the May day competition at the club for many years, p6's great competition and clubs from all over Ulster attend it as well. The standard on show is more or less the same across the clubs from various counties, Belfast and SW that attend.. Its what happens when they reach secondary school age, and particularly at the age of 14 and above that changes..

We start with the same fundamentals but lose our way after that.. bridging that gap has to be (in my view) the crux of the matter   

[FirstToTheBall]

We have been running the May day competition at the club for many years, p6's great competition and clubs from all over Ulster attend it as well. The standard on show is more or less the same across the clubs from various counties, Belfast and SW that attend.. Its what happens when they reach secondary school age, and particularly at the age of 14 and above that changes..

We start with the same fundamentals but lose our way after that.. bridging that gap has to be (in my view) the crux of the matter   

What would you do differently or what do you think needs to change?

Ya hear people saying about kids in belfast having too many other sports but surely thats in all towns and cities now, or how Antrim is at a disadvantage having mixed areas with the other side not partaking but so does derry, tyrone, armagh and they are all going well compared to us languishing in division 4.

[bannside]

It definitely shouldnt be as hard as we make it.

We need about 1 very class act in every year group to have a great team, and 2 additionally excellent players in each year group to make up a quality squad of 36 players aged between 20 and 32.

3 players per year across the entire county, to nurture, develop, proper S&C.

Every single club that thinks anything of itself should be setting that target for themselves!

[Round or stuffed]

can talk about structures all you want, we are 1 month from club competitions in the county starting, no fixtures, some clubs don't even know what division they are entering, same old story, and the talk is of competitive county team in 10 years. in tyrone they have nearly every league date in the calendar, and it doesn't begin for 3 months

[bannside]

Yea, but in Tyrone football is a religion. It has 28 grounds with stands, and floodlights. We have one ground with a stand (well maybe two if we want to include Rossa) and you could count floodlit grounds on one hand. Dont even think about comparing schools, its a religion there too.

HTL, there was a time I would have been first man in the door, but dont let me dim your passion. If you have the kind of calibre to make a positive contribution, as well as energy, make yourself known to someone in coiste bainiste and Im sure they will be glad to welcome someone who can get things done.

The last "movement" was Saffron Vision" and it worked well to begin with, but their vision for improving the standard of county football and hurling definitely hasnt gone to plan, not one of them can say it has!

[Round or stuffed]

you are misunderstanding me, the fixtures last year were presented in march, more or less to the letter that same as 2024, the dates of the leagues were the same, yet we couldn't get this out in good time, this to me is a major problem in Antrim is that the dysfunctional stuff is accepted as ok. 2 u21 finals played on terrible 3g pitch and this is just fine with the majority of Antrim people, wouldn't be acceptable in any serious GAA county

[NatSoSaff]

Almost 2 days out from national league home fixture v Longford, and no venue secured.

Will it be played at all or will a venue outside the county need to host it?

[belfastsaff]

talk it being on a 4G pitch - Some shambles !

[Saffsof82]

The O'Cahan cup fixtures are postponed so that would free up Portglenone and Cargin in theory

[Spike]

they are likely postponed because most pitches are waterlogged.  anyone hosting a match this weekend has to expect considerable damage to the playing surface

[Gaels1789]

No word on fixtures or leagues yet is a shambles.