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Dear GAA HQ, Croke Park & Leinster Council. Please be our troika and come and run Wicklow GAA before it's too late. HomerJay (Wicklow) - Posts: 369 - 12/09/2016 22:35:25 1913311 Link
Replying To HomerJay: "Dear GAA HQ, Croke Park & Leinster Council. Please be our troika and come and run Wicklow GAA before it's too late." Just out of interest, why have Wicklow never been more successful? Always seems to me as if some of the raw ingredients have been there in the past anyway (base level of population, some fine players, some club success etc.) Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 13/09/2016 07:55:31 1913377 Link
We in Carlow could do with a bit of help as well, . . . . along with 7 or 8 other counties. PS. get well soon Wicklow. supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 2907 - 13/09/2016 09:22:04 1913403 Link
Same county board here since 70s. No structure, no plans, no drive. Fixtures are shambolic with clubs dictating to a weak committee and having their way. 3-4 clubs call the shots and the rest drift along aimlessly. Adult leagues have 14 games yet takes 10 months to play them. No u21 competitions. Never taken advantage of natural population boom in last 15 years. About 8 clubs play competitions in other counties as the competitions in Wickow are not run correctly. Countless walkover at every level. I could go on and on and on with facts from weekly events to show how poor the standard and county board are. I genuinely believe that Wicklow need to be run directly by Leinster. HomerJay (Wicklow) - Posts: 369 - 13/09/2016 09:40:09 1913418 Link
Replying To HomerJay: "Same county board here since 70s. No structure, no plans, no drive. Fixtures are shambolic with clubs dictating to a weak committee and having their way. 3-4 clubs call the shots and the rest drift along aimlessly. Adult leagues have 14 games yet takes 10 months to play them. No u21 competitions. Never taken advantage of natural population boom in last 15 years. About 8 clubs play competitions in other counties as the competitions in Wickow are not run correctly. Countless walkover at every level. I could go on and on and on with facts from weekly events to show how poor the standard and county board are. I genuinely believe that Wicklow need to be run directly by Leinster." Isn't the fact that there is no a lot of love between the clubs the biggest factor? Seem to prefer to fight amongst themselves hence nothing gets done? witnof (Dublin) - Posts: 1604 - 13/09/2016 09:58:17 1913426 Link
Sad, massive population lost to Gaa but sadly the story you tell is widespread around the country even in Whats termed successful counties. It's not dealt with or reported as its only clubs. Gaa is now all about inter county & that is the boards main area, clubs are just a side show. Don't expect things to change as Croke Park, Congress, Provincial Boards, County Boards are geared to Inter County, you can see this with the new deal the GPA got from Croke Park & the way TV rights will eventually end up with Sky. The President & Ard Stiurothoir's language is one of inclusivity but whose actions are one of an Association heading to professionalism. As a lifelong volunteer dozens of people who were stalwarts in their clubs are leaving in droves, totally disillusioned like you are. moc.dna (Galway) - Posts: 1212 - 13/09/2016 10:17:09 1913439 Link
Replying To witnof: "Isn't the fact that there is no a lot of love between the clubs the biggest factor? Seem to prefer to fight amongst themselves hence nothing gets done?" The club issue isn't what it used to be. It's down to the fact that the same musical chairs have taken place at board level for 40 years. No website, no PRO- the local paper is the only release of information. For population, interest, location & wealth- Wicklow is the biggest failure in the GAA in Ireland. HomerJay (Wicklow) - Posts: 369 - 13/09/2016 10:19:17 1913441 Link
There are a number of wicklow clubs now playing in the underage leagues in Kildare. Think they are mainly in the lower divisions. Not sure if this happening in any other county in ireland? 11jm11 (Kildare) - Posts: 365 - 13/09/2016 10:35:54 1913454 Link
Replying To 11jm11: "There are a number of wicklow clubs now playing in the underage leagues in Kildare. Think they are mainly in the lower divisions. Not sure if this happening in any other county in ireland?" Not just kildare. Wexford and Dublin also. Says a lot for Wicklow's state. HomerJay (Wicklow) - Posts: 369 - 13/09/2016 10:57:01 1913471 Link
Replying To 11jm11: "There are a number of wicklow clubs now playing in the underage leagues in Kildare. Think they are mainly in the lower divisions. Not sure if this happening in any other county in ireland?" Not just kildare. Wexford and Dublin too. HomerJay (Wicklow) - Posts: 369 - 13/09/2016 11:12:04 1913484 Link
Replying To HomerJay: "Same county board here since 70s. No structure, no plans, no drive. Fixtures are shambolic with clubs dictating to a weak committee and having their way. 3-4 clubs call the shots and the rest drift along aimlessly. Adult leagues have 14 games yet takes 10 months to play them. No u21 competitions. Never taken advantage of natural population boom in last 15 years. About 8 clubs play competitions in other counties as the competitions in Wickow are not run correctly. Countless walkover at every level. I could go on and on and on with facts from weekly events to show how poor the standard and county board are. I genuinely believe that Wicklow need to be run directly by Leinster." This is the single most honest and intelligent post I've seen about Wicklow Gaa. Last night a SHC 1/4 final was postponed by the county board as it clashed with an u16 league football final. No my opinion the players should nearly walk away form the hurling championship after that shambolic arrangement of fixtures. It was a disgrace, not to mention the game was to be played under lights with the winning team receiving a 6 day turnaround to play the semi final this weekend. Kerry are the benchmark for Wicklow hurling in terms of their development and how to prepress and Kerry played their senior hurling final last weekend. Even Derry played theirs and this is a county that Wicklow beat in the Chrosty ring and they still had to play an Ulster championship after that. Please realise ppl on the outside that this is totally Shambolic and a disgrace to the players clubs and their families. Wicklow is a county with 6 hurling teams Hurltheball (Wicklow) - Posts: 28 - 13/09/2016 11:35:14 1913504 Link
On a slightly separate note I would encourage posters to take a look at the state of ladies football in Monaghan. A side in the division 1 semi finals wins the junior championship. A side that hasn't won an intermediate championship game for 6 years was put into the senior championship. gotmilk (Fermanagh) - Posts: 4971 - 13/09/2016 12:31:31 1913532 Link
they don't really like referees in Wicklow either... Bon (Kildare) - Posts: 1898 - 13/09/2016 13:23:44 1913586 Link
Replying To Bon: "they don't really like referees in Wicklow either..." Bon, thanks for your pointless comment. Referees have nothing to do with our current predicament which is genuinely very serious. If you have a valid point or reply please post, otherwise jog on...... HomerJay (Wicklow) - Posts: 369 - 13/09/2016 13:52:30 1913615 Link
Replying To HomerJay: "Not just kildare. Wexford and Dublin also. Says a lot for Wicklow's state." Why do clubs play in other counties? Would someone not try and challenge the county board to get some fresh blood in? ros1 (Roscommon) - Posts: 1211 - 13/09/2016 14:18:26 1913650 Link
Replying To ROS1: "Why do clubs play in other counties? Would someone not try and challenge the county board to get some fresh blood in?" Clubs play in other counties to get proper structure and clarity over fixtures. It's day by day here and anything could happen. Re the fresh blood- it's a George Lee scenario. People go in, can't get through changes and become even more disillusioned with it. HomerJay (Wicklow) - Posts: 369 - 13/09/2016 14:56:17 1913675 Link
I feel for the opening poster. I do. However, we have massive problems in Cork as well with a county board that has also been around for far too long. Having underage teams in other counties seems drastic and maybe it is the jolt that the county board needs? I don't know... In Cork we have had publicly drawn out player strikes. I don't want to go over old ground here. They were ugly but some progress was made. Junior clubs for example were allowed to participate at county board meetings (staggeringly they were not allowed to do so previously), underage was revamped (it is better now but has a long way to go to be equal to soccer/rugby in Cork)... In Mayo, the club players are considering a strike (well one guy mentioned in an interview that they were).. is there enough discontent in Wicklow for it to be harnessed into something positive? bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 13/09/2016 15:03:43 1913681 Link
Replying To HomerJay: "Dear GAA HQ, Croke Park & Leinster Council. Please be our troika and come and run Wicklow GAA before it's too late." Unfortunately I think it's already too late in Wicklow - it's sad to think that we won't be competitive, in a very weak Leinster football championship for the next 20 years as the underage structures are not in place. The fact that there is no under-21 football or hurling championship in Wicklow is absolutely disgraceful. Radical change is needed at county board level - there's too many people scrounging off the county and too worried about their own personal/club gain, to care about the overall picture. The current county board should run out of Wicklow altogether and a couple of external people with running a county board should be appointed. Imagine a county in 2016 that cannot run a regularly updated website? Only for Wicklow People Sport facebook/twitter page no one would know what's going on in the county. I welcome the new stand in Aughrim but surely there were more pressing issues that could have done with that cash. As for the fixtures - it's actually impossible for the situation to get worse. Beggars belief how a senior quarter final can be fixed on a pitch at the same time as underage game. Until proper underage structures are in place, nothing will change and the best young talent in the county will keep going to rugby/soccer. throwballref (Wicklow) - Posts: 4 - 13/09/2016 16:11:05 1913728 Link
Replying To Bon: "they don't really like referees in Wicklow either..." Aren't you hilarious? Did you ever consider a career in comedy? We have played five championship games this year. Not one of them was played on the date scheduled in the masters fixtures list, a list that was published more than a month after the season started. The league, which started in February, will probably finish in November. There have been umpteen walkovers given and the fixture list is worthless. Teams which withdrew from championships have been reinstated for relegation playoffs. Our minors have played three times this year. A player who was suspended for two years had his suspension reduced to two games. The list is endless. GAA HQ are to pump money into the population bases along the east coast. Hopefully they will monitor the situation in Wicklow carefully and act accordingly. themaddog (Wicklow) - Posts: 130 - 13/09/2016 21:44:55 1913952 Link
Replying To themaddog: "Aren't you hilarious? Did you ever consider a career in comedy? We have played five championship games this year. Not one of them was played on the date scheduled in the masters fixtures list, a list that was published more than a month after the season started. The league, which started in February, will probably finish in November. There have been umpteen walkovers given and the fixture list is worthless. Teams which withdrew from championships have been reinstated for relegation playoffs. Our minors have played three times this year. A player who was suspended for two years had his suspension reduced to two games. The list is endless. GAA HQ are to pump money into the population bases along the east coast. Hopefully they will monitor the situation in Wicklow carefully and act accordingly." Well said maddog. Same here with our club. It's chronic when compared to other counties. I travel with my job so get a good chance to compare set ups etc and while we all have our problems- what's going on here is staggering. I haven't even mentioned discipline or suspensions. HomerJay (Wicklow) - Posts: 369 - 13/09/2016 22:17:29 1913978 Link