Antrim Football Thread

[bannside]

https://www.toalsbet.com/Sports/MatchBetting?eventid=Club%20Football%202026c799fb27-95a1-4752-a211-21d298b990fb&sport=GaaFootball

There you go, whatever tickles your fancy!

Suggesting the most wide open competition for years.

[Hectic]

Looking down through the results from seniors to u16 games and the likes on the Antrim website,  are there only a handful of referees in the county? Seems to be the same names game in,  game out, they must be out 3 or 4 times a week?

I assume they get paid for this?

Expenses

Shortage of referees, no shortage of referees during match day though at the grounds 

There is a shortage of referees of a high standard.

The regular appearance of poor ones gets people in attendance extremely frustrated.

I have seen experienced referees make decisions lately that are baffling and have had to go home and pick through the rules to make sure I am not losing it.

This leads to referees coming in for a lot of criticism which in turn makes the job look a poor attraction.

Of course there will be an element that are on a referees case from start to finish regardless.

And getting enough volunteers for a number of roles is a struggle for most clubs in the county.

And while I am at it - what is the story with guldering when lads are about to hit frees?

Like of Cargin and Portglenone are flat out at it and a few others as well. It's not shouting at the free taker but clearly deliberate as it's a roaring match 'watch the post' being a particular favourite.

Is that all acceptable because it's bloody obvious what the tactic is.

[Milltown Row2]

Looking down through the results from seniors to u16 games and the likes on the Antrim website,  are there only a handful of referees in the county? Seems to be the same names game in,  game out, they must be out 3 or 4 times a week?

I assume they get paid for this?

Expenses

Shortage of referees, no shortage of referees during match day though at the grounds 

There is a shortage of referees of a high standard.

The regular appearance of poor ones gets people in attendance extremely frustrated.

I have seen experienced referees make decisions lately that are baffling and have had to go home and pick through the rules to make sure I am not losing it.

This leads to referees coming in for a lot of criticism which in turn makes the job look a poor attraction.

Of course there will be an element that are on a referees case from start to finish regardless.

And getting enough volunteers for a number of roles is a struggle for most clubs in the county.

And while I am at it - what is the story with guldering when lads are about to hit frees?

Like of Cargin and Portglenone are flat out at it and a few others as well. It's not shouting at the free taker but clearly deliberate as it's a roaring match 'watch the post' being a particular favourite.

Is that all acceptable because it's bloody obvious what the tactic is.

So what are you saying?

You are blaming the referees for their calls in the game that justifies the abuse which in turn makes it unattractive for who? Potential brilliant referees?

There is just a shortage of referee's end off, its your judgement on the standards

As for someone shouting directly at the player taking a free, that's a simple one, ball is moved forward if it hasn't already, if it has its a yellow card.. But someone shouting watch the post is not the same as someone shouting abuse, and if a player is put off by that, I'd change the kicker

If someone went to watch a game as a neutral, they'll see less 'mistakes' by the ref than going to their own teams games

[Hectic]

I'm not really arriving at any conclusions - just observations unless you count highlighting sub standard referees as a conclusion.

Nor am I justifying abuse but a poor refereeing performance will frustrate those in attendance. Personally I don't believe shouting at a poor referee will make them any better.

That's interesting about the shouting when frees are about to be hit. So basically shout as much as you want when a lad is hitting a free as long as it is not directly aimed at him.

Maybe I should be congratulating teams fully exploiting that loophole now you have clarified.

If the free taker gets put off by shouting it is the players fault and needs to be stood down from the role.

But if a referee is making a balls of his job suck it up.

[Milltown Row2]

Take it up and do a better job, its handy sitting on your arse firing comments on a social board, anonymously I might add. Lads are trained at the initial course, need to have passed the rules tests and fitness tests to do the championship games.

I'd happily sit with you and see who knows the rules and who's fitter..

As for your snowflake free taker if he's put off at players on the pitch speaking/shouting to other players to watch the post or left a bit or hands in the air, he'd need to find a quieter game like chess

There are more poorer performances from the players and management at games than the ref to be fair

[Hectic]

Ah the classic comeback of 'you do the job'.

And then a good dose of whataboutery (poor performance of players and managers).

😂😂😂👍

[Milltown Row2]

Ah the classic comeback of 'you do the job'.

And then a good dose of whataboutery (poor performance of players and managers).

😂😂😂👍

So that's your get out of talking codswallop?

Fire abuse but actually no plan of action, gotcha

[Hectic]

'Fire abuse' is a bit of a reach.

All the funnier coming from someone using the term 'snowflake' a little while ago.

[playwiththewind1st]

This nonsense about the Antrim referees resurfaces on this board, every single year, without fail.

The ones that are doing it at least had the balls to put themselves forward for the role.

Like everything else in life, you'll get people who are very good at the job & some who maybe could do with a bit of improvement.

I am not sure if it's still in place, or not, but after I packed up the refereeing, I did go out & do referee assessments, for a while, which was an effort to give referees some useful feedback, from a live match situation.

However, just remember that without the current cohort, there wouldn't be that many games played & I think people should be mindful of that, when commentating on the officiating.

[Milltown Row2]

This nonsense about the Antrim referees resurfaces on this board, every single year, without fail.

The ones that are doing it at least had the balls to put themselves forward for the role.

Like everything else in life, you'll get people who are very good at the job & some who maybe could do with a bit of improvement.

I am not sure if it's still in place, or not, but after I packed up the refereeing, I did go out & do referee assessments, for a while, which was an effort to give referees some useful feedback, from a live match situation.

However, just remember that without the current cohort, there wouldn't be that many games played & I think people should be mindful of that, when commentating on the officiating.

There are 'assessors' but again that can be improved along with everything else..

It's not easy, that's for sure, lads scrutinizing everything, thinking they are doing it on purpose because they are from certain clubs and making wild accusations here and there, the absolute madness of calls from sideline on rules that they have got completely wrong, I could go on but that's what comes with it and those that actual put their hands up and give it a go I tip my hat off to them for being strong enough to step over the line..

I've been saying every year, think I'll step away, but, for all of the first 40 minutes of the game, its not bad lol..

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

Having done ref for a few underage hurling games and then senior camogie games (only as a last min option as no ref there) it is really hard to do.

I get that people see things on the other side of the tackle and they roar and shout demanding a foul yet you cannot see what in hells name they are gowling about. Its really hard to get it all right and even if you did a decent job you still get someone giving you a bit of stick for missing something.

I did it with no linesmen, umpires etc and your just relying on folk to do it right.

MR2 is correct, there are plenty of people who can find the problems but have never stepped onto a pitch to referee so much as an U12 game.

It is def enjoyable to do, and you do need to be pretty fit to keep up with whats going on but you also need a really thick skin to listen to the constant abuse from over the wire and within it.

[imtommygunn]

Just look at the scrutiny from the weekend football games. Even the munster final in hurling where a lot would argue the fella enforced the rules. You can't really win.

[JimStynes]

My wife is from South Armagh and we'd have spent a lot of time down there over the years. Dundalk would have been the go to place on nights out. A town with a lot of connection to Belfast.

What a brilliant achievement for Louth today. An inspiration for any county with not only what they are achieving ant  senior but underage also.

They've also never had their own home ground  but that's not held them back. I haven't been to their centre of excellence but it seems to be well supported within the county.

Football means a lot more in Louth than it does in Antrim.

[BigGreenField]

Louth have been on this road for 15 years, they've focused on coaching standards at club level and having six county pitches for development work , they've only gone for the big shiny stadium recently.

Strikes me that because Louth centrally made the focus helping coaching standards in clubs it then led to good coaches being willing to help at county underage.

It ain't comparing apples to apples between Louth and Antrim but they've done a lot that Antrim can learn from.

Antrim are making progress but Casement is a distraction and not a reason or excuse for not tackling the rest.

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

Yet we have clubs at under age level not play their SW or NA games in each code because of development squads being out on a Saturday - because they wont play without their best players.

Three/four lads away on a Saturday can mean a game cancelled and no one gets a game. Development? what development? maybe for the 3 lads away to play games but the other 16/20 players get no game time.

I wonder in these counties do they put the county above their clubs?

I know for me personally club is first and first only. The county teams are a second team you choose to use your own time to play for but sadly now its become the other way about for some.

I could see past this had our development squads shown something of a spark over the years but they haven't and if anything its not improved an ounce. So whatever strategy we are doing it doesn't work.