Kids dropped from development squad

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Bord na Mona man
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Re: Kids dropped from development squad

Post by Bord na Mona man »

Pat Mustard wrote: Wed Apr 13, 2022 10:49 am So we can't accommodate our own kids but kids from other countries are ok. This is just nepotism at its best
It's only nepotism if the player isn't up to the standard.

Fairplayalways
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Re: Kids dropped from development squad

Post by Fairplayalways »

very interesting week in Offaly GAA media, first we had the U14 players being dropped for not attending training (if we say they were dropped for playing soccer people wont be happy with that statement) Apparently a chance to play against one of the top soccer clubs in the country is still not enough to satisfy the dominating organisation. "The Man behind the wire" while sympathetic to cause with paragraph after paragraph of the of all the good work being done in Offaly GAA, and the opportunities that are now there for young gaelic footballers and hurlers and they should be allowed to expand their horizons blah blah BUT at the end of the day Offaly is after being down at a very low ebb and The Man behind the Wire can see why Management insist on commitment...it didnt matter apparently if the players were playing soccer/rugby/tennis or draughts according to Man behind the wire, commitment was the issue and management are entitled to demand that (given what they are trying to do...fair enough if you agree with that..

Contrast that to the report in the midland tribune dated Saturday 9th April, another GAA reporter (name escapes me honestly) reported on Offalys Ladies Division 4 league final win over Limerick. The team were struggling at half time, and brought on a star player, whom management did not start as she was committed to camogie, at county, provincial and All Ireland level with success. The manager didnt start her due to her not being available for training/committed (call it whatever way you want - it amounts to the same thing) yet the Midland Tribune Reporter said that "common sense needs to prevail in these situations" as they (management were lucky in this game to be intouch with the star player who did contribute in no small way when introduced. So apparently if its another GAA code someone misses, ah sure thats ok, but if its anything else your goosed.

I
when the ould cap fits springs to mind..I am involved in GAA andother sports and NEVER asked or stopped any player from going to GAA matches, I have told them to go to GAA if their session was before a big GAA game or if the other sports game wasnt life or death, I have worked with one other GAA manager who did likewise (facilitated both ways) and the rest didnt even ask it was "assumed the players were going to GAA without asking..the GAA dont do themselves any favours..all very well saying they have to be like that, it is if your child is on the team, if he or she is not, maybe they will be playing all or part of the other code if they go to that sport, its easy see why so many do drop off from GAA...not as bad as in my day when you could train all year and there would be even a jersey for you on county final day, yet some player who wasnt available all year suddenly was parachuted in for the final..people dont like hearing these stories but they did happen, not as much now thank God, but many many players lost to the "parachuted in for the final" system..I can hear one or two replies already "you havent a clue what it takes to win a final" or "the team dont mind lads being brough in" of course they are going to say they dont mind, if they do they are in exile, it might explain why they dont return the following year...its the truth in many clubs all over Ireland. U20/senior is enough to be asking lads to commit if they are selected, anything under that should be facilitated..good players will be able to do it..thanks all for contributions...just my opinion..nothing personal.

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Re: Kids dropped from development squad

Post by Faithful follower »

The Offaly gaa setup had disgraced themselves with this latest episode of dropping young players who were already committed to the gaa to add insult to injury they dropped these young players and in the shitstorm that insued nationwide on print media and broadcast media the single-handedly show that they are dinosaurs. There is a day coming with where it will be illegal to prevent players from bringing their game with them whatever they decide to play . This day will arrive within the next ten years it will be akin to a type of Bosman rule in soccer. The gaa as we speak have more of their market share and they are like blind men plotting their own downfall. I believe players individual rights will become a matter of law in the next ten years and any form of discrimination will be illegal, this will mean the players will decide who he wants to play with just as it is in soccer and rugby. If the gaa are serious about securing their future as the largest amateur sporting organisation they better get their house in order. For once can they act like sportsmen not bullies and as we can all testify from our school days the carrot is better than the stick .

private joker
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Re: Kids dropped from development squad

Post by private joker »

The dropping of 4 players is the least of offaly s development squads worries.

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bracknaghboy
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Re: Kids dropped from development squad

Post by bracknaghboy »

Faithful follower wrote: Mon Apr 18, 2022 8:54 pm I believe players individual rights will become a matter of law in the next ten years and any form of discrimination will be illegal,
I see. So what about the players discriminated against by not being picked for the development squads in the first place? Where do you stand on that type of discrimination? Managers discriminate all the time between what they perceive to be good and not so good players when picking squads.
This will be a very interesting new law you foresee. Managers would no longer be allowed discriminate between good and bad players.

What if a not so good player identifies as a great player? What would happen then? Would he and his parents have a case against Offaly GAA if he wasn't selected? It's a complicated world out there folks.

Plain of the Herbs
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Re: Kids dropped from development squad

Post by Plain of the Herbs »

Shocking the way teams are limited to 15 a side. In the interests of inclusivity, team numbers should be unlimited.
bracknaghboy wrote: Mon Apr 18, 2022 10:13 pm
Faithful follower wrote: Mon Apr 18, 2022 8:54 pm I believe players individual rights will become a matter of law in the next ten years and any form of discrimination will be illegal,
I see. So what about the players discriminated against by not being picked for the development squads in the first place? Where do you stand on that type of discrimination? Managers discriminate all the time between what they perceive to be good and not so good players when picking squads.
This will be a very interesting new law you foresee. Managers would no longer be allowed discriminate between good and bad players.

What if a not so good player identifies as a great player? What would happen then? Would he and his parents have a case against Offaly GAA if he wasn't selected? It's a complicated world out there folks.
Pat Donegan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

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Junior B
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Re: Kids dropped from development squad

Post by Faithful follower »

You may have missunderstood my point , the rule that I can see coming is in regard to the structure of the gaa nothing to do with these particular young players being dropped . Who would have foresaw twenty years the demise of two of the three main pillars of Irish society ff and the Catholic Church. I am a gaa man and I want our position in Irish society to remain as the gaa do a lot of very good things for Irish society but if we don’t adapt to modern society we do will suffer the same faith as ff and cc . With the advante of the gpa and the new players body the writing’s on the wall we have already seen lately the including of the women into the gaa family this year as sometimes that ten years ago was not foreseen . The gaa as a sports organisation need to get their house in order and be more sportsman like in their attitude remember as one politician said in recent years it’s the small things that trip you up.

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the Untouchable
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Re: Kids dropped from development squad

Post by the Untouchable »

Look I think that the management of the development squad should have the right to drop players and bring in players as they see fit. They are the people who have done all the coaching badges and have given a massive commitment to offaly underage teams down through the years and so have earned the right to make these decisions. Parents might not like it, the kids themselves might not like it, but it's a lesson to young people in life that you don't always get everything you want and parents should spend less time posting their frustrations on social media like someone has harmed a child here...they haven't.

In my day it was very common to see Offaly underage teams train all year and then 2 weeks out from championship a raft of new players who weren't willing to commit previously suddenly appear on the scene and lads who trained all year getting dropped...and I never recall any massive out cries from the public back then probably because there was no such thing as social media in those days for Parents or players to vent their frustration.

It's a very simple thing if you're over a team...how much are you willing to let players get away with and what commitment do you want to hold all players to? Clearly the lads playing soccer was deemed to much, which is fair enough...because if you allow the 4 lads go play soccer today...then what about 4 lads next weekend playing in a golf fund raiser or some other sporting event? We may not like it, and we may think that managers should allow players to play other sports...but I think that's fanciful thinking really as no manager will ever think that their job is to let their players play as many sports as possible.
The Untouchable

ah lethimoutwithit
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Re: Kids dropped from development squad

Post by ah lethimoutwithit »

Faithful Follower; I struggle to see your point? it could be illegal to drop players from a squad because they chose to prioritise another sport on a given day,
So I as a parent can take a case against the dev squad mgr or county board as my son/daughter was dropped for not attending training?
What next?

At the end of the day as has been referenced, you put a management in place and a structure and players sign up to it. Strangely enough similar things happen in soccer and rugby (but particularly soccer at U14 - you can't train or play other sports in order to be eligible for the national competition...cant think of the name.
Soccer and rugby are minority sports in this county, and the management of Dev squads are seeking to put a program in place to offer guys to prioritise and develop overall to get to the level we are aspiring to. MOST of the current U14s will not play minor for Offaly, and some of the guys committed to other sports now WILL. That's a fact.

Likewise our U20 footballers last Thursday night played in front of around 800 supporters (including kids without tickets), most kids playing other sports will never play in front of a crowd like that.
So lets put it in perspective...get on with it guys.

jimbob17
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Re: Kids dropped from development squad

Post by jimbob17 »

Good article here from a professional perspective referencing this recent issue. Think it was done with good intentions of raising bar for Offaly GAA, but fundamentally, the decision was a misguided mistake.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle ... 54419.html
jimbob

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Lone Shark
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Re: Kids dropped from development squad

Post by Lone Shark »

Fairplayalways wrote: Sat Apr 16, 2022 1:57 am

Contrast that to the report in the midland tribune dated Saturday 9th April, another GAA reporter (name escapes me honestly) reported on Offalys Ladies Division 4 league final win over Limerick. The team were struggling at half time, and brought on a star player, whom management did not start as she was committed to camogie, at county, provincial and All Ireland level with success. The manager didnt start her due to her not being available for training/committed (call it whatever way you want - it amounts to the same thing) yet the Midland Tribune Reporter said that "common sense needs to prevail in these situations" as they (management were lucky in this game to be intouch with the star player who did contribute in no small way when introduced. So apparently if its another GAA code someone misses, ah sure thats ok, but if its anything else your goosed.
I'm just going to come back in on this point, since I was the reporter covering the LGFA league final.

Obviously, first and foremost, myself and Kevin Corrigan have different views on a lot of things, and it's up to readers to take those views on board and then form their own opinion. He's a full time reporter on local sport, so am I, but there are plenty of people out there who spend just as much time involved in GAA as we do and their interest runs just as deep, so I would never claim my thoughts to be infallible, and I'm sure Kevin Corrigan would say the same.

With regard to the game above, the player was Mairéad Daly, and yes, I'm going to be honest and say that in gaelic games, I believe we should treat a player who has other commitments in hurling/football/camogie/handball very differently to a player who has other commitments in another sport, be it soccer, rugby, whatever.

Every player who takes to the field wearing an Offaly jersey is also a member of a club, and if that club was on an All-Ireland run, then every player would commit to their club first and foremost. By committing to St. Rynagh's, or Birr, or Tullamore, you're not saying that Offaly matters less to you, you're saying that this is my club that has a chance to do something remarkable, and I'm going to serve the club that is the place where I first hit a ball, and where I'll retire.

In 2013, Kilcormac-Killoughey lost an All-Ireland club final, and a week later Offaly played Limerick in a crucial league game in OCP. Ciarán Slevin and Conor Mahon both started for Offaly, Ger Healion came off the bench, and nobody in that dressing room would have said the lads were any less committed to Offaly because they weren't there for the previous couple of months.

Offaly didn't beat Limerick in 2013, but they did a few weeks ago in Birr, and Mairéad Daly was a huge part of that. Given what every football supporter in Offaly knows about her and what she can do, it made no sense to leave her off the starting team, while (for example) starting one player who THE PREVIOUS DAY had played in an All-Ireland schools final, and who is a minor with a long future ahead of her.

But as for the core point - yes, completely, we are all part of an association that seeks to promote gaelic games. We can talk all we like about how dual culture is unsustainable, and more and more, it is - but there are gaelic games, and there are other games, and to me it's obvious that the GAA/LGFA/Camogie Association should give complete respect to gaelic games at the expense of other sports.


With regard to the four young lads, I don't mind saying that a development panel is different to a championship minor or senior panel. The key is in the name - development. If there are players that are spreading their effort across a number of different sports, then there is a strong case in my opinion for giving the slot on the development panel to someone who is completely committed to gaelic football, and who will benefit more from it. It's not about getting your best team on the field all the time, and particularly when you consider that the four lads in question will still be playing away with two very good clubs in Edenderry and Rhode, it's not as if they're going to be deprived of good football coaching.

I also feel that if they were selected for the panel with their soccer commitments explained from the start, then maybe the thing to do might have been to leave them on the panel, but not to select them for the next game or two. However I'm not giving my time and energy to an Offaly underage panel right now, so it's not my call to make.

I will say this though. There have been a couple of very loud voices on this, and in some cases, I would be extremely annoyed at the irresponsibility of the people involved. Right to reply is very important in reporting, and there's more to that than simply saying that Offaly GAA are allowed to comment. It would have been impossible for Offaly GAA to issue any statement defending their decision and explaining their side without being seen to blame or even vilify the young lads in question, and quite rightly, they didn't engage on that basis. No-one here knows on what terms the management agreed to select these young lads for this panel. Maybe it's not their first offence, maybe there's a rule (as there is in a lot of panels) that there is an agreed mechanism to explain an absence, usually picking up the phone and talking, while the way they communicated that they weren't going to show up at training was a text, or a thumbs down in a whatsapp group.

I'm not saying any of these things happened, I'm merely saying that if there are mitigating factors, Offaly GAA can't be seen to point them out, and a little bit more balance from some of the media professionals that highlighted this story might have been worthwhile.
Kevin Egan. Signed out of respect for players and all involved with Offaly.

ah lethimoutwithit
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Re: Kids dropped from development squad

Post by ah lethimoutwithit »

Anyone any idea of how our hurling and football development squads performed over the summer?

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