www.uibhfhaili.com

Er, no, Chris did not say Pádraig Boland went in to call a stop to it. Chris even went as far as to point out that this was unconfirmed. Chris made his/her point quite clearly and concisely.

If simple English poses a problem, perhaps internet fora aren't for you.

townman wrote:did Chris not say that Padraig Boland went in to call a stop to it, yes our county board are muppets

heres the know all about everything in offaly even when your not at games you think you know it all
and i am not talking about yesterdays game. as for Chris he said it seem to him so he was saying he though he went on, he didn't get it confirmed from anyone else but in Chris words Padraig Boland went in simple as Herbs.

I actually was at the Minor final yesterday, which again you were unable to deduce from my Tweets from Banagher. Yet another case of you unable to decipher simple English, which I find exasperating at this stage.

Here's what Chris wrote (and it's only on the previous page, you could have bothered to re-read it)

Chris wrote:and it seemed to me (although unconfirmed) that the chairman of the county board intervened at half time and instructed the referee (Paddy Kirwan) to call a halt to proceedings.

So Chris did not say that Pádraig Boland 'went in simple as, as you put it'. PB may have communicated with the referee by telephone, and someone near me speculated as much too, but your made-up version of events is purely speculation on your part and nothing else..

I'm going to ask what might seem like a stupid question now, but without stupid questions I'd never learn anything.

For a game of this stature at this time of year, would there be a standby venue and if so, is there a deadline by which time a decision must be taken on a move?

I say this because games get called off for a variety of weather reasons at this time of year and while sometimes you'll have widespread rain/frost to the point that no ground is playable, in other circumstances (like yesterday) there will be specific local reasons why a game couldn't go ahead. I was covering the Galway SHC semi-final yesterday between Gort and Beagh and as I was driving at 50kmph through dense fog for the first bit of the journey, I was hugely worried that the game wouldn't go ahead - until I got to Aughrim or so, by which time the fog had lifted completely and conditions were perfect.

I appreciate that there are certain grounds where fixing a game there for any time between November and March is asking for trouble and that Banagher tends to be a quite robust surface and so was a decent initial option, but would there possibly have been a case for having Kinnitty or Rath on standby and to take a decision at 10am on the best course of action? Or is that unfair to the standby venues who have to have the field prepared but might not get any ground rent from their efforts?

Of course moving a county final at short notice is far from ideal, but we're not talking about massive distances in between venues here. If the game was scheduled for 2pm in Banagher and moved to Rath, then getting in touch with the local media, social media, club PROs (all of them, not just competing clubs) and so on would have covered 90% of the potential attendees. Let's say the throw in time was moved from 2pm to 2:15, then anyone who slipped through the net and showed up in Banagher at ten to two would still have a decent chance of making the start of the game.

Couple of separate (albeit linked) issues here, but the bottom line would appear to be the late playing of this game. The referee is the one with the power to
call off the game, but with the forecast saying the fog was going to lift, I would hazard a guess that he took a chance and it didn't pay off. If this had happened back in September/October, when the game should have been played, there would have been less pressure to take that chance. I wasn't there and have no idea one way or the other whether the chairman intervened but it was a case of 'damned if you do and damned if you don't'. It wasn't his call to make, but IF he did put pressure on, it would appear to have been the right thing to do (if a little late).

Next year's fixtures structures would have been due for ratification at the last county board meeting - does anyone know if any steps were taken to avoid this happening again next year? It wasn't the only age group with lopsided fixtures either. Also curious to know when was the minor final pencilled in on the original fixtures plan this year?

lone shark
rath would be the home venue for about 9 of the " seir kieran og" team .
surely the game could have been moved to birr for half two or three

sam88885a wrote:lone shark
rath would be the home venue for about 9 of the " seir kieran og" team .
surely the game could have been moved to birr for half two or three

My apologies, I didn't realise that. So obviously not Rath then, but Kinnitty, or Birr, or Carrig, any one of the number of options out there.

Tellamore would be sufficiently far from the Shannon basin not to be affected by the fog.

Lone Shark wrote:

sam88885a wrote:lone shark
rath would be the home venue for about 9 of the " seir kieran og" team .
surely the game could have been moved to birr for half two or three

My apologies, I didn't realise that. So obviously not Rath then, but Kinnitty, or Birr, or Carrig, any one of the number of options out there.

Plain of the Herbs wrote:Tellamore would be sufficiently far from the Shannon basin not to be affected by the fog.

I was thinking the same thing myself yesterday. Was there anything going on in OCP that would have stopped the game from going on there, as I know there was no fog in that area at all?Great facilities for players and fans. If it is a case of trying to get a better atmosphere, then the answer there is simple. Encourage everyone to sit in the middle sections of the stand to generate good noise and create a good country final atmosphere.

Tellamore would be sufficiently far from the Shannon basin not to be affected by the fog.

Hurling in Tellamore????? god forbid

There was little or no fog in banagher around half twelve and then it began to descend.
It then rapidly lifted as soon as the game was abandoned.
Having as standby venue would not have saved the game.

Some good points, Kid.

On your point regarding next year's fixtures, The proposals, which I gather were ratified, for minor hurling is that there will be three groups but with a maximum of five teams per group. This at least is an acknowledgement that having a seven-team group fecked the whole thing this year. That does raise the question of what happens if 16 clubs enter (as happened this year). However, a five-team or six-team group still take five rounds to complete. Item: Italy entering the Rugby as a sixth nation didn't necessitate an extra weekend.

The intention was that the Minor hurling and football would be played by the last weekend in October (dream on!) though the rounds from September on were to be played 'when possible', which is pretty much what happened.

Kid wrote:Couple of separate (albeit linked) issues here, but the bottom line would appear to be the late playing of this game. The referee is the one with the power to
call off the game, but with the forecast saying the fog was going to lift, I would hazard a guess that he took a chance and it didn't pay off. If this had happened back in September/October, when the game should have been played, there would have been less pressure to take that chance. I wasn't there and have no idea one way or the other whether the chairman intervened but it was a case of 'damned if you do and damned if you don't'. It wasn't his call to make, but IF he did put pressure on, it would appear to have been the right thing to do (if a little late).

Next year's fixtures structures would have been due for ratification at the last county board meeting - does anyone know if any steps were taken to avoid this happening again next year? It wasn't the only age group with lopsided fixtures either. Also curious to know when was the minor final pencilled in on the original fixtures plan this year?

The fog seems to have been an isolated case around Banagher at that time. There was no fog at home in Lusmagh when I left home, the gloom only descending at Lusmagh bridge. That said, the fog had extended into Lusmagh as I was driving home afterwards. A friend who was travelling around the same time tells me that he left the fog behind him at Harbour Cross. T'was just unfortunate, really.

joe bloggs wrote:There was little or no fog in banagher around half twelve and then it began to descend.
It then rapidly lifted as soon as the game was abandoned.
Having as standby venue would not have saved the game.

Contrary to some stories being pushed on other social media sites, the referee did not consult with the chairman of the county board. The Chairman made his way onto the field where the referee was in discussion with his team of officials and two Clareen Og officials (John Leafywas one, I xcannot be sure who the other one was). The chairman walked into the middle of the field and called the referee aside. The referee was gesticulating furiously, and shaking his head (not in a nodding fashion, believe me).....my view is that he was vehemently disagreeing with the Chairman......in my humbleopinion the match sshould never have started.....but once it had started the referee (rightly or wrongly) should be left to manage the game as he sees fit....the Chairman has no place on the field of play....full stop. The referee had a very experienced team available to him for consultation....Paddy Kirwan is himself around a long time but he also had Tony Carroll, Kieran Pat Kelly, and Declan Cooke to refer to.....why did the chairman interfere and what was his point??? I feel sorry for the players, the mentors, and indeed the referee and his team of officials because of the situation they were landed in by the powers that be.....and the fact that the powers that be are volunteers is still no justification for not getting it right months ago

it seen to me that the clareen officals were busy talking to the ref and one of the clareen players was very annoyed on the field before p boland came out .
i thought they should have delayed the throw in till half two and if the fog wasnt lifting call a halt then.

does not matter now but it was madness to start the game at two o clock but the refixture for 10 45 sunday week is risky too if there is fog it wont be lifted that early .