Ill take this in pieces because you've made a few statements there. I don't like doing this normally, so forgive all the 'quotes'.
Well
Right heres the problem. People in Offaly arent realistic, lads have to realise how bad things really are.
I think that's true, but only to an extent and is changing. I would certainly have had the opinion that our main problems were physicallity and that we would always produce nice, wristy hurlers who would always have enough hurling to get past lads like Dublin, Wexford, Laois, Antrim etc etc. I always thought that if we sorted out the intensity and physicallity, then success would follow again, because we were operating from a base of skillful hurlers. What I have seen in the past few months, and what I've heard, now makes me question that. Against Limerick, Offaly weren't even doing the basics right, and worse weren't looking to do the basics right. No support play, no good vision. In fact Limerick were doing those things and it was sad to see. So now we are at a point where we are producing lads who are not exceptionally skillful any more, and are still lacking in physicality and drive. That's the worst of both worlds.
I havent said this to my club and the reason being is that in my opinion the wrong people are running the county board and that is where our biggest problems lay. I have seen first hand the attitude of many officials and to be honest i would be wasting my time.
I disagree with that. Simply because I feel that if we adopt that attitude we are dead. End of story. If things are being done wrong, but no-one shouts stop, then things will continue to be done wrong. At least if you raise concerns like that, and give concrete proposals, like you have done here, rather than just being a 'Ah Jaysus everything is fcuked, we're brutal altogether' merchant (which you are not) then at least it would stimulate debate. Maybe even a letter to the Independent/Express/Tribune or whatever. I would suggest going down the club/county board route though. If you have ideas, and believe in them, it's wrong to sit on them in my opinion.
To be honest its not rocket science a quick-fix approach would be to have fully qualified coaches over teams from u-12 to u-21. This would at the very least stop the decline, but to be honest in order for Offaly ever to compete at the highest level again major changes need to be made.
I agree. I think at this stage that the county board needs to go for a two pronged approach. 1 is to put in 'firemen' to stop Offaly sinking any further, and to give the really young lads something to aspire to. The 2nd thing is to overhaul the underage structures and hurling in general if they need to. Judging by the relative skill levels of our young lads now, it seems like we DO need to.
I would reccommend a seperate board for hurling, seperate sponsors, seperate everything. Get young enthusastic people on the board, people that have the same ambitions and goals and build for the future. With a young enthusastic board with big ambitions there would be no problem getting a big sponsor to come on board.
Thats the sort of stuff, together with your academy idea, that should be raised. Float the idea and see what people think. At least try to make a difference. If it's shot down, try and get other clubs to raise it. People know at this stage that something is wrong, the problem is proposing solutions. So why not propose yours?
Now what sort of reaction do you think that would get at a county board meeting?
I don't know. I'm sure people would be sceptical, but at the same time they can't tell us things are going well. A proper submission would at least make some people think, and who knows, maybe there would be support from delegates there? At least if it's debated, it might be reported on, and if it's reported on, there might be more movement on it. MAybe even the letters to the papers would further the idea.
Another thing is that many of the people that are running the academy's and county teams simply arent qualified. They dont know what they are doing. Would these people be willing to step aside in the interest of Offaly hurling? i doubt it very much.
If they are not qualified, the county board should stipulate that they must get qualifications. If they refuse, they can be terminated. Refusing to get qualifications would mean resignation. That would be a condition of the new plan.
I love Offaly hurling, followed it all my life and it really is heart breaking to see whats going on at the moment especially at underage level.
I can see you do. I know it hurts to see things the way they are, so why not try to change them. At least make the effort. If nothing happens, then you are perfectly entitled to say 'I told you so'. But if I were you I would put my ideas on paper, and take them to the club. Maybe lobby a few lads beforehand to get a solid support level. Then involve the papers, and make the county board take it seriously. I would also be careful not to 'personalise' the issue. It does your argument no favours if you say things like Johnny Flaherty is this or Johnny Pilkington is that. Keep it direct and on point, don't allow it to become a personality issue, or a popularity contest.
What do you think?
Whats everyones views on the above?
That's my view. I'm not sure of splitting the boards, but I definitely think that whatever is going on underage is not working. We used to be skillful but off the pace once Clare made everyone go bananas. Now we are still off the pace, and not skillful. That's a recipe for serious problems, and a long time in the dark ages.