can county board do better to manage competitions

[jd1]

can our county board do better to make sure our competitions run off on time , and they should not use the county team as an excuse , because we are nearly always in croke park , you would think they would have a solution by now , some teams will be playing till christmas in the county league

[buck02]

In fairness the county leagues were run off very well during the year, many teams would have 10 county league games played by the 1st weekend in September. The county board could not have forseen Mid Kerry being involved in 3 draws, which has had a knock on effect to the Junior C'ship and Listowel and Finuge being paired in an intermediate semi final with Feale Rangers and Lixnaw making the county finals.

Its easy to point a finger of blame at the county board but maybe if you took a little time to see what happened during the year you mightnt be as quick to have a go at them.

[Aine]

Agree buck, just wondering jd what would your solution be?

[austinstacksabu]

JD, I'm in far away never never land and even I can see how well the county board have managed the competitions this year. Put it this way, look at where most other counties are and they are at about the same level as us - and alot of them had no intercounty activity after July!!

As Buck said, nobody could have forseen Feale Rangers getting to a county final at the same time as Lixnaw at the same time as Finuge, or that mid Kerry would hold South Kerry twice.

The only competitions being held up are the divisional championships which always always plough on into winter anyway as they are the last to be played. We were among the first counties in Ireland to have our club championship representative chosen and the rest falls into place after that.

[jd1]

obviously ye are not one of the players training from the first week of jan to christmas that is a long year , im just saying , a time will have to come where a team county players or not will have to play and keep according to the dates set , that is within reason . im only giving my opinion , some club have met over 100 times this year already between games and training ,just seems a bit much

[kerrygold]

senior,junior,novice intermediate club championships were all at the semi final stage for the all-ireland semi final with the county league at round nine.i dont think they can improve on that
while kerry are still in the race for sam.

[smokeyjoe]

The mid-kerry saga apart, i do think that more of an effort could be made to play the county leagues off early, maybe done and dusted by August. There are very few club games played during June/July/August. Sure the county league div 2 from last year wasnt finished until this January which was a joke.
It will be at least christmas before the South and North Kerry championships are finished again this year which means all around football for some people which is very unfair on the players.

[austinstacksabu]

So Smokey, and JD......are you happy for all clubs to play games on weekends when Kerry are playing? What structure do you propose for the new county board chairman to impose?

The league was as advanced as it ever was this year, as was the county championship, certainly since 1995 anyway.....

[smokeyjoe]

I didnt realise stacks, that Kerry played every single weekend in the summer.

South Kerry had a 10 week break between the crokes game and the mid kerry game, surely in between there could have been something done. There are many young guys who head off to America for the summer and might only miss 1 - 2 club games back home, and that is from personal experience. Bearing in mind there is only 11 games for each club in the county league. Thats 11 weekends in the whole year and again we face the prospect of a county final running to mid november and the district championships for 2007 possibly heading into early 2008.
Not fair for players who start back training in January.

[jd1]

well said smokey joe , from my own experience my club played 2 times from june to sept in county league but still had to keep training , just in case we got a call to say a game is fixed for a weeks time or 2 for example , players have to have a life outside of football as well , it possible to have 1 hectic year i understand , but this is going on every year ,

[buck02]

Rounds 6-10 of the county league were payed from 24th June to the 14th Aug (although most teams played the next w'end cos it was a Tuesday) so thats 5 county league games during the summer months - Kerry seniors played in a Munster final and all ireland quarter final, minors played in a munster final, quarter final and semi final in this time (taking into account the w'end after the 14th Aug). Clubs can postpone games if players are invoved in intercounty (e.g. when the minors played Tyrone and Galway a team would be able to get a county league or c'ship game postponed).

What I have always advocated is that for 2 consequetive weekends during the summer there should be no club activity and this would allow players make holiday plans, instead of having to delay going on their hols or come back early to play in a club game as often happens thesedays.

[jd1]

i agree buck a 2 to 3 week break would suit most people , but im correct in saying that we only had 2 gamed from june to sept , 1 cancellation was our fault other 3 were intercounty related i.e a week or 2 before a kerry game . im just wondering could these county league games not be played anyway, i realise the other team was missing a county player in each circumstance ,

[islandexile]

August to be set aside for club games

The month of August will be given over almost entirely to club fixtures if new proposals aimed at providing more summer games for club players are accepted at next January’s Special Congress.

The plan would be for the All-Ireland hurling and football quarter-finals to be finished by the August Bank Holiday weekend, leaving only the semi-finals and finals to be played thereafter.

"By the beginning of August, even though we haven’t brought the All-Ireland finals forwards, 28 teams in football and hurling will be free from senior inter-county competition," explained the GAA’s Player Welfare Manager Pauric Duffy.

"County championships will then be able to be played from the beginning of August, which is a lot better than the current situation, with games being called off because of uncertainty over dates.

"This will allow for fixture planning. August and September will become big months for club championships. The only counties that won’t be able to avail of that will be the four in the hurling and the four in the football semi-finals."

[austinstacksabu]

So the Tommy Murphy etc all die a death?

[Jacko]

I think that the county board have done a good job with fixtures this year. Only that South and Mid kerry havce seen each other a few times extra, the Senior final would be played 21st Oct and Intermediate Final 4th Nov.

About August being set aside, If the AI 1/4 final is played last wkend in July, and semi-finals are end of august, how many of our county players will play with clubs in that 3/4 week period, if Kerry Reach semi-finals? Very few i reckon!

Also, I think that early August for a two week period to have no club game at all so as to organise holidays, etc. would suit people more. Taking into consideration builders holidays, large crowds heading away for back holiday weekend and at that.

[kerrygold]

if august and september are freed up for club football how long will it take the students who have crossed the atlantic since may to work for the summer to start whinging about club football impinging on their right to earn beer money for the long college winter?

[islandexile]

kerrygold said:

if august and september are freed up for club football how long will it take the students who have crossed the atlantic since may to work for the summer to start whinging about club football impinging on their right to earn beer money for the long college winter?

That's a good point kerrygold. You are never going to please everybody. I think the root cause of the fixture cramming at the end of the year is due to fact that there are too many club competitions in Kerry. My own opinion on it is that the divisional leagues should be scrapped. They are meaningless to the majority of clubs and their abolition would allow the county leagues to be started and finished earlier. The county leagues should be run off as they are time-tabled. Round 11 of the county league was supposed to be on the W/end of sept 2nd yet some teams still have only 8 games played?? and it's the middle of october

[jd1]

good point its a waste of weekends at the start of the year , the big clubs are no longer interested and usually play weak teams to fulfill fixtures start the county league in mid feb early march and it should be finished by august sept latest , giving loads of time for divisional championships

[austinstacksabu]

If you get rid of the divisional leagues, you're giving alot of lads ammo to say they're not getting enough games any more, that it's all aimed at the elite and they'll start turning away from the clubs in droves.

[jd1]

good point as abu but maybe we do have too many games every year

[smokeyjoe]

Fair point about abolishing the divisional leagues.
Can anyone tell me from their own club, how many times has their county man worn the club colours this year? I would think Declan has played for Dromid about 4 times. Killian would be close to the same for Renard, maybe a game or two more.
My point being that the excuse of cancellling a game for a county player is kind of a thing of the past now. Most teams get on with it, which is why i wonder why theres such a backlog this year?

[buck02]

The divisional leagues are often used by clubs to blood young players coming out of minor on the senior team, when these guys wouldnt get on the starting 15 for a county league game. To keep young lads interested, the divisional leagues are very important.

Looking at the county league tables, most teams in Div 2 have played 10 games and the same goes for most in Div 3.

Maybe the county board should be more stringent on why they allow games to be called off, the wedding of a player or a death or somebody attached to the club would be the only reasons (feel free to add in any more) that a county league game can be called off.

[kerrygold]

i think the system in kerry is outstanding,theres plenty of games to be played for everyone at every level,every player in kerry if good enough no matter what club they play for can aspire to play senior championship football,no matter how small your club or how small your parish is you can aspire to play for kerry and captain them,even someone like padraig reidy playing for a small club can aspire to captain kerry someday.

i think were lucky in kerry,in a lot of counties theres only the senior championship and co'league,if you play for a junior club you dont get to play senior championship football.

with the long breaks between kerry county championships games its a perfect invoirment for club football to thrive,sometimes you'd wonder what all the whinging is about.

round 9 and 10 of the county league played before the all-ireland semi final and most of the championships at semi final stage,what more can a county board do.

remember three clubs from kerry contested the junior,intermediate and senior club finals in croker in '07,you cant get a bigger endorcement of success than that and a job being well done somewhere.



there was no championship club football played in donegal and kildare this summer gone by july.

[austinstacksabu]

Maith an fear Kerrygold - sensible talking.

[mossie]

Kerrygold is talking a lot of sense.

I would cut the county board a lot of slack. they had the senior & inter football championships at semi final stage with kerry in the All Ireland final. Counties who were not in the AIF couldnt boast that and all of these counties wouldnt have divisional teams competing who tend to make fixture making difficult cos of players competing at junior\inter championship as well as senior.

Circumstances have really conspired against the county board such as 3 draws in the county semi finals , a draw in the QF, the overlaps of players between Feale Rangers\Listowel\Finuge\Lixnaw.

To be honest , I am not a fan of divisional sides. I have been at numerous clashes with divisional sides involved with 2,000 plus people present and there would be more of a buzz or atmosphere outside Sunday mass. Give me a clash of 2 North Kerry hurling clubs like Kilmoyley and Lixnaw last Sunday any day of the week. Divisional sides may be good for exposing lads to senior football that wouldnt otherwise get a chance but scrapping them would make fixture making easier and lead to passionate championship games between the clubs of the county. The scapping of divsional sides would make way for some more clubs to go senior and that incentive would re - invigorate the championship. It would also give smaller senior clubs like Ardfert, Dingle and Rathmore a more realistic chance of winning a senior county title rather than at present face divisional sides made of up to 9 clubs who have some clubs who are not a million miles off the standard of senior clubs.

I know the above wouldnt meet with too much favour and scrapping divisional sides wont solve all ills with fixture congestion but it would help.

[MrT]

Renard in Div three still have 3 games to play.

Think about it. Their final game will be probably mid to late November with county championship etc.

They play 3 games in 4 weeks or whatever. Now consider that the team they are facing in the final game of the year probably havent played a competitive, most probably some district game but they lack competitive edge, game in nearly two months. Imagine Renard and their final opponent are facing promotion and/or relegation. Who has the advantage, a team without game for 2 months or a team who basically have a 3 game head start, by this I mean If every other team is on 10 and Renard on 8 then Renard know what they have to do.

Its all a bit unfair on teams that are fulfilling their fixtures.

I understand that there a situations that are unavoidable etc but still, it a joke on the ordinary club player. Probably startin training in Jan and Finishing in Nov/Dec, they say intercounty players make sacrifices, well Joe Soap makes more.

However the solution is as complicated as the process. What I would like to see is that all teams in a division fulfil their fixtures at the same time and all are on a level number of games. This could mean tho that the county board insist that for example round one is playes between 10-17 of month 1. Teams that cant play Sat, Sun then would have to fulfil their games during the week or Friday night. Not fault proof, but something has to be done.

[/Rant]

[jd1]

good point mr t agree with you , i would hate to be playing renard come the end of november

[austinstacksabu]

Was just doing the sums on this one this morning.

Say you're Na Gaeil.

11 games in the league.

Say two in the town championship

Two in the Brendans Board.

Four in other competitions - town league etc.

19 games in a year. That's a game every two and a half weeks if you discount January from club action.

So, people say the clubs suffer from lack of games / games going into the winter. Unless you want clubs to play twice every week from June to August, there isn't a hope they will finish early in the year or be able to take a long summer break.

Why do people complain so much then?

[kerrygold]

i fully agree with you stacks,we have had club players on here very recently giving out about county players being rapped up in cotton wool etc and not making themselves available for club games.

theres no game played yet in the south and north kerry championships because of the county final involving both districts.Is there not amassive contradiction here from the club players who were not prepared to play a number of rounds in these district championships in the build up to the county final?.Is it not now a case of the club player rapping themselves in cotton wool and not making themselves available for less important clubs games becase of fear of injury?

its easy to whinge,but surely this is the same principle involved only now the other boot is on the club players foot.

food for thought.not a criticsm.


ps.i wonder how some average ordinary club player from some south or north kerry outback would react if a performance drug tester walked into the losing dressing room with a bottle and ask one of them to provide a sample a few minutes after losing the county final.

the high moral ground is a great place to be untill the wheel turns full circle.