mcpaddens for clonmore ?

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Strong reply from Sniper there. However seems to be fairly clear that the McPaddens are in Clonmore.

There is a point I want to make and I feel really strong about this, any footballer who is privielieged enough to wear a minor jersey in Offaly gets every chance to prove himself with his adult club. If they maintain an interest they will star for their clubs at Junior, Intermediate & Senior. A guy who drives on his club at Junior & Intermediate level has every chance of making the Offaly Senior panel, as much as a Senior club player.
And when it gets to that level that a guy is brought onto a county panel he wil play very little apart from championship with his club. But he will remain a legend and an inspiration to many other players within his club, especially when he comes from an Intermediate or Junior level.

So by allowing guys to move to Senior clubs, the Intermediate and especially junior is downgraded and more importantly the work that all the volunteers.

Guys should be aware of their ability and responsibility of trying to drive their clubs forward as opposed to looking at the easy option, in fact it would ultimately turn them into better footballers imo.

[Fargo Boyle]

Stongly agree with previous poster. You need pride and honour in pulling on your local GAA club jersey and players have to enjoy playing with their club. If these two men have already decided that they have no interest in playing with their home club i say let them off and Clonmore will be the better for it as there is no point having players on the team that have no interest. Its a pity because if these two lads turn out to be good players (who knows as they are only minors now?) they would be Clonmore legends and could even push them towards the senior ranks. But with Rhode they might end up warming benches for a long time. I suppose the lure of playing with a successful senior club is too much for many young players but it's a shame to see this type of needless transfer happening

[Long John]

The rules in relation to transfers have to be looked at big time. Going slightly away from the McPaddens saga, I just read about this O' Loughlin lad who has transferred from his club mountmellick to St Brigids in Dublin. He's a student from the bit I read on the matter and the transfer has gone through. That is disgraceful. If a guy is working and living away from home, fair enough a transfer might be necessary due to the time and expense in commuting. But heres a lad that is a student, only tied to Dublin until May and possibly in college 15 hours a week for lectures and then whatever of his own studies. Its the perfect example of someone gold digging, sees his own club as never getting to the top so why not join a bigger club for self gain.

I know its a bit off the topic here but I just read it and wondered have I gotten the wrong end of the stick or is a transfer market becoming a big issue.

[toughtackler]

The rules in relation to transfers have to be looked at big time. Going slightly away from the McPaddens saga, I just read about this O' Loughlin lad who has transferred from his club mountmellick to St Brigids in Dublin. He's a student from the bit I read on the matter and the transfer has gone through. That is disgraceful. If a guy is working and living away from home, fair enough a transfer might be necessary due to the time and expense in commuting. But heres a lad that is a student, only tied to Dublin until May and possibly in college 15 hours a week for lectures and then whatever of his own studies. Its the perfect example of someone gold digging, sees his own club as never getting to the top so why not join a bigger club for self gain.

I know its a bit off the topic here but I just read it and wondered have I gotten the wrong end of the stick or is a transfer market becoming a big issue.

Has he not been offered a job as a coach up there.....Can't blame any man for transferring if there's work involved in it and the promise of a few bob

[Harps Man]

just a couple of things in reply to sniper;
i can only go on what i heard, and i heard it as fact that someone from rhode was telling the lads that they were in rhodes area and that couldnt have come from anyone closer to the lads.
a few years ago a member of clonmore was a selector wit the u21 team,at half time he made some suggestions regarding changes and he was more or less told to f**k off by the team manager who was a rhode man.my brother lives in rhode and his son is playing underage at the moment,he is a good little footballer and yes he is getting good training and coaching but he is treated that bit different because its expected he will play for clonmore when the time comes,my brother has also been told that they are not wanted there because of the same reason and it was a rhode man that told him that.
the lads i mentioned been approched to transfer were asked,jimmy foy even had the form filled out,i saw it.
regarding the rumour,we all know about rumours,i taught people would have more cop on than to be putting them up here.
and brian fantana,in both these case's all lads were liveing in clonmores area,and anyway only 1 transfer from rhode to clonmore went trough,the other lad didnt look for it yet.

[Bazil Brush]

Just in relation to townmans comments about the two boys wanting a transfer to a bigger club."The same bullsh!t always goes on in offaly" Thats a bit rich do you not think? Id doubt you we're doin to much giving out when Paddy Kirwin and Donal Franks transfered to birr from ballyskneagh back in the day. Oisin o Neill from shinrone as well. Ud want to think before you talk in future.

[Sniper]

Just to clarify. Im not disputing the facts of the transfer case. My only issue is how it came down to all the other clubs in offaly deciding the outcome. From what i can gather, and if anyone on this board was at the meeting maybe they could fill in the gaps, but the transfer was passed by the committee that was given the task of adjudicating on it. Clonmore say the guys are living at home in Clonmore but the McPaddens and Rhode say they are living at a different address in Rhode(I know they moved to the village during the summer). The committee ruled in the McP/Rhode favour. Im assuming that the committee looked for proof or at the very least a guarantee that all was above board before making that decision.
So how can delegates from Tubber, Birr, St Rynaghs, Ferbane etc be given the final say on an issue that they do not and cannot have the full facts on.
I suppose what Im really saying ,in a very roundabout way, is that either the two guys fulfilled the criteria for a transfer or they didnt. And if they did, howcome the other clubs can be allowed to block it
Just on the Loughlin/Mountmellick issue. There has been a lot of transfers of Laois club and County players to Dublin clubs recently. I wonder has Portlaoises stronghold on the senior championship there made the decision to move a lot easier for some of these guys(Colm Parkinson aside for obvious reasons!!!)

Just copped your post Harpsman.

i heard it as fact that someone from rhode was telling the lads that they were in rhodes area and that couldnt have come from anyone closer to the lads.

Well that man was definitely not any part of Rhode Gaa club because it was Rhode GAA who told the lads they were not in Rhodes catchment area.

a few years ago a member of clonmore was a selector wit the u21 team,at half time he made some suggestions regarding changes and he was more or less told to f**k off by the team manager who was a rhode man.

Which was it. More or Less But seriously, Tom Coffey has been manager for the last 3 years and Stephen Darby for the previous 6. So I doubt it very much. and if that did happen he was talking absolute rubbish for either of those men to say such a thing. Come to think of it I cant remember any harps selecting on under 21 in over ten years!

my brother lives in rhode and his son is playing underage at the moment,he is a good little footballer and yes he is getting good training and coaching but he is treated that bit different because its expected he will play for clonmore when the time comes

Well clearly if he lives in Rhode then he will now have to play with rhode or seek a transfer when the time comes.

the lads i mentioned been approched to transfer were asked,jimmy foy even had the form filled out,i saw it.

That is correct, but doesnt mean that Rhode did any chasing. The fact that he had filled up the form at all shows he was all for the transfer.

we all know about rumours,i taught people would have more cop on than to be putting them up here.

Youve just posted a fair few rumours there youself Harpsman!!!!!!!

[Long John]

Yes just read O' Loughlin got offered a coaching position or should I say facilitated with a coaching position. Where is the coaching position, yes at St Brigids. Theres an awful smell coming from this case. I think GAA is going down a bad road with the current system on transfers. The pride of playing with your club appears to be gone. I dont agree with the Mountmellick chairman saying there should be a total ban on transfers but I think serious restrictions have to be brought in on this.

As for the McPadden case. I think we should just forget about it. Judgment has been cast and in my opinion the correct judgement. I think if Rhode were successful in recruiting these lads, it would have led the way for many more transfers. I hope the McPadden lads go on now and play with Clonmore and that they can start building their team to eventually challenge for an intermediate title.

[Harps Man]

sniper im not goin to come on here and defend everting i have said when i know its all true,you mighten like what i said but i couldnt care less.just one thing i will say though ;my nephew will not have to transfer from rhode to clonmore because he started playing underage with rhode og when he and his family were living in clonmore,so even though they live in rhode now he is still playing underage as a clonmore player.
this is what happened regarding the transfer been decieded by a vote at the co board meeting;
clonmore proposed an ammendment to the transfer going trough on the grounds of an address of convienence,at the initial meeting over the transfer the lads produced evidence that they were living in rhode and also produced a herd number saying they were farming there,they also said that they were only staying at this address 2 nights a week,
clonmore referred to a case that was thrown out a number of years ago by brendan ward, in this case the man involved was living away from home 5 nights a week due to work,brendan ward dissmissed it straight away saying that was an address of convienence because his principal address was in the area of the club he wished to transfer from.
clonmore asked did the rules change regarding this and 2 of the executive replyed,1 saying yes it did change and the other saying no it didnt!
clonmore then got a seconder for the ammendment and it went to the vote of the co board delegates,the committie that voted at the initial meeting were not allowed to vote as they wud have previously voted on it.
as we all know the vote went in favour of clonmores ammendment with a vote of 22 to 17 with 2 spoilt votes,i believe 1 club was not repersented at the meeting.
hopefully that clears things up a little.

[RhodeRunner]

Harpsman

a few years ago a member of clonmore was a selector wit the u21 team

= Pure Muck

Harpsman

my brother lives in rhode and his son is playing underage at the moment,he is a good little footballer and yes he is getting good training and coaching but he is treated that bit different because its expected he will play for clonmore

= Pure Muck

Harpsman

when the time comes,my brother has also been told that they are not wanted there because of the same reason and it was a rhode man that told him that.

= A Rhode Man? as in some clown from Rhode or a Rhode Gaa official?

Also a few mention of the lads ever turning senior and this that and the other. Have ye any idea of how talented these two lads are? Mark my words these two lads will be up with the best Offaly will ever have or had.

For the record harpsman, Paul & James have nothing against Clonmore, I personally dont have anything against Clonmore, I Think ye are a brilliant club. Nobody set out to do any direct harm to Clonmore. The two lads just WANT to play with Rhode and when THEY asked if it was possible wheels went into motion. I cant see them playing with Clonmore now. So nobody has gained anything. They have lost out, Rhode have lost out, Offaly have lost out. Ye havent lost or gained anything.

All your doing mate is talking muck about this lad said and another lad heard.. blah blah fu*king blah.

Their passion for the last 11 years is playing football with Rhode!!!! not just their hobby but their passion and thats just been taking from them. For what? Cause Clonmore is right and Rhode is wrong!!

If you yourself gave two fu*ks about the McPaddens & their football you'd be saying to Clonmore ok lads let them off its what THEY want to do!

[old yellar]

aside from the dispute whether it right/wrong to transfer etc, what happens next year with them if it settled they wont be with rhode -and prob wont play with clonmore this year? do they wait out a year and see what happens? will it be akin to the eamon fennell thing in dublin? curious.. is there a parish rule in force or is it there and not implemented? we ahave this this 6km type of rule here in carlow but it easy get around it to..

[Lone Shark]

As somebody from Ferbane I'm obviously not well versed in the specifics of the case so a lot of the following post will be based on general aspects applicable to these kind of cases. I hope it won't be misconstrued as anything other than a discussion on the rules and how they should be applied.

(1) I would guess that from Clonmore's point of view, they would like the McPaddens to return but have accepted that they probably won't, irrespective of the judgement here. However I don't buy for a second the argument that "the lads just want to play football and that no harm will be done, they won't play for Clonmore anyway." Clonmore aren't fighting for the McPaddens here, they are fighting for every good footballer who will come through the club in the next twenty years - essentially they are fighting for the existence of the club. The whole Crinkill Birr debate was similar - Crinkill were in a situation whereby any player from their area was entitled to choose to go to Birr, and of course that's what most of the really good ones did. If Clonmore accept the principle that their players can just transfer to Rhode, that's what a large proportion of the good ones will do. There can be no future for Clonmore Harps GAA in that case. So I think Rhode people would be as well to drop the argument of "if they don't play for us, they'll play for nobody so what's the harm?".

(2) Equally, if there is any suggestion of Clonmore players not playing with Ród Óg, then that's a huge pity. That's really cutting off their nose to spite their face. I truly hope that doesn't happen.

(3) Regarding arguments over selection, that happens in every club and doubly so when there are amalgamations, permission players, and different areas involved. There's nothing new there and it's certainly not unique to Clonmore and Rhode.

(4) The whole point of GAA transfers in Ireland is not to facilitate people to move to another club because they want to - it was designed to facilitate players transferring when playing for their home club is not practical. That is the spirit of the law. However the letter of the law means that it can be difficult to draw a line and say that it's okay to transfer if someone is X minutes away from their home club, but not Y minutes away. Nonetheless the concept of the "address of convenience" is a very real one and it's understandable that most club delegates would take a dim view of such a practice, if they believe it's going on. It appears that 22 delegates felt that it was in this case.


My big curiosity in all this is a question that only the lads themselves can answer. WHY do they not want to play with Clonmore? I know we'll never know the answer to that, but it would go a long way towards resolving this I expect.

EDIT: As to Old Yellar's question, parish rule is in force and I'd say the practical way of dealing with this would be that the lads would transfer up to Dublin for twleve months and then transfer back down - I can't see any other way that they would end up playing football in 2011.

[TRUEGAEL]

RHODE RUNNER YOU HAVE JUST PROVED WHY RHODE AND YOU ARE WRONG.[THESE TWO LADS ARE GOING TO BE UP WITH THE BEST IN RHODE AND OFFALY].now i wonder would rhode fight so hard for them if they were only middle of the road junior b footballers..but the thing is they would be welcomed in clonmore no matter what there ability..iv never seen rhode fight for a bad footballer.david bannon,jason bannon,pauric dunne,jimmy foy,jack foy,sure all these players are useless junior b at best i have never seen rhode going to county board looking for transfers for lads who will be subs on your junior b team.our little club will always welcome anyone who wants to part of our great organisation THE GAA.

[RhodeRunner]

these two lads will be up with the best Offaly will ever have or had

Thats what i said. And i said it in relation to lads on the board saying will they ever even play senior. I was pointing out to the lads that dont know how good they are., To actually how good they are regardless if they were from timbuck7. It had nothing to do with the clonmore/rhode situation.

Plus, My whole point on the transfers were that Rhode didnt approach the McPaddens, The McPaddens approached Rhode. Thats why i put the word in bold Sure what else could a club do ? 1.Turn them down? or 2. go with the transfer? It was one or the other.

Also for everyone that doesn't know the whole story. This transfer request started over 3 years ago. Not a couple of months ago as it looks.

[Lone Shark]

these two lads will be up with the best Offaly will ever have or had

Thats what i said. And i said it in relation to lads on the board saying will they ever even play senior. I was pointing out to the lads that dont know how good they are., To actually how good they are regardless if they were from timbuck7. It had nothing to do with the clonmore/rhode situation.

Plus, My whole point on the transfers were that Rhode didnt approach the McPaddens, The McPaddens approached Rhode. Thats why i put the word in bold Sure what else could a club do ? 1.Turn them down? or 2. go with the transfer? It was one or the other.

Also for everyone that doesn't know the whole story. This transfer request started over 3 years ago. Not a couple of months ago as it looks.

Just think about what you've just said for a second there.

This transfer request started over three years ago.

Now am I mistaken, or have the lads only had an address in Rhode for a year or so? If that is true, then they wanted a transfer before they had any connection to Rhode's catchment area whatsoever. If that is true, and again I stress I'm open to correction on this, then that makes the move into Rhode all the more contrived.