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The big problem is there's largely no real joined up thinking or planning between the schools and clubs/county. As far as I know the schools do pretty much their own thing.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 13556 - 09/10/2024 18:50:36 2573954 Link 0 |
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I'm assuming your lad is in secondary school. How many hours a week does he have training? How many further hours added up over the week does he get the chance to puck a ball around with his mates, breaks, etc? How many games per week is he playing? Will he be hurling/playing football every week? Do the schools continue training/matches in the lent and summer terms? I'm not being smart asking these questions, I genuinely don't know. What I do know is that there are around 8 lads at GC get the same bus every morning from the stop my daughter gets on. I know some of these since they were in play school, some are good hurlers and footballers, and have been on Wexford underage development squads or been to trials. all play GAA, for one of 2 clubs. Most of them only bring a hurl 1 or 2 days a week. 1 or 2 might bring one 3 or 4 days a week. There doesn't seem to be the same hurling culture down here as there is in ASR, St. Kierans, CBS Kilkenny, St Flannans, etc. Fact is the top intercounty hurling players in the country mostly still puck a ball at least 5 days of the week. That's one of the reasons they are still top players. We need more lads to follow this example if we are to compete with counties where more young lads do. If we think that 4 or 5 months of the year playing half hurling and half football with the club at underage is grand, in some cases only training once a week for an hour, and then we rely on the secondary schools to take over the rest of the year, then we seriously need to look at our intercounty expectations and aspirations. We haven't won an AI Hurling title in any grade in 28 years. It was 28 years before that when we won 2 in the same year. If we don't continue trying to make changes at club level to improve standards, and just decide we cant be bothered doing more while hoping someone else, be it the schools or CB, do more for us, we might never win another AI. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 13556 - 09/10/2024 19:14:09 2573956 Link 0 |
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Could make the argument that we would be better off trying to implement a proper 'B' competition in the secondary schools (Although there could well be one, my knowledge on this might be lacking)
ElGranSenor (Wexford) - Posts: 346 - 09/10/2024 21:24:58 2573967 Link 0 |
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My club will also have had 20 'County Board' matches at U16 this year by the time all the Cup/Shield Finals are played. But here's the thing - Eight of them (four hurling, four football) were in the Developmental League thing that ran between February and May. We're still waiting for a semi-final fixture in one of them, that I honestly don't think will ever come. The other 12 will have been in the championship - seven in one code, five in the other. To me, that's the bare minimum we should be offering in the actual championship. And I genuinely don't see how things could be wrapped up any earlier when you consider it can't start until after the Junior Cert exams, how you can really only play matches up to and including semi-finals at weekends from middle of September onwards, and how you can't play U16 & U18 on the same weekend. Your Kilkenny comparison is a bad one. If we ran underage football the way they do, then we could also get a nine, ten, or even eleven game programme of underage hurling over by the end of September. On the other hand, if they ran underage football the way we do, there's no way they could get both codes finished in the same timeframe. Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2535 - 10/10/2024 00:20:58 2573988 Link 0 |
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That's why Kilkenny sides arrange so many challenge games.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 13556 - 10/10/2024 05:09:19 2573990 Link 0 |
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Leinster PP goes all the way down to at least "D", if not lower.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 13556 - 10/10/2024 05:10:42 2573991 Link 0 |
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I'm assuming he means that schools themselves have a B team, not necessarily the grade they are ranked in. The point being that only 30 maybe 30 players in a year of over 100 boys may only be on teams. Having a B team would expand that out. Thing with that though, is it needs more resources (volunteers) in the school which may not be there. It makes sense and increase playing population, but it may be easier said than done. Peters and GCC B teams would be more than capable in at least the C grade of Leinster.
james2011 (Wexford) - Posts: 609 - 10/10/2024 09:19:13 2573999 Link 0 |
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Kilkenny do run underage football. At u14 they have 33 clubs arranged in 3 Roinns. 1 has 2 groups of 6, 2 has 3 groups of 4 and 1 of 3, 3 has 2 groups of 4. Then there's knockouts after that. Plenty of football played by most clubs up there at that agegroup. At u16 they have 4 divisions of u16 football. Plenty of football at underage up there. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 13556 - 10/10/2024 09:26:43 2574001 Link 1 |
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Not a good weekend from an admin/refereeing point of view, i agree. There seems to be a problem with the generator in wexford park. Human error in the case of the wrong score, and a severe lack of awareness on behalf of stewards in Wexford park at what was obviouly going to be a flashpoint. In relation to the assault you mention. this was an alleged incident There has been a number of messages circulated which could now be concidered libellous. so before anyone decides to continue with proliferating such allegations they should think hard.
bystanderbill (Wexford) - Posts: 40 - 10/10/2024 10:08:45 2574009 Link 0 |
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I'm concentrating on U16 and U18 here. Have already acknowledged how U14 tends to be better served, because it doesn't have to work around the county U17 teams in the earlier part of the year. At those age levels, Kilkenny underage football is run much like their adult championships - i.e. small groups, finished early in the year, and run without any of the players who are in the county hurling squad. Probably the only exception is the Carlow competition that some Kilkenny clubs enter, but remember, Kilkenny aren't running that one. As I said, if Kilkenny ran underage football at U16 and U18 like we do (i.e. roughly equal number of games as hurling, and both codes running alongside each other during the summer and into this time of year), then they wouldn't have their hurling wrapped up by the end of September either. Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2535 - 10/10/2024 10:39:30 2574021 Link 0 |
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Going back to the schools thing, and specifically the First Year Blitz played in the COE yesterday - Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2535 - 10/10/2024 10:48:55 2574023 Link 0 |
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Well they are hardly going to carry a panel of 80? Top players picked, up to other players to improve and show they are good enough to make it.
countyman2022 (Wexford) - Posts: 708 - 10/10/2024 13:19:54 2574041 Link 0 |
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Another farcical weekend. Generator to not work once fine, but twice? And on a Monday after students and men travelling from all parts of the country for the match. Also, I should think hard that the individual involved had to give a statement for his actions? A fact also. Don't believe have to do any thinking about that. Nor should counting yellow cards or writing the correct score in a book or listening to your linesman require thinking.
countyman2022 (Wexford) - Posts: 708 - 10/10/2024 13:23:58 2574045 Link 0 |
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Your comment helps to prove my point. Having only schools hurling now serves only the players who are already among the stronger ones. The lack of club activity means the players not on the school panel will have no organised training at all for months ahead. The strong get stronger, while the others fall further away. Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2535 - 10/10/2024 14:26:21 2574051 Link 0 |
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Have heard there was a new generator installed this week. Don't know for sure how true that is. As regards Monday night - think many don't realise the game wouldn't have gone ahead even if the lights were working perfectly. Referee deemed the pitch unplayable after all the heavy rain that started falling sometime around 6 p.m. The lights only started to flicker after that. Anyway, maybe one good thing now that everyone knows the floodlights are run off a generator. Once or twice when the lights were first turned on last year, there was a power cut in the local area, by sheer coincidence. Residents blamed the floodlights for drawing too much power from the grid. At least now they know the floodlights aren't connected to the grid at all! Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2535 - 10/10/2024 14:31:48 2574052 Link 0 |
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Is it not up to the clubs then to provide activity means for players not on the school panel that will have no organised training at all for months ahead. And maybe then they will improve to be on school squads.
countyman2022 (Wexford) - Posts: 708 - 10/10/2024 15:16:36 2574058 Link 0 |
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Ah get you now. Is there any sort of schools second or third team competitions in 1st, 2nd, 3rd year etc?
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 13556 - 10/10/2024 15:22:13 2574060 Link 0 |
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I'm not disagreeing with you Pikeman. I think the games programme offered to the clubs by CB and Games Development is excellent, and alot of people put a huge amount of work in behind the scenes, from the Games Development staff to the CCC and fixtures committee, to ensure these largely run very smoothly. An enormous undertaking.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 13556 - 10/10/2024 15:27:57 2574063 Link 0 |
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We need our referees to referee Games more like rugby refs do, if they are serious about the "Give Respect, Get Respect" campaign to end abuse, and encourage new people to take up refereeing. By that I mean Team captains should be able to raise issues with refs during games, and managers should be given the opportunity after games. That way players and mentors know there are appropriate channels, and hopefully won't feel the need to be abusive, as they would know the captain or manager can put any points across that need to be put across. It's been said numerous times that referees are only human, and can make mistakes the same as players can. An apology would go a long way if a mistake is made, it's something all of us were taught as children, and teach our own children. It's not advanced sports science or anything. It's also something that never happens with some referees. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 13556 - 10/10/2024 15:37:11 2574064 Link 0 |
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And late developers are lost forever.
Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 13556 - 10/10/2024 15:37:43 2574065 Link 0 |