Coffey turns down Offaly job

[clubman]

thought tom would have taken the job for the three years,there must be something that went on behind the scene that made him pull out.it could have been the lenght of time it was taken ,remember offaly is a good while gone out of championship and heard that davy fitz is back training with clare two weeks after they were beaten,so what chance have we with another committe that probably drag on and on.they over looked stephen darby twice so dont think they will go for him ,pascal has no experence and the u/21 were playing a very defencive game that will only get so far but will be beaten on bigger pitches.hope they have someone good in mind that will give us all a lift but i wont hold my breath.tom might be lucky he pulled out but god bless whoever comes in ,its going to be a huge job.

[DAF]

I would say that Tom was told he aint getting the reins on the u21s as well as the Senior and he decided to walk. Whoever they get as manager is up against it anyway, and the real issue remains with the clubs out there who need to get their house in order.

Have to laugh at some of the opinions, DAF with Micko or McGeeney, (church gate collections for the GAA every Sunday), to handing out programmes to the players to do, to looking at Stephen Darby, to poking fun at county board,(the board consists of lads doing roles that noone in their right mind would consider doing!).

I should ahve put a smiley face beside my post although in all seriosuness if we get McGeeny I hear Seanie Johnston comes aspart of that package and he is some footballer.The glory days would be sure to return with the McGeeney Seanie combo

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Delamar, welcome on board.

No, I am not one of those people you speak about, if you have read any posts up here since you joined you would see that I advise all comers to see what they are willing to do first before they point the finger.

I have played every grade of football bar Junior B, a member of a club, underage coach and officer within the minor club. And a committed volunteer to setting up pitches and helping with fundraising for county and club. Dont want any credit for any of it but suffice to say, I put a lot of time into it.

Its too easy to do what you did and knock everything that happening, and I can understand why, but its a thankless job at county board level, and its pretty much a thankless task for the players at the minute too.
Bottom line is that we are at rock bottom, and myself I see it at club and underage, trying to keep kids involved playing the game is really difficult. Past players feel they have done their bit by playing and dont want to do anything with underage and its often left to parents who dont have a clue what they are at.
The Edenderry model looks to be a chink of light at the end of the tunnel. From what I can see, they have a lot of current players involved with 8's 10's and 12's.
The CB needs to develop a club template for clubs to follow to get the best out of their players. Group together to organise days out for kids, get coaches from other clubs to come in and do one off sessions with the kids. Clubs need to get into their national schools and ensure that they are looked after for coaching and gear. The Ferbane school model is a good example where the local clubs help pay for coaching in the school and this appears to be delivering good success.

I dont know if there was ever great coaching in Offaly, I won many underage championships, but we didnt have what you might call good coaches. We learned to play from some of the role models in the club by going to all the matches, and by playing games ourselves.
How many of the young kids now are dropped off at training, brought home and never see a ball for most of the week, have never seen Offaly play, never watch a game on telly, and have never been to OConnor park??? I would say 50% of u8s and 10 would fall into the first 2 and the last 2!

However I will continue to do my best and thats all I can do! What about you Delamar, whats your story?

[Daleamar]

Delamar, welcome on board.

No, I am not one of those people you speak about, if you have read any posts up here since you joined you would see that I advise all comers to see what they are willing to do first before they point the finger.

I have played every grade of football bar Junior B, a member of a club, underage coach and officer within the minor club. And a committed volunteer to setting up pitches and helping with fundraising for county and club. Dont want any credit for any of it but suffice to say, I put a lot of time into it.

Its too easy to do what you did and knock everything that happening, and I can understand why, but its a thankless job at county board level, and its pretty much a thankless task for the players at the minute too.
Bottom line is that we are at rock bottom, and myself I see it at club and underage, trying to keep kids involved playing the game is really difficult. Past players feel they have done their bit by playing and dont want to do anything with underage and its often left to parents who dont have a clue what they are at.
The Edenderry model looks to be a chink of light at the end of the tunnel. From what I can see, they have a lot of current players involved with 8's 10's and 12's.
The CB needs to develop a club template for clubs to follow to get the best out of their players. Group together to organise days out for kids, get coaches from other clubs to come in and do one off sessions with the kids. Clubs need to get into their national schools and ensure that they are looked after for coaching and gear. The Ferbane school model is a good example where the local clubs help pay for coaching in the school and this appears to be delivering good success.

I dont know if there was ever great coaching in Offaly, I won many underage championships, but we didnt have what you might call good coaches. We learned to play from some of the role models in the club by going to all the matches, and by playing games ourselves.
How many of the young kids now are dropped off at training, brought home and never see a ball for most of the week, have never seen Offaly play, never watch a game on telly, and have never been to OConnor park??? I would say 50% of u8s and 10 would fall into the first 2 and the last 2!

However I will continue to do my best and thats all I can do! What about you Delamar, whats your story?

First of all, apologies for the wrongful accusation.

My point about the county board was not to knock the local representatives who do go and represent their clubs. I was saying how they go and cannot speak up on behalf of their own clubs with fear that the club and themselves will suffer as a result. I have heard this first hand from the man who practically runs our club. It is a job that nobody wants to do, I get that, but why is that?.... Have you ever tried contact anybody on the county board? Next to impossible if you dont know the right people to go through.

The Edenderry model came good in the end but it took time. If im not mistaken upto about 20 players left for Ballyfore for one reason of the other (They wanted to play other sports during the winter I believe was one of the reasons). Most clubs couldnt afford to do this. I dont think even Tullamore could afford to do this in the present time. It seems Edenderry took a zero tolerance approach. Perhaps the inter county teams could take that approach but that is about all. How many adult teams do Edenderry field each year? A Senior and Junior 'A' team in the football and a junior 'A' and junior 'C' team in the hurling? Correct me if im wrong but hardly a perfect model to follow in a town with a population as Edenderry has.

I definitely agree with you about not having good underage coaches barring maybe one or two.

My story is that I am abroad now due to lack of work opportunities. Invovled in a club over here. The passion just isnt there though when its not in my blood....

[Ahlethimoutwithit]

Fair enough Delamar, best of luck abroad, my club has lost a serious bunch of lads to emmigration.
With regard to Edenderry, I was talking about the model in underage they have in place, and I would see potential county administrators coming from this.
I take your point with some of the criticism of talking up at county board meetings, like anything, they cant listen to every voice. Its politics and its about gaining support for your ideas.
But proper administrators are hard to attract on board and it is evident, and it is important that guys do what they can to help out.