National Forum

Parish Rule - Dublin

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Replying To jimbodub:  "It's getting harder for Dublin people who grew up in a certain area, to actually then be lucky enough to buy a home in the area they grew up in.

You go where you can afford

I think that plays a part in all this too, you may have to move from an area but that doesn't mean you're still not from there, you still have that connection and if you are still within a reasonable distance, you'll definitely go to effort of getting your kids playing for the same club that you did."
People are moving from Stillorgan to Blanch according to MesAmis :) Desperate times altogether

Breffni40 (Cavan) - Posts: 12240 - 28/01/2025 16:52:26    2588225

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Replying To MesAmis:  "I don't know if forcing people into playing for a certain club would work in a Dublin GAA context, though I see your point.

Potentially you could lose a lot of people to the GAA if they were forced to not go to their club of choice, particularly one that is still relatively local to them, and that they have family connections with.

From a more rural point of view, would the relaxation of the 'parish' rule help more rural clubs. In that if a someone ends up moving into their local county town, for example, from a rural area not that far away. Should they have the choice of bringing their kids to either the local Town GAA club or back to their 'home' club? Or is this being done already?

I'm sure it's not a panacea for the decline in numbers in rural clubs, but it could maybe help with the fielding of teams, particularly at underage level."
You can have your child play for your home club if you don't presently live there, but did when the child was born. Some counties have bye laws that allow kids to play with clubs outside their catchment if there was a parent connection, provided that they didn't register for their catchment club before hand.

I think in a rural county a relaxation of the parish rule would only end up in the demise of "weaker" clubs and creation of super ones which ultimately would lead to a drop in participation. We all know of young lads down the years who were forced out to make up a team and granted they may have stopped after minor, but those lads helped ensure the rest had a team to help keep an adult one in the area.

In Sligo's instance you have some parishes with more than two teams, some whose borders go beyond the county boundary and have those players play with them, others who go beyond county boundaries and don't have them playing and then some long standing amalgamated clubs that encroach on smaller clubs beside them because they have a better chance of success and parents and players are attracted by that.

Basically bye laws are applied completely arbitrarily which shouldn't be the case. It often comes down to who is pushing it to go through at county level or if the club isn't bothered about standing their ground. But you never know at 5/6 years of age if the next best footballer/hurler is after being let go out of your club because you couldn't be bothered to fight your corner.

Sligoman1234 (Sligo) - Posts: 444 - 28/01/2025 18:17:01    2588238

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