Tyrone training for the future

[tyrone86]

10 year tickets for the stand for all matches ?? Would it be worth considering or not ?? Might be difficult but it would get money in quickly. Maybe this isn't an option ?

Alternative club Tyrone ? Club Garvaghey or something like that ?

The problem with a 10 year ticket would be with administration of it. Essentially, you'd have to make the stand all ticket for all National League matches and all club Championship matches. Fine in theory, but it would be a nightmare to get tickets out on short notice and a nightmare to steward. Another aspect and I might be a prophet of doom, but I can guaranteed you if the stand was made all ticket for the County Final on Sunday the amount of crying from the clubs would be unreal - about having to pay to get under 16s into the stand for a game, about how an ordinary club member has no chance of getting into the stand.
As for an expanded Club Tyrone/ Club Garvaghy - wouldn't you be going back to exactly the same people for another £500 or £1000 a year?

Croke Park do it and do it very successfully without any problems.

To be fair, the capacity of Croke Park is 80,000 and 70,000 of those are seats. Healy Park has room for 20,000 patrons and has maybe 5,000 seats. There are a guaranteed number of games in Croke Park every year, including All Ireland Finals, Semi Finals, Quarter Finals and Leinster Championship. In Healy you might have 3/4 National league games, and 2 Sundays of County Final action that are certain to be in Healy Park, the rest of the games depend on the time of year and teams involved. You aren't exactly comparing like with like.

[Norf Tyrone]

I am in two minds if to buy a ticket or not.

£2.50 a week is not much truth be told. When you consider there are several hundred prizes over the term, the odds are fairly decent. IIRC the draw organisers are aiming to sell 15k to 16k tickets.

However part of me is growing disillusioned at the management of the club scene in the County, and the 'professionalism' of the Inter County circut. In an amateur game is there justification for spending what is it, 5-6 million quid on training facilities? To me the County board should be doing more to aid club development in both tangible and intangible ways. There should be an aim that all clubs have two pitches, floodlights, covered stand etc. This secures the health of Gaelic games in the parishes....then build.

Secondly, and it's something I want to post longer on at some point, I think the County board need to look at North Tyrone as an isolated case to see why club football is weaker in this area. This year we had;

1 senior: Aghyaran
2 Inter: Urney and the Clans
7 Junior: Owen Roes, Glenelly, Strabane, Newtown, Dregish, Drumquin and Castlederg.

Now individually there are some strong players in these teams e.g the inter county players (or ex) Martin Penrose, Dooher, O'Neill, Declan McCrossan, Tim Harney, Pascal McConnell. However without jumping to conclusions nearly all of these were educated outside the area.

Club football is strong in Tyrone from a skills perspective, and this lends itself to an excellent Tyrone team. However if my part of the world was stronger surely that would benefit the whole structure. The clubs have a key part to play here too mind you.

BTW>>>> Owen Roes also have a big draw on the go at the minute. £20 per month for 10 months. A monthly draw for a total of £1500, and then a grand draw in the summer 2009 with £100,000 as first prize!! Total prize fund of £150,000.

Tickets still available>>>http://www.owenroe-leckpatrick.ie/

[orangeman]

However part of me is growing disillusioned at the management of the club scene in the County, and the 'professionalism' of the Inter County circut. In an amateur game is there justification for spending what is it, 5-6 million quid on training facilities? To me the County board should be doing more to aid club development in both tangible and intangible ways. There should be an aim that all clubs have two pitches, floodlights, covered stand etc. This secures the health of Gaelic games in the parishes....then build.



How many people from Aghyaran / Owen Roes / Ardboe ( in fact any of the clubs outside of the environs of Errigal ) will it suit to go there and avail of the facilities ? I know this is a completely different debate but nonetheless one worth having.


So, I'm with you Norf.

[ziggysego]

There's talk that with the Maze Stadium not going ahead, the Ulster GAA are going to be looking for a green site for a new state of the art Stadium in Mid-Ulster. They are toying with the idea of tying it in with the new Tyrone Training Centre that is currently being developed in Ballygawley.

Anyone else heard this and what do you think of it?

[The GAA]

Great - that's all we need. another stadium that's hardly ever used...

[orangeman]

Mid Ulster - is that not Magherafelt ?

[Rois]

However part of me is growing disillusioned at the management of the club scene in the County, and the 'professionalism' of the Inter County circut. In an amateur game is there justification for spending what is it, 5-6 million quid on training facilities?

The Garvaghey project is not as simple as you're painting it Norf, it's a lot more than training facilities.  It will offer fantastic facilities for all county teams and development squads and provide as good facilities for the often-forgotten hurling and camogie teams as our footballers will have.  It will be available for schools' use also, and will house committee rooms.  It will hold coaching courses, club officer training, anything that currently has to rely on clubs and rented accommodation and is for the good of all the clubs in the county.  

And it's not like they're diverting the £5 or £6 million to the detriment of other sources, it's a specific and separate project that will raise its own funds.  Look at the super investment in Healy Park, we've got a county ground to be proud of now.  It'll be the same for Garvaghey.

Is there any county board support that won't be forthcoming due to Garvaghey?  I don't honestly think so at the minute.  It's a great goal to have two pitches and floodlights for each club, don't get me wrong, but to try to achieve that for the whole county would be impossible, which is why the development committees in clubs are so important.  

3 All Irelands in 6 years - it's no coincidence that this has happened when more resources have been made available to the county setup.  

[maggie]

Rois-you got the details for signing up/or is it through your own club?- you seem to be a woman in the know

[Norf Tyrone]

However part of me is growing disillusioned at the management of the club scene in the County, and the 'professionalism' of the Inter County circut. In an amateur game is there justification for spending what is it, 5-6 million quid on training facilities?

The Garvaghey project is not as simple as you're painting it Norf, it's a lot more than training facilities.  It will offer fantastic facilities for all county teams and development squads and provide as good facilities for the often-forgotten hurling and camogie teams as our footballers will have.  It will be available for schools' use also, and will house committee rooms.  It will hold coaching courses, club officer training, anything that currently has to rely on clubs and rented accommodation and is for the good of all the clubs in the county.  

And it's not like they're diverting the £5 or £6 million to the detriment of other sources, it's a specific and separate project that will raise its own funds.  Look at the super investment in Healy Park, we've got a county ground to be proud of now.  It'll be the same for Garvaghey.

Is there any county board support that won't be forthcoming due to Garvaghey?  I don't honestly think so at the minute.  It's a great goal to have two pitches and floodlights for each club, don't get me wrong, but to try to achieve that for the whole county would be impossible, which is why the development committees in clubs are so important.  

3 All Irelands in 6 years - it's no coincidence that this has happened when more resources have been made available to the county setup.  

The worse thing about these forums is that sometimes- well for me personally- you don't have the time to type all you want, or the ability to explain your point correctly. Apologies Rois as I don't think I articualted myself as I hoped. I realise that it's more than just a Tuesday and Thursday training complex, and to be fair the facilities at the end of the project will be outstanding. However I think it's over ambitious. Certainly a central locality, and a 'home' is required but is this just not a bit too much?

This fundraising will impact on the clubs to some extent regarding their own specific development/ fund raising projects. The development down here in Glenmornan, as you know, is going very well and we have been very lucky with the work done so far, how the project is being supported. However if we were intending to start the project now in tandem with what the TCB are doing I know a lot of doors would be slammed shut.

Anyhow... I'll argue/debate with you longer on it later. I am for Prague at 1am  so bed beckons down here in beautiful Glenmornan!

[tyrone86]

I am in two minds if to buy a ticket or not.

£2.50 a week is not much truth be told. When you consider there are several hundred prizes over the term, the odds are fairly decent. IIRC the draw organisers are aiming to sell 15k to 16k tickets.

However part of me is growing disillusioned at the management of the club scene in the County, and the 'professionalism' of the Inter County circut. In an amateur game is there justification for spending what is it, 5-6 million quid on training facilities? To me the County board should be doing more to aid club development in both tangible and intangible ways. There should be an aim that all clubs have two pitches, floodlights, covered stand etc. This secures the health of Gaelic games in the parishes....then build.

Secondly, and it's something I want to post longer on at some point, I think the County board need to look at North Tyrone as an isolated case to see why club football is weaker in this area. This year we had;

1 senior: Aghyaran
2 Inter: Urney and the Clans
7 Junior: Owen Roes, Glenelly, Strabane, Newtown, Dregish, Drumquin and Castlederg.

Now individually there are some strong players in these teams e.g the inter county players (or ex) Martin Penrose, Dooher, O'Neill, Declan McCrossan, Tim Harney, Pascal McConnell. However without jumping to conclusions nearly all of these were educated outside the area.

Club football is strong in Tyrone from a skills perspective, and this lends itself to an excellent Tyrone team. However if my part of the world was stronger surely that would benefit the whole structure. The clubs have a key part to play here too mind you.

BTW>>>> Owen Roes also have a big draw on the go at the minute. £20 per month for 10 months. A monthly draw for a total of £1500, and then a grand draw in the summer 2009 with £100,000 as first prize!! Total prize fund of £150,000.

Tickets still available>>>http://www.owenroe-leckpatrick.ie/

Norf, you've a lot of very valid points in that and I'm happy enough to give you my tuppence on the whole thing.

As Rois points out very well, Garvaghy is about more than training county teams. She does forget to mention the 'GAA in Tyrone' museum that will also be housed there but I digress  This scheme also has a facility in it for clubs to draw down a grant of 25k at some point over the 5 years for development purposes, something which would not have been available without this draw. While this may be a drop in the ocean, it certainly provides a basis for clubs looking towards the ultimate goal of getting a second pitch or upgrading their facilities in whatever way they feel will benefit their club.

As for the issue of management of the club scene, I've been a staunch defender of the efforts of the CCC on this board. I genuinely believe that problems in club football stem from the short-sighted 'Me Fein' attitude of the clubs in the county. Club Football has been a problem in Tyrone since the Senior team reached the All Ireland Final in 1995. As per usual in the GAA, it takes a couple of years for the clubs and the County board to realise that something has to be done. So in late 1997/ early 1998 the clubs vote to move from 3 Divisions of 16 to 4 x 12s in 1999. Great, this should solve the problem.

I stand to be corrected on this, but between 1998 and 2003 I believe that the league was tinkered with in some format EVERY year. 98 was the last year of the 3x16s, 99 was 4 x 12s with one round of fixtures, 00 was 16/8/16/8, 01 was 16/8/16/8 with top half/bottom half playoffs at the end of the season, 02 was 16/8/16/8 with a prolonged league cup in the middle and I believe 03 was back to 4x12s with a double round of fixtures. Somewhere in there was the introduction of playing starred game without the county players, but I believe that may have been a more recent phenomenon. All these changes were to facilitate clubs who believed that they where getting too many* / too little* games in a particular year (Delete as appropriate depending on the success of the Tyrone team)

Again, this year, after yet another change in format, once again approved by the clubs, people point the finger at the CCC and try to lay the blame at their door with the argument - sure there was more games played last year - why is it taking as long to complete the leagues - neglecting the fact that in 2007 that the leagues still had the starred games system in place.  In 2009, if Tyrone are successful, we can expect the same problems. If they aren't the leagues will run according to plan. However, there-in lies the problem and the erratic tendencies of the Tyrone team from year to year leave it difficult to get something that is close to perfect. And even if we did, you can be certain the clubs would find something to complain about 

As for the North Tyrone thing, I'm going to make one point and it may sound patronising but it's very unintentional; Outside of Strabane, who it has to be said won the Division 3 league fairly handily this year, what was the last North Tyrone club to play Grade 1 youth football at any level? In the 99/00 era Aghyaran had a minor team including Michael Anderson, Owen Devine, Shane Sweeney and Martin Penrose that was in the top 4 or 5 minor and U21 teams in the county. They've managed to hold on to the important lads in that team and supplement it with a a few lads prior to that era and a few after and are a steady senior side. Clann na Gael and Urney have had at least one decent Grade 1 minor side in the last 5 or 6 years apiece. If you look at Division 3 over the past couple of years, any team that has had prolonged Grade 1 experience such as Greencastle, Augher and Strabane have tended to get out of Division 3 at the first attempt without too much hassle.

[Norf Tyrone]

Thanks for the reply Tyrone86. Apologies as I have to keep this brief.

I too would be a defender of the CCC, as I think most of the problems stem from a fluid fixture list caused by the implementation of the back door. I think gaelic football needs a fixed list of games if that makes sense with weekends aside for County football, but appropriate time set aside for proper club football. I don't know if this is attainable and I sympathise with those who are tasked with repairing it. It's not as easy as most assume.

Re the North Tyrone thing. I am not sure what point you are making to be honest. I would guess that although club coaching could be better, the biggest gains may be in the schools, and specifically the secondary schools. Look at the list of players I mentioned, and I don't think one of them was from Holy Cross/ St Colmans. I have not got my hear close enough to the ground to understand or argue the whys and wheres of school's football, but for a school that has an intake of 8 or 9 clubs I feel that they should be performing better in school's football.

As I said though I am just being speculative.

[under the bar]

Given what Tyrone has done for every county in raising the bar and showing others the benefits of total football, I'd expect healthy ticket sales in all 32 counties. 

[nashville]

It's a monthly prize of £10,000, not a "star prize" if I recall correctly, it certainly doesn't involve a big draw and there are a number of prizes each month.

Standing order, a tenner a month for five years, it's not a huge ask. 

Funny you should say that... these people seem to think that also:

http://www.childrenincrossfire.org/index.php?menuid=6


Instead of "raising the bar" and getting a fancy new training pitch, how about donating it to charity? Apparently, it's not a "huge ask", so if it would save lives in Africa then why not do that? Even 5 pounds per month would make a huge difference... 10 million pounds to be raised over the next 5 years, just imagine the impact that could have if donated through a charity like Children in Crossfire...

I am in two minds if to buy a ticket or not.

£2.50 a week is not much truth be told. When you consider there are several hundred prizes over the term, the odds are fairly decent. IIRC the draw organisers are aiming to sell 15k to 16k tickets.

No, 2.50 a week is not much, the price of buying a newspaper every working day would save millions of lives.. just think of that, which is the better cause, helping feed and educate malnourished children, or having a swanky new training facility for the "heroes"?

[under the bar]

No, 2.50 a week is not much, the price of buying a newspaper every working day would save millions of lives.. just think of that, which is the better cause, helping feed and educate malnourished children, or having a swanky new training facility for the "heroes"?

So all your spare cash goes to feeding and educating malnourished children then?

[nashville]

No, 2.50 a week is not much, the price of buying a newspaper every working day would save millions of lives.. just think of that, which is the better cause, helping feed and educate malnourished children, or having a swanky new training facility for the "heroes"?

So all your spare cash goes to feeding and educating malnourished children then?

I donate 20 pounds per month by Direct Debit on a fairly moderate wage and spend quite a bit of my free time promoting the charity and trying to get people to sign up. Any change I find lying about I save up to make in one donation. I am not trying to paint myself out to be a saint, I put up the website address so people would have a look, and try to encourage them to sign up. What irked me was that some people were saying things like it's not a big ask, yet talking on the street to someone asking for even smaller donations sounds like you are asking them to remove a leg.