Is the U21 club championships undervalued?

coillcam

Why are the 06 U21 championship games being played in january 07???

it is a sad state of affairs. ok i may be not happy just because i have a holiday booked and cant play an U21 semi-final next week. when are the powers that be going to give the U21 level a fair go?

i know before christmas that games were called off due do bad weather but even at that there was little if no notice as to when these games are/were on, for example im in college so i come home every weekend to work, is it only fair that if i know theres a match on 3 days beforehand that my boss wont get my shift/s changed, covered or swapped. its not just financial reppurcutions for me but think of the undue inconveniencce other people here are experiencing.

is this just bad organising or a competition that will be continually snubbed as it is not "recognised" :mad:

thewools

Louth's 2006 U21 champo hasint even started yet - looks like it will be scrapped perchaps however meetings have been got together lately regarding this issue!!

Nut who really wants to play now in this weather tbh, whereas these games could have bben played prior to club champo etc close to summer months...GAA planning at its finest!!

Kojak

Galway's hurling U-21 championship (A) only finished on the 23rd of December - one team had reached the final a few weeks prior to that (Mullagh) - and were told that the final wouldn't be played until the new year - so the lads, AFAIK, stopped training while their opponents (Sarsfields) kept playing matches (de;ayed due to bad weather) and won the title.

As regards the football - has just about reached the semi-final stage of the county championship.

A few years ago, the U-21 hurling championship of 2001 wasn't finished until the end of 2003 ( i may have the years wrong, but there was a 2 year gap from when that particular championship was started and when it was finished)

For the players who may not make the Senior/Intermediate team, and are around 20 or 21, it is nearly their last chance at playing competively. These championships shouldn't be neglecteced but in a fastly expanding schedule it is being squeezed out.

walrusgumble

the fixture schedules a joke, that is only possible answer for u21 problem, due to players also on minor and on verge of senior teams. by any chanc would any one remember even the senior club championship finals were once held during july august?, even they are getting held in weird dates

if the club minor championship can be completed around summer to late autumn then my not u 21. not every player will play for their club's minor or senior team at the same time, and the inter county teams is another story. besides all county boards want a good competive championship, well summer is time to have it, after all some of these lads will be far away in college by october concentrating on getting into their college's sigerson/trench cup (and hurling version) teams or be occupied on other things such as studying,working, trying to get into county team for the next season etc.

Flukey

Even the inter-county Under 21 championships don't pull the crowds. Contrast the difference between the attendance at the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Final the the Under 21 Final, both of which Kilkenny played in, only a week apart. It is only one step down in grade technically and of course a lot of the senior team of a county play Under 21 aswell. Kilkenny had some on the Under 21 team. It also shows how many sunshine supporters there are for senior teams. The Senior and Under 21 Football finals, with Mayo in both, were the same too. A big crowd of their supporters at the Senior Final and a small one at the Under 21 Final. At least Mayo won that one.

cournioni

I totally agree that the U21 Championships are undervalued. I was u21 last year played from the end of October until the end of November. Which was ok in my opinion, but the fact that we played the final on one of the worst pitches in Cavan just pissed everybody off... Apart from the county board of course who thought it would be a great idea. You couldn't move your feet because the pitch was so bad. All of this was happening while our county pitch was being used for an Ulster club championship match. That was ok, but why not have us as a curtain raiser for their match? The pitch was in a good enough shape to do it. Typical county board bull****. That is just as bad as playing it in the middle of winter IMO.

I disagree on the crowd end of things. Any game we played in our u21 championship had great crowds, certainly better than any crowd we had at our senior games.

kevmy

Flukey wrote:

The Senior and Under 21 Football finals, with Mayo in both, were the same too. A big crowd of their supporters at the Senior Final and a small one at the Under 21 Final. At least Mayo won that one.

In fairness the crowd at the U-21 final was one of the biggest they had at finals in years and it was dominated by Mayo people. Unfortunately I couldn't get there to my eternal regret but if you contrast the crowd at many of Mayo league games to the U21 final then you see it was taken seriously. I've been at league games a few years ago pre-2004 and the attendences were quite poor. I remember being at a league game against Kildare at McHale Park in the last year of winter league games, sometime around the 15th of December, when it was freezing and there was only ~500 people there

chubba1984

The Clare under 21 hurling championship starts every Paddy's day and is finished by May/June, the football is played in August/September without fail completed on time. The biggest farce this year tho was the under 16 sring league, the division 3 final was played on 23 december. not quite spring is it?

walrusgumble

at least clare gets it priorities right ie the championship. i suppose you cant get everything right. bad timing but at least the players wont be away on holidays. that was one big problem, i ca remember during the summer when a tea was knocked out of the championship but still in the league, they went of on summer holidays after all the championship is what counts.

what can be done to sort the fixture schedule out, if these things are happening in senior football, there cant be much faith to be had for underage games.

i agree not having the u21 cavan championship as a certain raiser was a joke, hey may have got more through the gates.

500 at a mayo league match? considering the so called huge fan base, a decent enough stadium and a team regularly in at least q/f stages of all ireland series, and regulary in div 1. thats brutual. jesus we in roscommon (al the pain and suffering and div 2 status) at least get 3.000 ( that be great in eircom league)

incidently, was there a motion to get rid of the u21 intercounty championship once proposed?

Flukey

kevmy wrote:

In fairness the crowd at the U-21 final was one of the biggest they had at finals in years and it was dominated by Mayo people. Unfortunately I couldn't get there to my eternal regret but if you contrast the crowd at many of Mayo league games to the U21 final then you see it was taken seriously. I've been at league games a few years ago pre-2004 and the attendences were quite poor. I remember being at a league game against Kildare at McHale Park in the last year of winter league games, sometime around the 15th of December, when it was freezing and there was only ~500 people there

I'd agree with all that. League games for most counties are even worse. Like in anything, the further a team progresses, the bigger the support gets. An Under 21 Final is going to draw a lot more than an early round league game. If they get to the league final though, well they'll get a bigger crowd; albeit still well down on a senior chamnpionship crowd, even by July.