Mother claims GAA ‘bullying’ her child

[mother 123]

If there is only one child in question here can Crinkle not just let him transfer into Birr if he has never been part of their club and has always played with Birr it should not really make any difference to them

[Lone Shark]

If there is only one child in question here can Crinkle not just let him transfer into Birr if he has never been part of their club and has always played with Birr it should not really make any difference to them

Of course it would make a huge difference. If they make an exception for this child, why not the next one, and the next one, and the next one after that? What would you tell the next child who wants to play with Birr, but who lives in Crinkill - that it's okay for Conor, but not him or her? As we discussed above, either the mother or Birr GAA club has been dishonest here and the idea that this should be rewarded is daft. You might as well argue that if I rob something from you and you don't miss it for a while, should I then not be allowed to keep it by law? Because that's what's happened here - Birr have stolen a player from Crinkill and now the argument is because Crinkill didn't notice for a few years, the status quo should remain.

The fact that the Board (with the exception of Townman - the Birr poster) is universally agreed that Crinkill is in the right here should tell you something.

[joe bloggs]

If there is only one child in question here can Crinkle not just let him transfer into Birr if he has never been part of their club and has always played with Birr it should not really make any difference to them

Are you that naieve that you think it would stop at one player?

[mother 123]

We are talking about a young lad that wants to stay playing a sport here.I dont like the fact that any club feels they own this child with adjoining club rivalry here and the obvious bad feeling existing there and remarks like give up the sport or play with crinkle suggests the lad is being backed into a corner. Why should lots of players decide they want to leave this club if Conor rrmains with Birr is there another issue here

[Lone Shark]

We are talking about a young lad that wants to stay playing a sport here.I dont like the fact that any club feels they own this child with adjoining club rivalry here and the obvious bad feeling existing there and remarks like give up the sport or play with crinkle suggests the lad is being backed into a corner. Why should lots of players decide they want to leave this club if Conor rrmains with Birr is there another issue here

The issue is the integrity of the GAA, something that either Birr GAA or Conor's mother (or both) are willing to drive a tank through for their own benefit.

Conor is not being "backed into a corner" any more than the generations of other children who played the sport down the years and who played for the club where they lived. It's how the GAA works, this isn't soccer or rugby where you choose who you play for. As someone who is I presume a paid up member of Birr GAA club, you're perfectly entitled to disagree with that principle, but until you get you club, your county and in turn central council to support that view, you have to abide by those rules as long as you want to play the sport. Birr is actually unusual in that they have a special dispensation to pick players who live in a different catchment area, if their fathers hurled for the club previously - but that is a special privilege and not one they seem to be respecting, if the evidence here is anything to go by.

No club "owns" Conor, but GAA does not allow you to pick and choose who you play with. I really can't understand how you don't get this, because I'd be amazed if you're on this board despite having no involvement in the GAA yourself.

As for any level of bad feeling, all I can say there is that if Conor started hurling at eight or nine, as this article seems to suggest, I'd be pretty confident that eight or nine year olds don't care about things like DRA disputes and boundary issues and that Conor was no different. Had he been brought down to Crinkill club he'd have met up with plenty of lads he went to school with, he'd have made new friends, he'd have hurled away and now would just be looking at preparing for an under-16 championship and presumably his Junior Cert as well. If he went to Crinkill club and was mistreated we'd be having a whole other debate, one where I would have a very different view, but he didn't. His mother chose to project her own bad feeling onto her son and so, it appears, allowed him to be used as a pawn in a greater dispute. Any stress or unhappiness he's feeling now is squarely on her shoulders for that reason, and to a lesser extent, possibly also on the shoulders of Birr club. Again I say possibly because we cannot rule out that the mother lied about their address to the club, and even though I consider that highly unlikely, that would change everything. If that didn't happen, then Birr wilfully chose to ignore an agreement and I'd have no sympathy for them, regardless of what punishment is coming down the tracks.

[townman]

If there is only one child in question here can Crinkle not just let him transfer into Birr if he has never been part of their club and has always played with Birr it should not really make any difference to them

Of course it would make a huge difference. If they make an exception for this child, why not the next one, and the next one, and the next one after that? What would you tell the next child who wants to play with Birr, but who lives in Crinkill - that it's okay for Conor, but not him or her? As we discussed above, either the mother or Birr GAA club has been dishonest here and the idea that this should be rewarded is daft. You might as well argue that if I rob something from you and you don't miss it for a while, should I then not be allowed to keep it by law? Because that's what's happened here - Birr have stolen a player from Crinkill and now the argument is because Crinkill didn't notice for a few years, the status quo should remain.

The fact that the Board (with the exception of Townman - the Birr poster) is universally agreed that Crinkill is in the right here should tell you something.

sure look lone Shark if he stays with Crinkle its no skin off my nose, anyway who's to say this lad in two years time could be the far side of the world or playing tennis instead. i think you have a chip on your shoulder over Birr or most things Birr as your post about the hurling been back at ST.Brendans park, says as much.

i think if this lad went to Seir Kierans, or Carrig there wouldn't be as much shit about it, your a great man to quote the Board who have been a f..king shambles for years. and as i'd say you are in touch with what is going on at the moment with money troubles, it wasn't to long ago this same old shit was going on under Tommy Brynes watch over as chairman and i seem to remember Padraig Horan telling him at a county board meeting to keep his nose out of things he knew nothing about.
funny how Ferbaneman Farrell and his sidekick Bryne are still calling the shots in the countyboard

[Lone Shark]

If I actually had chips on my shoulder against all the clubs out there that think I have something against them, I'd have no shoulders. I've great friends in Birr club and I'd wish them nothing but the best as a general rule - and not too many clubs could be as dominant as they were for so long and still have so little grudges borne against them. I just disagree on the SBP issue, that's all.

As for the second half of your post, I tried for the life of me to make sense of it and failed. I haven't a clue who "Ferbaneman Farrell" is supposed to be, or what you're trying to say in the rest of it. I guess I'll just have to live in suspense.

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Stick to the point Townman. You must have been frothing writing the 2nd point on your last reply, I have no idea what you area on about.

Bottom line is that the young lad has to hurl with Crinkill at adult level.
Same as Croghan lads play with Croghan, or St Lomans, Clonmore men play with Rhode. (These 2 points are tongue in cheek of course but here lies the problem.)
There are more and more players and parents trying to see how their kids can get to play with the better clubs, and clubs are afraid to challenge as they fear they will be blackened in the manor that this woman has attempted to blacken the Crinkill club.

On the other hand though, to a degree you can see some parents frustration with this system. For example, a young lad pushing hard to make a minor or Offaly u21 football or hurling panel and playing with a junior team. No weights program in place, arrives back in Feb for training, half the panel show up, half them carrying a stone or two. Training not starting on time, players not training consistently, cant play challenge matches cause lot of players working part time and struggle to get off for the league matches. Over a period of time he gets dragged down to that level.

IMO these lads should be identified and some way of offering them an opportunity to play a bit of senior with a neighbouring club should be given to a lad and give as many lads as possible the chance to push for county panels and improve the standard.

But he should still play league and championship with his Junior club. Ijust think that the idea of so many clubs in parishes in Offaly is ridiculous and an impedement to progress, (Killeigh parish 4 clubs, Daingean 4 clubs , Rhode 3 clubs, Broghans 3 clubs), the costs of fundraising for running all these clubs. 11 clubs when you combine 3 of these parishes and only 3 senior county players out of this many clubs. Clubs do need to wake up now and look at possible amalgamations in order to become more professional and offer a better set up for potential to flourish, there is too much opportunity for stagnation in my opinion.

[Lone Shark]

I agree with Ahlethimoutwithit in the sense that some clubs don't give potential county players suitable scope for progression - however I don't think it's as simple as giving everyone access to a senior team. For a start, there are senior clubs out there that have dinosaurs in charge who still run laps, give everyone the same weight training and do the same drills that club sides did in 1988, and there are intermediate and Junior clubs who are quite progressive and who do provide an environment in which young players can thrive. Equally, this can change from year to year, as management teams change.

I think that here, the onus has to be on the Offaly county board to provide support to more players in terms of training, guidance and expertise. I know you can't feed, train and clothe 100 lads in every panel, but you can have open sessions every so often where drills, exercise, nutritional information and weights information is shared and where junior players with ambitions to be so much more can then thrive.

Also, it's not automatically clear that a player is better off at a senior club. A lad playing intermediate hurling with Crinkill is more likely to be watched than a hurler playing intermediate with Rynaghs or Coolderry, since he's on his club's first team, even though they're playing at notionally the same standard.

[Daleamar]

Clubs do need to wake up now and look at possible amalgamations in order to become more professional and offer a better set up for potential to flourish, there is too much opportunity for stagnation in my opinion.

Get Real. I think you would find lad that if the county board offered such opportunities, under 'The Parish Rule', to the clubs above then I reckon they would field senior teams

[mother 123]

Bring back parish rule then there would never have been need for this article in the Irish examiner.Both clubs would benefit in the longterm

[Lone Shark]

Bring back parish rule then there would never have been need for this article in the Irish examiner.Both clubs would benefit in the longterm

How would Crinkill benefit exactly?

[Plain of the Herbs]

Just had a look at Magic Memories which reveals Patricia Smith was on the committee of the Birr Minor club in 2012.

So Conor's grandfather is a life President of Birr therefore it would be hardly beyond the realms of possibility that the family is well versed in the laws of the boundary issue with Crinkle.

Conor then plays completely illegally with Birr and is reported for it. Mammy is raging that Conor can't do what he and the family likes (even though he is completely ineligible to hurl with Birr) and goes crying to the media.

In a nutshell -"My son is being bullied because he(we) can't get our way"

I'd say she's some craic at Parent-Teacher meeting.

[Bord na Mona man]

Simplest solution is for the family to move out of Crinkle and live in Birr.

[townman]

Simplest solution is for the family to move out of Crinkle and live in Birr.

or just moved the lad to address in birr simple as .