Offaly Panel

[Clubman2013]

Let's just set a few things straight......James Rigney is not serving a 48 week ban he is currently hurling with his club. Baker met with Rigney and told him that if he wanted anything to do with the club he was going to have to finish up working in the Bridge House straight away. Rigney told him that he would have to work in a weeks notice but this was not good enough for Baker. Rigney is not the only one double jobbing, Colin Egan and Joe Bergin are also at it and nothing done about it, along with Baker who is a Sergeant in Tullamore and then bringing in a nice little wage training the Offaly hurlers, doubt he would give up the 2nd wage. James Rigney has given 9 years to the county and this is how he is treated, disgraceful.

[King Kev]

Proof of where these lads are double jobbing? I can confirm that one of the above is working only one job.The offaly county board done a lot of work to get rigney off. With a lot of ground to make up on the rest of the county boys and with the championship just around the corner baker wanted him fresh for training on the weekends. Not unreasonable imo. The man hurled illegal for more than one team last year.What in gods name was he thinking.

[Lone Shark]

Any player, regardless of who they are, has a lot of work to make up if they're called into a county panel in April/May. The lads that are in there since before Christmas, including Colin Egan and Joe Bergin, have a lot of work done and it stands to reason that if any player is called in at this stage, they'd have a big workload put in front of them in order to try and make up the ground. So that's not comparing like with like for a start.

Secondly, and perhaps there is an inherent unfairness to this but it doesn't make it any less true, working in a pub situation invariably involves very late hours, often into 2am or 3am in the morning and even later. If Rigney is doing this, then sleeping for maybe four hours and getting up to work another full day, then coming training, how can he be expected to train at the intensity that is required? It's just not possible.

No player is automatically entitled to be called into a county panel, regardless of what he's done previously. That's not a criticism of James Rigney's hurling previously, it's simply a statement of the fact that he has to be judged based on the facts as they stand at the moment, and the facts are that he is working two jobs and missed five months of training. Those are significant factors and parachuting any player in with those circumstances would send out a very negative message to the panel, in my opinion anyway.

[jimbob17]

Fully agree Lone Shark. Whatever he has done in the past doesnt give licence to walk on to the panel on his terms this late in the day. Would Brian Cody tolerate it?? I dont think so, nor any manager that is worth his salt...... Rigney is no doubt a talented hurler and could offer something, but these lads are the reason Offaly is where it is now with talented lads unwilling to make the necessary committment, Thinking Dylan Hayden, Steven Egan and Eoin Ryan and probably a few more. The only difference is Rigney is looking to come in when it suits him on his terms. If he really wanted to do his best for Offaly, would he not have made himself available a few months ago...... and wouldnt it be great if he had and this little mess would have been avoided.....

The problem now in Offaly is that it is nearly half acceptable that he could be involved jumping in at this late stage as lads have been accepted in late in recent years. Just to let people realise that THIS IS NOT NORMAL OR ACCEPTED IN OTHER COMPETITIVE COUNTIES. Offaly supporters and players deserve more respect than what Rigney is willing to show at present. Its not as if he is not working as he has monday to fri in Banagher concrete as we are told..... As for the argument that Baker is double jobbing... that is just a ridiculous comment. Baker is not up to 4 or 5 in morning and asking himself to play inter county hurling.....

[beirut]

What's the story with his ban, when did it come into effect, when did it finish?

Sure if he's only back from a ban, what can he do about the pervious few month? I'd definitely have him in there, it doesn't mean he'll start, but at least he'll keep others on their toes for their place!

King Henry is out of action for longer, I'm sure Kilkenny won't shut the door on him?

[Clubman2013]

I fully agree that any player has a lot of work to do when joining a county panel at this stage in the year but in regard to working late hours both of the previously named players are working in pubs along with having a day job and surely this is unfair to allow this for one and not for another. Rigney was willing to give up his job in the Bridge so that he could hurl with the county but needed to give notice as with any job but Baker did not agree to this. Giving up a job to hurl with your county in this current climate is a big take and Rigney was willing to do it. I don't think this is a very unfair request by him and do not regard it as him wanting to walk back onto the panel under his terms and conditions.

It should also be asked why the likes of Dylan Hayden, Mick Verney and Barry Harding are all in Offaly and not hurling with the county, maybe things are not as rosey in the camp as we all think.

It's just such a pity that Rigney is not in with the Offaly panel but he doesn't seem to be in Bakers plans.

[bracknaghboy]

involves very late hours, often into 2am or 3am in the morning and even later. If Rigney is doing this, then sleeping for maybe four hours and getting up to work another full day, then coming training, how can he be expected to train at the intensity that is required? It's just not possible.

So I assume you would not allow any fellas with kids on the panel either. What if someone was regularly up during the night with a young child and only got 3-4 hrs sleep.......surely they could not be expected "to train at the intensity that is required" and therefore would be removed from the panel? Privates lives should have nothing to do with it. If Rigney was called in and and it was clear he was not up to it then yes cut him but nobody has the right so assume someone wouldn't be up to playing based on the amount of hours he may or may not be sleeping.

[King Kev]

Rigney refused to give up the bouncing work. I could also give you his reason for failing to do so but im sure the comment would be removed. And as well as that its his own personal business. I would also like to see rigney back with offaly. But lets tell it as it is. The man didnt offer to give up his second job. And also bergin doesnt work in a bar as you stated.

[Toxicity234]

Ok lads. I have being reading this discussion, Its look like no one is sure what happened.

So I’ll have to ask a few questions before i will make a comment.

1, Did Baker and Rigney have a meeting, are we all 100% sure this happened??

2, Was it Baker that ask for the meeting or was it Rigney??

3, Was Rigney ask to give up his job??

4, did he say yes or no???

5, if he said yes he would, but he would have to work his notice did baker object???

6, and if the answer to the above is yes to all. would Mark Corrigan stand for his own Club man being treated that way??

There is a lot of question here lads but very little fact from what i can see.

As for the question of player returning to the panel at this stage. Heeron from Rynagh returned to the panel after the first round of the club championship last year. So if the lad was in good shape i don't think that would be a problem.
and sure didn't "keenonsport" tell us on
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6497&start=150
that "Sean Gardiner has gone to Australia for a few weeks but will be back" and that was in middle of League.

But i really don't think that "the Rigney incidents" happen.

[joe bloggs]

I Don't know what did or didn't happen with Rigney, but there is some muck been talked here about double jobbing.

If a man worked three jobs I couldn't care less, it is an amateur sport that does not put any bread on the table unless you are henry shefflin et al from endorsements etc.

It is the players right to do, mindful in the knowledge that it may impact on their performances. That is a risk for them to take, and if it happens then they could be dropped or spoken to, but if it does not, then let them play away.

Some GAA managers only seem to want to have lads living in the county who work 9-5 mon-fri. Others are often pressed to miss work for training weekends, or early morning sessions regardless of where in the country they are.

[Lone Shark]

I Don't know what did or didn't happen with Rigney, but there is some muck been talked here about double jobbing.

If a man worked three jobs I couldn't care less, it is an amateur sport that does not put any bread on the table unless you are henry shefflin et al from endorsements etc.

It is the players right to do, mindful in the knowledge that it may impact on their performances. That is a risk for them to take, and if it happens then they could be dropped or spoken to, but if it does not, then let them play away.

Some GAA managers only seem to want to have lads living in the county who work 9-5 mon-fri. Others are often pressed to miss work for training weekends, or early morning sessions regardless of where in the country they are.

I see where you're coming from here, and much of the sentiment I agree with. As somebody who doesn't work 9-5, I'm acutely aware of the fact that even at club level, it's very hard to get involved and commit to a team properly in this day and age if you don't keep regular office hours.

However if we move the debate up from this particular case and look at the general issue, it's an area which is very hard to roll back. Modern county teams do ask you to be available maybe four times a week on average, with at least one of those occasions likely to take up the guts of a day travelling to a match. Say 14 hours in total. If you're coming from just an hour away, that's 22 hours. Then you're expected to do a decent amount of work by yourself as well. That is a second job. Fine if you already have one job - but if you already have two?

If you work anything over 40 hours, or if you have any kind of personal life commitments at all, it's basically impractical to commit to that level. In an ideal world that level of demand would be dialled back so the self employed tradesman or the junior doctor could play alongside the teacher or office administrator, but the problem in the real world is that if Ollie Baker, or any other county manager, decides that he's going to dial back the level of effort involved, he's at an instant disadvantage when facing up to a county like Galway, Kilkenny, Cork or Tipp who can happily make up a panel of thirty hurlers full of teachers, students, casual workers and 9-5ers.

It's like the training ban idea - in theory it was meant to give players some time off, but no manager will stick to it as long as they suspect that the guy in the county next door is training away.


I've said this before to people, and I don't think it's a good thing, but I don't know what you do about it. Senior County level preparation is now at an unprecedented level. Senior club players are now training to a level that average county teams were doing twenty years ago. Second string club teams are now training to a level that senior club teams were twenty years ago. An awful lot of people aren't happy with it, but there's no way around it. It means that a lot of people who want to play on a social level can't, because even the club juniors are training twice a week and expecting commitment, while it means that every county has five or six guys who would be an addition to the team but they can't give the hours that are needed.

[durra1]

If anyone doesn’t know the net income and financial liabilities of anyone who is taking two jobs they should shut their f&*ing traps before they comment on whether it is right for them to have two jobs.

Beyond expenses, we are talking about an amateur sport and people need to be aware of that before they type what they like.

Some comments regarding Baker here are way out of line. He’s entitled to set whatever criteria he wishes to accept players into the panel. I understand if he can’t work with a player who comes late to a panel but cannot wholly commit due to work commitments, regardless of who he is or how good he is.

One would hope that Baker has managed the situation as well as he ought to have done for fear of discord amongst the squad.

James Rigney himself went public last year about the difficulties he was encountering finding work and he wasn’t the only GAA player to do so. He was dead right to do that. If you have a profile why not use it?

I think Rigney has been a fantastic player for Offaly and for Kinnity and it’s a shame he’s not in a position to commit as the manager wishes him to do. End of.

[Lone Shark]

If anyone doesn’t know the net income and financial liabilities of anyone who is taking two jobs they should shut their f&*ing traps before they comment on whether it is right for them to have two jobs.

In fairness, I don't think anyone is expecting any player to put hurling before their livelihood. I don't think any poster has suggested that Rigney should give up the second job - just that it's not necessarily compatible with intercounty hurling, no more than it would be in a lot of different jobs.

I think Rigney has been a fantastic player for Offaly and for Kinnity and it’s a shame he’s not in a position to commit as the manager wishes him to do. End of.

A pretty bang on summary all told.