Kids told they cannot play for their Parish?

[From the Bunker]

Shared on Facebook by Darren Mulleady

KIDS TOLD TO STAND DOWN FROM PLAYING G.A.A.

This is a picture of my son Sean taken while playing wing back for Tang at schools final in Mullingar. Sean has always enjoyed playing football with his school and his club Maryland/Tang.
Sean has played U6,U8,U10,U12 and U14 with his club Maryland/Tang and was always proud to ware the jersey. Tang parish is in two counties,Longford and Westmeath. I married a girl from Tang and built our house in Tang parish. I got involved in the community of Tang, were I was always made welcomed. I was a member of Tang Muintir na Tire,Tang Folk Group and Tang G.A.A.
Eilish, Sean's mother was a Tang woman through and through, she was a member of Tang piped band,Tang G.A.A,Tang Folk Group,Tang St. Patrick's day committee. All she ever wanted was for her children to be happy. Sadly Eilish is no longer with us, she passed away in 2009.
I vowed that my kids would never go through something as cruel as that again and here I am now fighting for my son to play football for his club and his friends which he loves. Sean and other team mates has been playing football with Maryland/Tang club for the passed 7YEARS and never once was the broder issue ever raised to me.
Ballymahon club has never contacted me in any shape or form to see would Sean play with them.
The first time I heard of the border issue was back in January. We decided as a club to meet Ballymahon G.A.A along with parents of the children in question.
Tang's proposal to Ballymahon club stated, CHILDREN LIVING IN TANG PARISH FROM COUNY LONGFORD GOING TO TANG NATIONAL SCHOOL SHOULD HAVE THE CHOICE TO PLAY WITH TANG OR BALLYMAHON G.A.A CLUBS. Parents spoke their minds, told Ballymahon G.A.A. that their kids wanted to play with their friends in Mary/Tang.
I spoke for my son Sean, I told Ballymahon that I would not force my son Sean to play with Ballymahon G.A.A. I told Ballymahon that Sean is very sporty, he already plays soccer and has a Lenister silver medal for tag rugby. He has expressed interest in playing rugby, its now looking like an option, as Sean will NEVER play football for Ballymahon G.A.A club.
Tang's proposal I thought was a very fair proposal, it gave the children the choice to choose the club they wanted to play for.
This proposal was rejected by Ballymahon G.A.A.
The two County Boards of Longford and Westmeath meet last week to try and come to an agreement. A letter from the parents of the children in question was given to both county boards giving them the background of the situation and asking them to let our kids play football with their friends in Mary/Tang. No agreement was made so now its gone to the next stage Lenister Council. I hope that they can let the lads play football with the club of their choice. Children have rights, IT'S NOT IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILDREN. TO ISOLATE THEM AND DENY THEM FROM PLAYING FOOTBALL. We are talking about children here for god sake. I'm appealing to Ballymahon G.A.A and officials in Croke Park to do right by the children. They should thank God that kids choose G.A.A over a lot of other sports. AS A FATHER I'M ASKING BALLYMAHON TO GIVE THE CHILDREN THE CHOICE AND NOT TO BULLY THEM INTO BALLYMAHON.
PLEASE CROKE PARK LIFT THE BAN AND LET THE KIDS PLAY FOOTBALL FOR THEIR CLUB THAT THEY LOVE SO MUCH WHICH IS MARYLAND/TANG.

[neilthemac]

It is actually Westmeath's fault

they have no rules covering this.

Longford have.

[macdanger2]

Poorly enough written piece to be honest, too much Joe Duffy-style "emotion" and not enough facts.

If Tang parish is part of the Maryland / Tang club, what claims have Ballymahon on the players??

I presume there's a whole saga to this but I would have thought pretty much every parish is part of one (or two) clubs and players have to play for that club (or have the option of playing for one of the two clubs?)

[armaghniac]

Some of those beating the drum on this issue have an agenda, there is a probably a need for boundaries to be examined in some cases. For instance a school may close, or the rules on school buses may change, and all of the kids end up going to a particular school but the catchment area of the school overlaps two clubs.

[shark]

Maryland/Tang is a club that only competes at underage.  Maryland (senior) and Tang (intermediate) are two separate clubs, both within the same parish.  There is no parish rule in Westmeath.  I live in Mullingar where there are 4 clubs 'fighting' for the same kids.  The numbers eb and flow with 1 of these clubs now heavily dominant at underage having been relatively weak for a number of years. The key issue though is always kids wanting to play where their friends are playing. An 8 year old doesn't care about history/tradition, he/she wants to have fun with his/her friends.  A staunch club colleague if mine was given an ultimatum by his 10 yr old son that he wanted to play for our rivals or he was going to give up football. As much as it pain him, he let his son play ball with his friends.  Ballymahon GAA obviously feel they are losing out to Tang in the recruitment of young players, but it has to be the choice of the kid in the end. The success, or otherwise, of clubs will always fluctuate over time, but the organisation comes first and the last thing we need is kids becoming disillusioned and packing it in.

[muppet]

Maryland/Tang is a club that only competes at underage.  Maryland (senior) and Tang (intermediate) are two separate clubs, both within the same parish.  There is no parish rule in Westmeath.  I live in Mullingar where there are 4 clubs 'fighting' for the same kids.  The numbers eb and flow with 1 of these clubs now heavily dominant at underage having been relatively weak for a number of years. The key issue though is always kids wanting to play where their friends are playing. An 8 year old doesn't care about history/tradition, he/she wants to have fun with his/her friends.  A staunch club colleague if mine was given an ultimatum by his 10 yr old son that he wanted to play for our rivals or he was going to give up football. As much as it pain him, he let his son play ball with his friends.  Ballymahon GAA obviously feel they are losing out to Tang in the recruitment of young players, but it has to be the choice of the kid in the end. The success, or otherwise, of clubs will always fluctuate over time, but the organisation comes first and the last thing we need is kids becoming disillusioned and packing it in.

[From the Bunker]

Maryland/Tang is a club that only competes at underage.  Maryland (senior) and Tang (intermediate) are two separate clubs, both within the same parish.  There is no parish rule in Westmeath.  I live in Mullingar where there are 4 clubs 'fighting' for the same kids.  The numbers eb and flow with 1 of these clubs now heavily dominant at underage having been relatively weak for a number of years. The key issue though is always kids wanting to play where their friends are playing. An 8 year old doesn't care about history/tradition, he/she wants to have fun with his/her friends.  A staunch club colleague if mine was given an ultimatum by his 10 yr old son that he wanted to play for our rivals or he was going to give up football. As much as it pain him, he let his son play ball with his friends.  Ballymahon GAA obviously feel they are losing out to Tang in the recruitment of young players, but it has to be the choice of the kid in the end. The success, or otherwise, of clubs will always fluctuate over time, but the organisation comes first and the last thing we need is kids becoming disillusioned and packing it in.

Is there a parish rule in Longford?

Poorly enough written piece to be honest, too much Joe Duffy-style "emotion" and not enough facts.

If Tang parish is part of the Maryland / Tang club, what claims have Ballymahon on the players??

I presume there's a whole saga to this but I would have thought pretty much every parish is part of one (or two) clubs and players have to play for that club (or have the option of playing for one of the two clubs?)

Yeah, i'd agree that there is allot of emotion and feck all fact. But from the emotion you can see that this family are ingrained in their parish and are asked to throw in their lot with relative strangers!

[neilthemac]

yep.
parish rule in Longford.
and the kids live in Co Longford but not in parish of Ballymaon

there was an issue with another child a few years back who was playing club hurling in Westmeath but living in co longford. other hurling clubs in westmeath weren't happy

[From the Bunker]

yep.
parish rule in Longford.
and the kids live in Co Longford but not in parish of Ballymaon

there was an issue with another child a few years back who was playing club hurling in Westmeath but living in co longford. other hurling clubs in westmeath weren't happy

It's a gas situation. You'd have to sympathise with administrators trying to sort this one out. As I'm sure one wrong move and they could open a can of worms.

[Zulu]

But what can of worms can you open? A parish rule shouldn't supersede common sense, we all know why there are parish rules and we all accept the importance of protecting the smaller clubs but it shouldn't be adhered to when it makes no sense to do so. A number of counties don't have the parish rule and to my knowledge no small clubs have gone out of existence due to poaching from bigger clubs. Let kids play with their friends and work with the kids who are playing with you.

[charlieTully]

well and truely tangoed.

[From the Bunker]

So far the Little i know on the situation is:

Tang/Maryland is an amalgamation of two clubs at underage.
Tang parish is in part in both County Longford and County Westmeath.
Longford GAA have a Parish rule.
Westmeath GAA don't have a parish rule.
Tang are in Westmeath county for football which does not have a parish rule.
Tang are not in Longford County for Football which does have a parish rule.
Therefore Ballymahon has no hold on the player as he is not in the Parish of Ballymahon.

[naka]

am confused here
He has played up to u14 with tang why not continue on
There are various DRA cases which deal with this.

[muppet]

am confused here
He has played up to u14 with tang why not continue on
There are various DRA cases which deal with this.

Yes there is something missing for the OP. How is Ballymahon preventing his son from playing for Tang? Under what rule can they do this?