i'm 18 and i think there is a lot of different factors. one lad quit at the end of the year because of work. he just couldn't committed. he was always tired at training then started arguing with the management then. it also has to do with boys playing senior when only minor. if you get player with the senior or juniors then your playing 2 games at the weekends and also in school study and football with the school. so a lot is going on. then lads just get feed up. but some do come back and play for the juniors and u-21's. women don't have much to do with it unless she a demanding c*w..and drink is a factor.

iMac (Cavan) - Posts: 5 - 17/11/2010 21:58:08    818717

Dont mind the women!!

sashman (Kildare) - Posts: 465 - 19/11/2010 12:01:15    819345

Drink is obviously the most important factor. The fact that minor football ends as an 18 year old and the drinking culture kicks off at the same age is important too IMO. Maybe if there were underage competitions ran properly up to u-20 level, you would keep a lot more players??

InTheLoop (Meath) - Posts: 147 - 19/11/2010 13:46:43    819409

Laziness.

MourneArmy (Down) - Posts: 1787 - 19/11/2010 15:41:09    819496

When one boy quits that the others hang out with they tend to follow suit as they see them with more free time on their hand. Some boys just don't like the fact they may have been the main player at underage and have to start at the bottom again. They can also feel intimadated by some of the older lads of the team especially if they tend to give out and criticise rather than encourage and help.

Having a u21 team helps take alot of boys back to football. We had 8 boys returning to football this year to play u21's and continued on training and playing with the junior B's and Seniors after the under 21s had finished.

Blue and Black (Monaghan) - Posts: 187 - 19/11/2010 20:35:50    819678

The step up from minor to seinor is huge more should be done to promote the under 21 grade

moomoo (Kerry) - Posts: 4023 - 19/11/2010 20:41:36    819680

There is the obvious reason like drink,drugs,college life etc...,which are all genuine reasons.

I think another reason would be that players,even the ones with great potential dont fit into a senior set up straight away and suffer a massive confidence drop and then there is not enough encouragement for this player to develop because there is way too much focus on the more experienced/county players on the team and before you know it,that player is gone.!!
Another reason,and there is loads of cases of this,is underage players not developing physically.For example you might see an u 14 or 16 catching the ball from the kickout running the pitch and scoring maybe 5 goals and 10 points in one game,then when the others catch up to him at the 18 19 20 mark he may go by the waste side..!!
Another reason would be laziness and lack of interest,players just not having the genuine interest and/or are too lazy to put in the effort on and off field to meet the demands of even junior A football,never mind senior.

A lot of the reason also is down to what kind of encouragement the lad is getting at home,parent who have no gaa background might be telling their son or daughter that their being silly and too concentrate on work or college etc...

Hope i was of help.!

Take_em_off (Mayo) - Posts: 212 - 19/11/2010 21:39:55    819700

managers selectorsand chairmen are the realreason because at that age there is a lot of pressure put on young people to turn up no matter whatelse they might be doing,its only a select few that get the arm rOund the shoulder, THATS WHY A LOT OF THEM SAY ITS EASIER TO WALK AWAY THAN BOTHERING WITH THE AGGRO

superduper (Meath) - Posts: 64 - 20/11/2010 19:34:19    819900

Folks the response has been great so far. We would like even more responses though to aid our research.

For those who haven't filled out the survey please do so on the following link.

[url=]surveymonkey.com/s/J3HHTLF

Thanks for taking the time to fill it in. Many Thanks.

gaaresearch (Antrim) - Posts: 39 - 23/11/2010 14:36:00    821439

Folks for those who haven't responded there is still time

Please do so on the following link.

[url=]surveymonkey.com/s/J3HHTLF

Thanks for taking the time to fill it in.

gaaresearch (Antrim) - Posts: 39 - 25/11/2010 13:27:58    822597

superduper.meath.
thats the truth there allright , good post .

ta32 (Tyrone) - Posts: 4907 - 25/11/2010 21:02:56    822976

the main reason in my county is due to a lack of a competitive u21 grade. there is no league and the championship is straight knock out which means most clubs only get one or two games at this grade. also it is played at a ridiculous time of the year for 21 year olds around march and april when most players are studying for college exams. the gap between minor and senior is big and there needs to be a meaningful link between the two ie a good u21 grade. it is the fault of our county board so i would be interersted to hear how it works in other counties.

laser (Galway) - Posts: 230 - 26/11/2010 11:43:46    823153

Mindless training, expected to travel 360kms a week during summer, senior club members not in touch with players situations and when I got away from home I realised how boring and uninspiring club football can be. I now lead a richer life. If I continued to play GAA I wouldnt have seen half the world, learned to play an instrument, got into hiking and surfing, met my GF, gained post grad qualifications and got a promotion. I'm quite certain I would also be on the dole or have immigrated. There seems to be low expectations among GAA people career wise and it's a pretty conservative life if you buy into it fully.

Being a committed GAA player is a big trade-off but probably worth it in alot of cases. If you are going to hang around home its better than being a bar fly or a member of the local Gun club. It really depends on what each individual wants out of life I suppose. I'll shut up now.

Con Cavan (Cavan) - Posts: 894 - 26/11/2010 15:09:26    823321

Con Cavan- Damning indictment of committed GAA players life prospects- its a good job you got out. Not too sure about low expectations among GAA people for their career- strange correlation and maybe bit of a generalisation! There are plenty of successful GAA players out there too- in fact I know some who surf.

theweecounty27 (Louth) - Posts: 24 - 26/11/2010 16:37:00    823416

I think everybody has overlooked one major factor here and that is at 18 years of age most rural kids/adults move into there own flat or house in a larger town or city.
This new found independence gives the young adult many diffferent choices on a tuesday or thursday evening than when they were sitting around their parents house.

Do I rush out of college or work jump on a bus for three hours run around and get a b*****king in the jan feb cold with a lot of older guys I dont really know get up at 5 the next morning and back to college work.

Or do I hangout with my new friends and peers and discover something new?

bugsie (Leitrim) - Posts: 199 - 30/11/2010 17:12:28    825356

I reckon another factor is that people play gaelic and hurling secondary school because they want to get off class, have the craic with their mates and all the rest. They might then be more pushed to play for the club too, because they're already training and up to the pace. When they leave school, maybe they find it harder to get the motivation to play for the club?

dunbainneman (Meath) - Posts: 36 - 30/11/2010 17:55:54    825393

the purpose of Con's post was to boast about his prowess with a surfboard and around women


jibber jabber

potnorwindow (Cavan) - Posts: 363 - 01/12/2010 15:24:40    825855

nobody has mentioned yet that you can do both,in Meath there is a great reserve league you play about 7 or 9 games depending on div youre in div 6 an 7 have
just 8 teams where as the other 5 have 10 teams,these games areusually fixed midweek in high summer or sat afternoon in spring.Most clubs are fairly laidback with these games so not much pressure on lads,"go out and express youreself" seems to be the motto in our club with the b team. then you have the junior C and Junior D competions usually 5 teams in a group so you have 4 games again most teams would have just the bare 15,so more about the enjoyment of playin in Meath these games are plyed between May and August with the final in late sept. 80% of games are played on friday or sat eveinings,and its not hard to get them changed if needs be. Bottom line is lads that like playin a bit of football can turn up and get a game no pressure and a rake pints after with lads,with a bit luck/training ya mite even win the thing out.mostly though the big population centres have a big advantage over small parishes.for one match this year we started with 12 players 2 more lads came 20 mins later and we won 4-11 to3-11,another game i picked up our corner forward from the pub on a savge hot sat eveining,he scored 2 points then promptly back to same pub! were wud ya see it?

dickie10 (UK) - Posts: 767 - 02/12/2010 21:54:01    826922

I quit drinking at 18, gets boring when your legal. One of my mates stopped driving as soon as he got his drivers licence, he said the fun went out of it!

thesilverfox (Tipperary) - Posts: 94 - 03/12/2010 10:27:01    826961

im just 15 and i suppose the drink and woman have knocked me off playing the gaa. i have to try and hold down a job aswell.

ScoobyDoo (Tipperary) - Posts: 96 - 03/12/2010 12:22:16    827033