Long Term Fixtures Plan Released

[Archangel]

It's still hard to police. How can a club like Rhode (for instance) be monitored when you play them in the league and then the Junior-B chamiopnship, when you are playing two completely different teams. There's no way to even out the teams. I see this all the time, you play a strong team from a big club early round of the C'ship and then see them get hammered in the third round cos all their good players are gone.
And I know you can't blame the bigger clubs, cos they're only playing within the rules. I would like to see something that gives the smaller clubs a more equitable chance.

[Lone Shark]

I think the general idea would be that you force Rhode to name fifteen players at the start of the year for senior, but that you then insist that each of those fifteen must play either (i) for the county or (ii) at least two league games for the first team in order to be included in that list. If they don't, then they must add in another guy who is now senior only who does fit those criteria. It prevents the naming of dummy players like lads away travelling or injured fellas and the like.

[Hyper]

Sure why would a club want to win a championship by default? If your a player that has been playing senior football in say 2007, you dont want to be playing with junior footballers in 2008. Is the idea not to keep "bettering" yourself?
If aclub has three teams then have they not to name 15 players for their first team and the 15 for their second team.

I see big thought went into the fixtures for the 7th June!!!

[Lone Shark]

Sure why would a club want to win a championship by default? If your a player that has been playing senior football in say 2007, you dont want to be playing with junior footballers in 2008. Is the idea not to keep "bettering" yourself?
If aclub has three teams then have they not to name 15 players for their first team and the 15 for their second team.

I see big thought went into the fixtures for the 7th June!!!

In an ideal world, of course. But the truth is that in practice, in counties like Roscommon which is the only one I'd be well enough versed in, lads go to great rounds to try and subvert the system. Everyone that's retired, injured or travelling get's listed as an A player. Indeed anyone that is retiring, even if they are retiring fom the junior C team, the club will throw them on for the last five minutes of the last championship game of the year so as to be able to include them on the fifteen next year.

The upshot of it is that a team ends up putting down any county players they have plus a big bunch of deadweight as their first fifteen. Junior teams often start with as many as ten guys who will have played senior by the end of the year.

It's not the ideal, it's not sporting, it's slightly counterproductive in that by the end of the year you still have to play all the big games with your real junior team and it even fecks up plenty of other lads within your club, but sadly it's within the rules and it does happen. Obviously I'm not saying that Tom Coffey would do this, but somebody could and whatever else we can say about the GAA, collectively we have an appalling record when it comes to weaselling out of things by use of rulebook loopholes. Expecting mass obedience of the spirit of the regulation is just not going to happen.

[Archangel]

It's not the ideal, it's not sporting, it's slightly counterproductive in that by the end of the year you still have to play all the big games with your real junior team and it even fecks up plenty of other lads within your club, but sadly it's within the rules and it does happen. Obviously I'm not saying that Tom Coffey would do this, but somebody could and whatever else we can say about the GAA, collectively we have an appalling record when it comes to weaselling out of things by use of rulebook loopholes. Expecting mass obedience of the spirit of the regulation is just not going to happen.

Agreed, No matter what way you plan it, there will be ways to circumvent it, that's the GAA way!