Summer football - Club player losing out

[sam04]

With Kerry playing on July 29th and the Kerry Juniors and Minors playing the following day, is it safe to say that the round of the Co Lge fixed for the weekend of July 29/30 will be postponed??? Any possibility of it being brought forward to this w'end coming??

[seamus]

All cancelled.
Once again the ordinary club player will go for 5 or 6 weeks in the middle of the summer with no game and then will have one thrown at him at the last minute just as he plans his holiday.
Then the club will give him grief and ask him to change it.

Or is it only me that it happens to!!

[MrT]

Tis a joke. A lot of club players books time off from work etc to be able to play a particular weekend n at the drop of a hat, games,venues,times etc are changed. Surely the county board must have been able see that there was always a chance kerry would loose the munster Final n could they not set out games accordingly. Club players spend months at the start and end of each year slogging away in sh*t fields,poor weather conditions which result in late tackles n injuries, and during the summer months which is ideal football time they have about if their lucky 1 game a month. No wonder youngsters are turning away from the game

[tyronelad]

thats exactly how it is in tyrone as well.

[tyronelad]

even though tyrone are out, it has still been a barren period for our senior team since the beginning of july with our next game not until the 28th July. players can book their holidays now that tyrone are out and a new fixture schedule for club football has been released but up until laois beat tyrone the ordinary club footballer didnt know when to book his holidays which isnt good enough.

[quickballin]

It's an absolute joke!! had to cancel holiday for championship now have no clue if da league game is on da weekend after next!!

[inforthebreaks]

I have said it before but I disagree wiht this policy of wrapping players in cotton wool before championship games. I think they should be allowed / obliged to play with their clubs on all weekends, even those before an intercounty championship games. It's either that or force clubs to play without them, which is unfair on clubs. the only time club game should not be on is the weekend on which the county team is acutally playing.

[stuckintipp]

it wrecks my head when club games get cancelled. as much a possible i plan my hols around free wknds (which drives the gf mad as it is) then when they get rearranged i'm given grief for a week!!! the things we do for football.

also lads does any know of a cream or something that can make women interested in club football, not just the All-Ireland when they start plaguing you for tickets

[laddo]

When is the next round of the county league gonna be played does anyone know?

[Aine]

stuckintipp said:

also lads does any know of a cream or something that can make women interested in club football, not just the All-Ireland when they start plaguing you for tickets

Ha Ha stuckintipp - Don't Generalise!!!!!!!!

[Walter Mitty]

inforthebreaks said:

I have said it before but I disagree wiht this policy of wrapping players in cotton wool before championship games. I think they should be allowed / obliged to play with their clubs on all weekends, even those before an intercounty championship games. It's either that or force clubs to play without them, which is unfair on clubs. the only time club game should not be on is the weekend on which the county team is acutally playing.

I think it will be detrement to kerry football in the long run.....how are players close to the kerry panel supposed to impress/improve their game if they are getting no games??

How are "bog standard" (I mean the term as in decent club players) players in general meant to improve their game???

I have played 4 competitive games sine April 1st and my next game competitive game is not for another 3 weeks or so... what a joke...that'll be 5 games in just under 5 months in the middle of the summer.

What a joke!!

I might as well take up cricket

[ciarrai33]

I see there was a round of league games originally fixed for this weekend. Suppose that was scrapped also!

[buck02]

Well in fairness with the Kerry seniors playing Saturday and the minors & juniors playing on Sunday theres no way a round of the county league could be played. But I think Walter's story of 5 competitive games in nearly 5 months tells its own story and needs to be addressed.

[inforthebreaks]

but it wont be addressed. they will play lipservice to it as always, yet still ban intercounty players from playing for weeks and weeks before games, meaning clubs wont play and then there are no games. its ridiculous. Kerry are playing Longford this weekend. the following weekend is the hurling 1/4 finals. why cant there be a full schedule of club games in kerry next weekend (the bank holiday weekend).

It needs changing but i cant see it happening. the county team will always take precedence and the "bog standard" players as walter calls them, are getting sshafted as usual. you'll see our showpiece club games (county final, intermediate final etc played in bogs in november. and blue ribband competitions like south kerry championship, o'donoghue cup, nk finals etc played in the quagmires in december, it makes me mad.

[buck02]

Inforthebreaks - if we get past Longford on Saturday we play Armagh the following Saturday in the 1/4 final, thats why theres no county league scheduled for that weekend. The weekend of the 12th will probably be used instead of this weekend for county league.

[inforthebreaks]

oh. i thought the armagh game was fixed for two weeks after the longford game. my mistake

[nedeenbnn]

The worst thng that these incessant delays to matches is that a person can't plan anything.

Sports in other codes have a fixed fixture shcedule and come hell or high water they are followed through with. Take the provincial rugby teams (and I know these are professional teams) ... but for a moment assume that these are club teams and the Irish rugby team is an inter-county side. The Irish rugby management tell the provincial managers when they can and can't play their internationals (in Kerry's case their inter-county players). However and this is the important bit the fixtures still go ahead regardless - not only can the players plan but the supporters too can plan.

Whatever about cancellation of championship matches thre should be no cancellations of County league. the back door system is five years old now. Surely it behoves on County Boards to say in the fictures list ... if Kerry are playing in the first round of the qualifies then round 5of the county league is played on etc. i.e. plan ahead - rather than this haphazard what's the next free weekend? Will we play Chmapionship or League that weekend.

They may not be able to look after all the people all of the time but surely they should look after most of the people most of the time!! while I'm at it and perhaps it should be on a seperate thread - surely either the All-Ireland Junior / Intermediate or the All-Ireland U-21 should go to create a small bit more space in the fixtures calendar - the concept of one is the surely the same concept other ... i.e. a stepping stone for the senior side

[islandexile]

Round 8 of county league is fixed for this saturday evening....what a shambles!! What are the co.board playing at???.....and they have the cheek to give out about lack of support at kerry matches.....

[buck02]

A crazy decision altogether. I'm sure a lot of fellas want to head up on Saturday evening or those that dont live in Kerry wont want to come home to play a game on Saturday night and then head to Dublin & home again on Sunday.
A small bit of panicking by the county board on this one I feel. It didnt finish till November last year anyway.

[kerrygold]

madness.

[twenty]

Madness isn't the word. Went back to the Dingle V Gaeltacht drawn match back in May or whenever it was and after the co final style atmosphere i vowed id go back for the replay. A friend of mine playin wit gaeltacht said to me over the weekend that the replay is fixed for sunday week but they wont plan for it cause if Kerry win then they dont expect the Co Board to risk the Sheas after what happened Sheehan. The Gaeltacht are used to bein messed around by the co board and can accept it but for players such as Cathal O Dubhda and Rob MacGearailt, they have played 1 game since the Dingle match being hammered by strand rd. how can this be fair on them???

[Walter Mitty]

It is my understanding that teams are all calling off their games Saturday....As far as I know emmets gaeltacht was called off by both teams last weekend....Gaeltacht requested to call it off due to their minors and the senior boys being unavailable (7 players in all I believe) and Emmets agreed to call it off

[buck02]

Of the 30 odd county league games that should be played this weekend in round 8 I wonder how many will actually go ahead. I'd say 10 max.

[kerrygold]

why not play them mid week

[ruralgaa]

because many people, like myself, are based outside of the county and would find it extremely difficult to turn up for mid week games

[mossie]

friday night games maybe???

if kerry win , there should be a round of county championship games the following weekend, then down tools till after the all ireland. time to stop wrapping players in cotton wool. byran sheehan could just as easily broke his leg in training

[butchy]

I agree with mossie plus The inter county players Like Tom o'Se, Tom O'Sullivan and Mike Mac could do with a long winter break this year which they won't get if the county championship doesn't get played in time. I think that is causing players to burn out as much as anything. These players play and train all year with kerry and over the past 6 seasons played in 4 AI finals and 2 AI Semi finals and then play county Championship with there club in October November. Also they end up playing in there divisional championship also run off in November. At worst any year i think the County chmpionship should be down to the last 4 by the time the AI is over. I mean this year with all due respect to Tipp and Waterford Kerry's first game in the Championship was against Cork on July 9th. I think the county championship should have been play right up to 2 weeks before that.

[Admin]

County League Round 8 games postponed.

Due to clubs having difficulties with the Round 8 games of the Credit Union County Senior Football League on this Saturday, the GAC has postponed the round until a later date. Clubs who are willing to play should contact the office or the referees secretary to faciltate the appointment of referees.

The quarterfinals of the Junior Cup competitions will go ahead as scheduled on Friday night.

[kerrygold]

this just shows the need that there is to create a new senior intercounty championship format along the grounds of the champions league format.

there are far too many meaningless unsupported early inter county championship games in may and june .

i think we need to come up with system that ties in the league and provential championships completed by early june producing quater finalists based on performance to free up quaility club time for players.

its time to grasp the neetle.

[Walter Mitty]

I remember a few months ago they had planned to divide up the provences into 4 groups of 8 by putting Wexford, Offally and Killkenny in with Munster, Longford, Cavan in with Connaught etc... the idea had merit but was shot down immediately