CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP FIXTURES 2013

[timber]

Right lads, ye can tell me straight up if I am completely wrong but I am after looking at the upcoming championship fixtures on the Offaly website and am digusted.

We are a county with alot of clubs trying desperately to hold onto their players and field teams. In recent years we have seem a number of walkovers awarded and teams pulling out of championships. Can the county board help in anyway??? Yes.....by bloody fixing games for appropriate times and giving the players a chance, especially those working outside the county.

But no, that's not the way the clowns on our county board operate. Look at the fixtures;

Bank holiday Monday 6th May 6pm a full round of junior football fixtures. They wait till the very end of a bank holiday to have the bloody games played. Two big issues for me. 1. You have Fri, Saturday and Sunday to pencil in the games and consider the players have lives outside GAA. 2. Players living outside the county will want to be back where ever they are living at a reasonable hour on the Monday. Complete bull shite as usual with our fixtures committee.

Monday and Tuesday 13th and 14th May- A number of intermediate and junior hurling fixtures. Consider players working outside the county? Consider lets say a club in the far south travelling to the North of the county or vice versa. No, the answer is no. They just dont care about the players, management and supporters of these teams. Complete bull shite.

Is the attitude that it is only intermediate or junior A. Well if that is the case then its a bloody disgrace. No wonder players in the county are packing it in. Not bothering their arse with it anymore. I could'nt fault lads taking up another sport or as much as it pains me to say it "transferring".

[High School Musical]

Bang on Timber, bang on.
I couldn't agree with you more.
You sure do know how to steam a good ham.
The county board fixtures committee has been an absolute joke now for a good number of years. I really hope some of them read this forum.

[kingscounty]

would have to agree with timer here, games on bank holiday mondays really drive me mad. It means a lad cant relax and enjoy the weekend off, if the game was on the saturday or sunday at least he could head out for a few scoops after the game and still have monday to chill and eat tayto.

[brownie]

as you educated guys are aware,a clubs first team must play championship before its 2nd,and its 2nd team before its 3rd and so on.throwing in a shortage of (good) referees ,its impossible to get all games played on fri and sat.its a pain in the a..se for the lower tier teams but no other way it about unless they play senior games on wed and thurs.i think the fixtures are doing a good enough job so far this year.all the leagues seem to be running up to date.its the clubs that mess things up looking for games off because of an ingrowin toe nail or the full forward giving the centre back a hand to milk the cows.not a job that too many will take up.

[timber]

as you educated guys are aware,a clubs first team must play championship before its 2nd,and its 2nd team before its 3rd and so on.throwing in a shortage of (good) referees ,its impossible to get all games played on fri and sat.its a pain in the a..se for the lower tier teams but no other way it about unless they play senior games on wed and thurs.i think the fixtures are doing a good enough job so far this year.all the leagues seem to be running up to date.its the clubs that mess things up looking for games off because of an ingrowin toe nail or the full forward giving the centre back a hand to milk the cows.not a job that too many will take up.

I don't buy into that excuse brownie. There is only 3 games on those saturdays and 5 on sunday. They couldnt fit in some games on those days, give me a break. If a team has a second team then they should be scheduled as double header and play after their 1st team. Oh yes, that would be less revenue for the county board wouldnt it.

There is no way a championship game should be left till 6pm on a bank holiday Monday. Its ridiculous. People have alot more going on in their lives than being tied to a bloody match on a bank holiday Monday evening. Should we just forget about anybody working away from home and let them transfer to a club in the county they are based.

And in my opinion no championship games should be played outside Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Its not fair on players, mentors or supporters.

[Lone Shark]

First of all, I agree with the idea that there should never be championship games midweek - and I would even go so far as to extend that to Friday evenings, at least unless you could hold them under lights at 8.30pm or something. Otherwise you put lads in the situation where they can't even manage their diet for the day to fit around work, or where they've to take time off etc.

However this is a special situation, the first week of the year when you do have to allow for the consideration of playing teams in order, and it would be foolish not to take advantage of the bank holiday. I disagree fundamentally with the idea that playing games on a bank holiday is the same as playing them on a weekday normally. Yes it's nice for the players to have a few jars after the game and yes they probably could have been played earlier in the day, but in the overall heirarchy of priorities, making sure lads have some drinking time over the bank holiday is justifiably low down the list. If lads are so far from home that playing at 6pm on a Bank Holiday monday is an inconvenience to them, how in the name of God would playing more games at 7pm on a workday (Friday) be any better?

Secondly, you can't put two teams from the same club on as a double header, because you're saying to the manager of the team out second that he won't know what players he will have available until a few minutes before throw in! For example, let's presume we swapped around the two SFC fixtures, Ballycumber vs Erin Rovers and St Brigids vs St Rynaghs. That way Rhode and Ballycumber would both have played their senior games by Sunday morning and the Rhode vs Ballycumber JFC tie could be put after the Rhode vs Shannonbridge Inter game in Clara.

What will happen in practice is that dependent on injury, or how the game is going, the Rhode Inter manager will have to remake his team to suit who he has available after the seniors play Tullamore. If he gets a few injuries, or things don't go according to plan against Shannonbridge, he may have to use 18-20 guys, which could in turn knock out two or three key junior players. The Rhode junior manager now has as little as ten minutes to plan around this - that's hardly fair.

Secondly, the SFC fixtures are the big games, the flagship occasions. I don't like the idea of playing them midweek because it does a dis-service to what should be considered important matches in the county. Neutrals will travel to these games in decent numbers and that's as it should be. Neither do I like the idea that they should all be got out of the way on the Saturday of a Bank Holiday weekend. If anything, there is a case to be made for saying that when you have a fixture where neither club has an inter or Junior A team - such as Rynaghs vs Brigids, or Walsh Island vs Tubber, there is possibly a case for putting one of those games on the Bank Holiday Monday, to get a good crowd for it. There are pros and cons to this of course, but I think it's fairer to players to put it then than at 7pm on a Friday evening. I know I'd certainly have more sympathy for the player that in that scenario, has to get out of work in Dublin/Galway/Cork/Belfast for a half day, in order to have time to eat, travel and meet up with his team at no later than 6.15pm at the relevant venue.


I think like every poster here, there are things I would do differently if I was fixtures secretary. However in deference to Mary Dunne who is doing one of the most difficult jobs in the county, things are going well, and that's in a county where you've to allow for so much in terms of dual commitments, underage commitments, a shortage of referees (that old chestnut hasn't gone away either), clubs with just one adult team, clubs with three or even four adult teams, leagues, minor leagues, Leinster leagues, and a ridiculous shortage of grounds capable of hosting floodlit games. I'd be very skeptical of my ability to do as well as she has, and in terms of complaints, I don't think there are any grounds for them here.

[brownie]

well said lone shark.some games were fixed on friday because of confirmations,communions and the gathering in rhode.hard to keep everybody happy.remember the clon/shams match last year.clonbullouge had looked for that weekend off for either communion or confirmation.the fixture commitee forgot and ended up giving the game to shamrocks when clon didnt fulfill the fixture.

[timber]

I take your points on board and agree with some of it loneshark. I do not by any means think I am completely right about this and that is why I threw it out there to see how the rest of ye feel about it.

Its not an easy job and I would'nt like to do it. But I think we really have to start thinking about the people closest to the teams that are affected by it.
I never mentioned lads being able to have a few pints. That would not interest or bother me in the slightest but I would still like to have a bank holiday Monday free from GAA. Its the perfect weekend to get away for a night with the wife, girlfriend, family or friends but then you cant because you have a championship game at 6 on the Monday evening. I have played them before and been in fowl humour with the thoughts of a weekend wasted.

Look maybe I am wrong but Saturday the 4th has 3 championship fixtures. The same the following Saturday the 11th, 3 championship fixtures. Hardly a jam packed day. dont anyone tell me there is only enough referees and pitches to fix 3 games on a Saturday. That is a complete joke. If they fixed a number of the games down for Sunday on Saturday instead then they would have Sunday free to play some of the game with clubs second teams. To me Saturday is not being utilised enough.

Regarding not being able to fix a club as a double header (senior/junior), i dont see the problem. A manager could lose a player to injury just as easy in the warm up. Chances are if the player is one of the first choice subs on the 1st team, they will lose him at sum stage. If you are manager of the second team, you know who you have and you know who you hope to keep for as long as possible but will most likely lose. The teams will be picked a few nights earlier. Its no big difference if you lose the player an hour or a week before the game. You could lose him in the warm up. That's sport. If the 1st game is on saturday and the second is on monday, you'll have had an idea prior to saturday that the player could be used. It would be thought about.

I do agree with loneshark about Friday's. Games should be at 8. Look there is 3 or 4 pitches with the required lighting. These should be utilised every Friday. No game should be fixed before 8 on a Friday and no game should be fixed at all Monday to Thursday.

If we are talking about being fair. Right think about this. You are an intermediate or Junior A hurler working in Dublin, supposed to work till 5.30 and your championship game is fixed for Monday or Tuesday at 7pm. how would you feel? If that was to continue, do you think you would still enjoy hurling with your club? Well that is what lads are facing now, and you have to wonder, is it worth the hassle?

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Timber I agree with you to a large degree. Clubs all around the county started back doing a bit of training, and lets face it in many cases a lot of players going out to play Junior championship, especially if they are part of Senior club have only done a bit of training.
But, when it comes down to championship its deadly serious business. The guy who spent February and most of March givin out about the fact that "the new lad in training the team wants us to train on Sunday morning, feckin lunatic", is now in Dara O'Se mode. Has himself convinced he was never in better shape and that if everything clicks, he could find himself on the senior team by the business end of the championship.

Then the fixtures come out, "Wha, ah Jaysus? we're not playing till Monday evening?" "Pile a shite!!" Sure how do you expect lads to stay off the beer until Monday evening? "
Jokin aside though, the build up in a club to playing the first round of the championship is a big thing, and players i think do deserve the chance to play on the week end. Lads are pussy footing around the issue of the few pints, but sure that the great thing with club. You get to go and reminice (spell check), blame the ref, blame the young lads aul lads who molly coddle them, blame the county board, blame the trainer, blame the chairman, in fact everyone bar yourself, (who as a matter of interest, the group of lads in the corner are blaming!!) Have the few pints and remind yourself that this is a great little place and club, and this is why you'll never leave it!

On a more serious note, the issue of referee's, ensuring that Senior teams play before Junior teams "to ensure" that they remain loaded for the first 2 rounds at least, and Dual players, and County teams all contrive to ensure that unfortunately many junior teams will end up playing during the week.

And I do take your point about wanting to get back to where you are based on Monday evening and not being bothered about the few pints. All I can say is the fixtures job is not one that I would like to take on, no way Jose.

[Lone Shark]

On the issue of hurling on a regular Monday or Tuesday evening, absolutely I agree. Championship should be at weekends when the majority of people are off work. If they needed to hold off on Junior games for another week, so be it - it's not like it matters if Junior matches clash with intercounty games.

But I would still believe that clubs shouldn't be asked to play games back to back at different grades. I take your point about how a player can get injured in the warm up, but that happens in maybe 5-10% of games, a player from either team is named and can't start. Now we're talking about a situation where it's actually 90% likely that some subs will be used, and the manager of the lower graded team won't know which ones. There's no need to handicap a team like that, and we shouldn't.

I suppose you don't want to take one of the weekends and maybe post up how you'd do it differently? That way we can look at the real pros and cons.

[brownie]

jaysus lads use yer heads.you cant play 2 grades from one club on a double header.all senior/inter teams will carry 5-8 extra on the panel for cover.now your asking the manager to tell them not to tog out for the 1st team because we dont need you or else tog out and sit in the dug out ,we wont be using you cause your playing jnr after.its hard enough for the jnr player(who would love to play for the 1st team) but dont embarass these chaps.most of these guys probably played for 2 teams in the league and missed very little training.they deserve their game day to themselves.

[beirut]

Come on up and play in Dublin timber. All the Championship and League fixtures are mapped out. I can even book a holiday and not worry about championship popping up at the last minute. We even have championship and league matches midweek so can make it back down to Offaly to watch Club Championship at the weekends.

[timber]

Come on up and play in Dublin timber. All the Championship and League fixtures are mapped out. I can even book a holiday and not worry about championship popping up at the last minute. We even have championship and league matches midweek so can make it back down to Offaly to watch Club Championship at the weekends.

No no, that wont work at all Beir. The offaly championship is being run on Monday and Tuesday nights so it could clash with training in Dublin. that would rightly feck me up. I am trying to sort it with the boss to give me a chance to head home a few hours earlier on a Monday now anyway. Cant see any problem really. Beat the traffic, and wolf down the sambo's on the drive down.

Just to get back to loneshark, it might sound lazy but I just have not the time at the minute to draw up how I would change around the fixtures. I will say though, that Saturdays are not being fully utilised. Only 3 games on a saturday is ridiculous. I would start there anyway.