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This "association" is possibly the greatest farce of a set up in the history of the GAA. They've done absolutely nothing to improve the fixture or the welfare of club players. If the GAA won't listen to them why aren't they proposing an all out strike? tiobraid (Tipperary) - Posts: 4119 - 06/09/2017 11:51:28 2043373 Link 1 |
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Tiobraid Tomsmith here What can you expect from a new grouping C P A , This group has only been formed and difficult to find ones feet at County Board level,Also these fellows may also be involved at Club level fund raising and organising underage club fixtures which are part of the important Club structure. tomsmith (Cavan) - Posts: 3855 - 07/09/2017 17:56:51 2043920 Link 1 |
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The all ireland finals have been moved back to be played in August.this means September is now fully free for club activity.4 extra weeks has been cleared and if club championships can't be completed before the first week of October now then it's 100% down to county boards and nobody else. uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 07/09/2017 19:57:08 2043953 Link 0 |
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That's a good thing but in fairness to the GAA that was from themselves and not the CPA. Removing replays has been a GAA initiative also. That one was up at congress before and didn't get through. The GAA get serious stick but they're trying to improve things. It's just very difficult with how congress works that they can't get things through more quickly. Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4207 - 08/09/2017 09:53:41 2044075 Link 0 |
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I actually think the CPA is a bit of a shambles. They are making ridiculous demands and then wonder why no one treats them seriously. There has to be flexibility to negotiate but any of the sound bites coming from them is it's either their way or no way. That wont work i'm afraid, you have to play the game. gotmilk (Fermanagh) - Posts: 4971 - 08/09/2017 15:13:04 2044208 Link 0 |
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Yeah I've been disappointed also. I'm not really sure within their fix the fixtures plan that they are prioritising the correct things. They're concentrating a lot on intercounty formats. I don't even think they need to bother with that. Their input of intercounty formats should be to agree the number of weekends set aside in each code for intercounty competition and agree on when these get take place. Restrict the practice of intercounty friendly matches at weekends. You do that and things improve decently for the club game. They've put together 3 poor enough format proposals. They're presented badly. I don't really think it's essential that April is a designated club month. I'm also not sure if there's a need for AI club championship to be finished within the calendar year. Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4207 - 08/09/2017 17:38:13 2044249 Link 0 |
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If the CPA was truly for club players their suggestions would involve creating more club matches for club players and what they should do is to ask for every county to organise their league competitions so that there is a game for players to play every week from March up to September, or at least have a league where there is never more than 2 weeks between matches and where generally a match is played every week. uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 09/09/2017 19:01:28 2044445 Link 0 |
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100% spot on. Theres plenty of teams in Tipp only playing a handful of club games in both codes each year and I know it's similar in other counties. Maybe there's loads of work being done in the background by the CPA but I doubt it and see no evidence of anything being done.
tiobraid (Tipperary) - Posts: 4119 - 11/09/2017 10:09:58 2044821 Link 0 |
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The CPA are in existence for a very short time. Getting CP to change is a bit like trying to put out a fire with petrol. Unfortunately the priority at the top is all about finance and of course most money comes from the top inter county teams in the provinces. One of the most important changes required is this business of clubs having to play most of their matches without the county players- the county teams/managers should not be allowed to have first call on players for up to 2-3 weeks before a match and this has now extended to league matches. The do not appear to realise that there would be no county teams without club players. Reducing the power of team managers would be a first step. browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2342 - 11/09/2017 11:02:30 2044848 Link 1 |
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But Croke Park have changed.The AI finals have been moved back to create time for clubs.So it's all down to county boards now. The line being peddled by certain sections of the media and sadly being bought by too many people is that the inter county game is to blame when it isn't. County boards should be scheduling more league matches for clubs in order to give players the regular games they want there is nothing that would stop them from doing it except their own incompetence. The CPA should now be targeting county boards all across the country and forget about Croke Park, the GAA at central level are not to blame for this issue, it's just it's easy to throw everything on the supposed fat cats in Croke Park than for county boards to accept responsibility. The club league is about playing matches, if county players aren't available for it who the hell cares play with the 99% of players that don't play for a county team let the majority enjoy there football/hurling and then play championships when the intercounty season is over in August. uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 11/09/2017 11:34:34 2044871 Link 2 |
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Very true, uibhfhaili1986. Many county boards hide behind the Club V County issue when it's their own faul for not running their own internal competitions properly or on time.
lilywhite1 (Kildare) - Posts: 2987 - 11/09/2017 14:24:52 2044938 Link 0 |
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To be fair to Meath county board they tried to do a match planner up to the start of August this year. It got screwed up because Leinster council changed the original date of the Leinster football semifinals because Croke was getting used for a concert. Not much the county board can do about that. In Meath we get provided with loads of games 13 league, 5 championship group games another knockout cup but we have our county players available for maybe 3 of the league games, an improvement on previous years. Although we always have them for championship. It's the intercounty friendlies that take precedence over club league that's annoying. When you look at Meath and the efforts they're putting in on running good competitions in 2 codes and they still encounter problems you can see that there are problems at the top. Club football would be shafted if Meath went on a run some of these seasons. Even with the season getting shortened. Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4207 - 11/09/2017 14:54:12 2044948 Link 0 |
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Who cares how many league games county players are available for.The club league is about playing matches (or at least it should be) if you win it great but all in all it is not really important and do you think that inter county players actually care about the club league they barely care about the NFL/NHL a lot of the time and inter county football/hurling is clearly more important to pretty much every county player regardless of what the official line they will give that club means more to them, that's just a myth at this stage that people want to believe and county players don't want to ruin. People need to get their head round to the idea that club football and hurling are about enjoyment and playing matches for club players and tailor the game at club level around that basis and then the championship can be played from when the intercounty season will be over which from next year will be August for all but a couple of counties and that leaves plenty of time for championships to be played. uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 11/09/2017 16:17:30 2044979 Link 0 |
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Spot on. Down were knocked out of the first round of the ulster championship and qualifiers last year yet couldn't get their league finished on time. Kilcoo had to forefit their league final if memory serves me correctly. How is that CPs fault? This isn't reserved for Down alone. By the time the 12th of July comes there are about 12 sides left. How the hell can the other 22 not have everything wrapped up?
gotmilk (Fermanagh) - Posts: 4971 - 11/09/2017 16:55:30 2044999 Link 0 |
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I think intercounty friendlies taking precedence over club matches is a bit much. Anyway that wasn't my main point. Meath are trying to produce a good program of games, they guarantee 5 games for teams in both hurling and football with knockout to follow. It's pretty hard to fit all that in around the intercounty calendar which then gets changed after the fact. Intercounty footballers were being told not to play club hurling championship 2 weeks out from Leinster championship. If Meath hadn't been knocked out early there'd have been a huge fixtures backlog which wouldn't really have been the county boards fault. So there definitely is a need for the top level to be looked at. Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4207 - 11/09/2017 17:55:21 2045022 Link 0 |
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You appear not to realise that all football / hurling is about playing matches (club and county). All football /hurling including championship is about the player enjoying the games and that is the only reason we play our games. Are you aware of any other reason?
browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2342 - 11/09/2017 18:23:36 2045032 Link 0 |
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I do but there is more than just enjoyment to a small percentage of players.Some players also want the glory of winning an all ireland or playing for their county although most just play for enjoyment. The games and fixture planning is not based around the players playing purely for the love of the game so somebody hasn't realized that is the main reason players play. We have a ridiculous training to matches ratio and far too few matches which suggest the administrators don't realise that playing the game is just what most players want not endless preparation for playing a small few games. uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 11/09/2017 19:12:50 2045041 Link 0 |
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I really don't agree that intercounty is more important than club to every intercounty player. It definitely is not the case in either code really in Antrim. Down have trouble getting their best players out for the county and there's a huge problem in Derry with the club v county conflict and it's club that's coming out on top. There should be room for both club and county but the county season right now is too spread out even when the changes come in to shorten the season. I think improvements to the calendar will help all levels and there's problems currently on all sides. Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4207 - 11/09/2017 19:16:37 2045042 Link 0 |
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You say club league games every week from March to September but is that club hurling games or club football games? Or is it both with lads who play both sports having 2 games each week? I know a lot of lads like having weekends with no games as they can head away with the girlfriend or with their mates, or just do stuff that lads in their 20s like to do without feeling guilty for letting their club down. There is no easy or perfect solution to this problem but the best solution will be got at local level rather than at a national level which is why the CPA is unlikely to ever get any serious changes introduced.
Soma (UK) - Posts: 2630 - 11/09/2017 21:46:27 2045080 Link 0 |
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Maybe some of the dual players have to miss some matches.So what if people miss a few matches every now and then if they play with the hurling team. The thing is to provide matches so that nobody can complain about not having matches. The club leagues in each county should be for provided matches for players to play. I've never heard too many players complain about having too many matches. If soccer and rugby can provide matches almost every single week for their players why can't GAA clubs do so aswell. There is no excuse for a fixtures issue it's simply excuse making which has caused the problem and the buck gets passed by everyone and nobody wants to just deal with the issue and provide more games for players and games on a regular basis. uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 11/09/2017 22:04:44 2045085 Link 0 |