Weaker countys

PTH2009

For less successful county's such as wiclow, Leitrim,Louth, Carlow, fermanagh etc what is the supporters mentality going to matches?? Just going in hope that they don't get destroyed??, rather support local club teams instead of following the intercounty team ??, support the more succesful countys?? etc

I'm from waterford we would be quite good at hurling not so football, supporters from dual countys such as cork,dublin,Galway, Wexford, kerry,Tipperary etc are quite lucky because they are good at both sports. U do feel sorry for the minnows who never get there day in the sun

Discuss

Fr Tod Umptious

I was in Carlow last Sept. and I had a flick through the local paper, Carlow Nationalist I think it is.

It was wall to wall football and hurling news, just as much as you would see in The Kerryman.

Now fair enough it was around the time that the club championships may have been getting close to the final, but it showed me that in a lot of counties the county team is by far the main priority for GAA fans.

The growler

I know people from Longford and Carlow who follow the club championship in their respective counties with much more interest than the county team. Now this may be forced on them somewhat due to the relatively short championship season of their county team (although Longford have done well this year by their standards).

The opposite is the case in the stronger counties. There would still be a hardcore support for the club teams but there would be plenty who follow the county team only and wouldn't be bothered following their club team. This is certainly the case in my county (Tipperary).

I suppose the worst thing would be being from a weak club in a weak county - you'd never experience success! That's the thing with the GAA, the parish and county rivalry is brilliant but only if you're lucky enough to be born in a strong club or county.

Stevecw

The growler wrote: »

I know people from Longford and Carlow who follow the club championship in their respective counties with much more interest than the county team.

Unfortunately in Carlow the same applies to a lot of the better footballers. They have no interest in playing for the county and just play with their clubs. Some might come in for a couple of months and then drop out while others just never play for Carlow. Most years come the 1st round of Leinster, we can all name a team of 15 who aren't on the county panel that would easily beat our actual team.
Our hurlers are generally ok, so there isn't as much pain involved in following them.

Syferus

The growler wrote: »

I know people from Longford and Carlow who follow the club championship in their respective counties with much more interest than the county team. Now this may be forced on them somewhat due to the relatively short championship season of their county team (although Longford have done well this year by their standards).

The opposite is the case in the stronger counties. There would still be a hardcore support for the club teams but there would be plenty who follow the county team only and wouldn't be bothered following their club team. This is certainly the case in my county (Tipperary).

I suppose the worst thing would be being from a weak club in a weak county - you'd never experience success! That's the thing with the GAA, the parish and county rivalry is brilliant but only if you're lucky enough to be born in a strong club or county.

It's been a totally average year by Longford's own standards. At any time they can bounce between D2 and D4 in the league and have wins over the likes of Mayo and Derry in the championship in recent years.

There's an awful lot of cloying when it come to smaller counties by people who have little real knowledge of what life is like in those counties.

Very Bored

I am from Kilkenny but I have lived in Carlow and have family ties to Cavan. I can say that GAA people in both Carlow and Cavan are every bit as interested and passionate as those in my own county. I would say whilst we live with the hope or expectation of All Irelands they live, in general, with the hope of seeing improvement. The difference is that in my own county those that aren't interested tend to form as hangers on and will watch Kilkenny and only Kilkenny and even then only from All Ireland semi stage on at most. In Carlow and Cavan those people tend to be very dismissive of the two sports, perhaps less so in Cavan. Those like me who bleed GAA, in my case hurling, don't change from county to county regardless of success or otherwise. I can definitely say that group of people are as passionate about the GAA regardless of county success or otherwise.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Why is it that Carlow have issues with getting their best footballers onto the panel? Is it club rows or issues with the county board or just that they couldn't be bothered putting in the effort to be an intercounty player?

Roger_007

I was born and spent some of my childhood in one of the weaker counties, Louth. Even though I have lived in Meath for most of my life and played all my adult football in Meath, my first loyalty is still to Louth at county level.
My friends in Louth all seemed to be agreed that the problem in Louth, (which used to be a strong football county), is that the club structure is the main problem. There are too many weak clubs. Sometimes there are two clubs in the same rural parish.
The obvious answer is that clubs should amalgamate but the chances of that happening are virtually nil because of local rivalries.
It seems I will have to go on supporting a lost cause for a long time yet!

rossie1977

here is something you can do op. if leitrim get drawn in carrick next year against mayo, roscommon or galway go to that match and stand on the score-board end and start talking to a few of the locals...i can assure you those leitrim followers will have come to see their team win

cj maxx

Being from a "football county" I've often wondered if the hurlers shouldn't be allowed to play for an amalgamated teams like cavan/fermanagh/leitrim /Longford or monaghan/ armagh/ tyrone.
There are some( a few) good hurlers in each of these counties, just not enough of them or a big enough fanbase. Also a lot of co. boards would see hurling teams as much an obligation as opposed to football which is a passion.
At least these hurlers could test themselves on a bigger stage and it could even generate interest in the weaker sport .
Im not saying such a team would compete with the big teams but if they could reach antrim/ laois/kerry standard it could bring the game on in leaps and bounds . .... Of not !
The same would apply to weak football counties .
This isnt a forced thing and players would need to be on board but it might be worth trying for say a 10 year period so minor/ u21 s could also benefit .
?
Sorry if i got carried away and derailed the op but i think some counties are dreading a demoralising hammering and i parish/county boundaries aren't sacrosanct any more.

savannahkat

cjmc wrote: »

Being from a "football county" I've often wondered if the hurlers shouldn't be allowed to play for an amalgamated teams like cavan/fermanagh/leitrim /Longford or monaghan/ armagh/ tyrone.
There are some( a few) good hurlers in each of these counties, just not enough of them or a big enough fanbase. Also a lot of co. boards would see hurling teams as much an obligation as opposed to football which is a passion.
At least these hurlers could test themselves on a bigger stage and it could even generate interest in the weaker sport .
Im not saying such a team would compete with the big teams but if they could reach antrim/ laois/kerry standard it could bring the game on in leaps and bounds . .... Of not !
The same would apply to weak football counties .
This isnt a forced thing and players would need to be on board but it might be worth trying for say a 10 year period so minor/ u21 s could also benefit .
?
Sorry if i got carried away and derailed the op but i think some counties are dreading a demoralising hammering and i parish/county boundaries aren't sacrosanct any more.

excellent idea and one that should be given more consideration.

zetecescort

didn't Cusack mention the idea of a combined Ulster hurling team on the Sunday Game once?

cj maxx

zetecescort wrote: »

didn't Cusack mention the idea of a combined Ulster hurling team on the Sunday Game once?

He may have but i mean for league also . In ulster my reckoning is that hurling is stronger in the east and goes west ward . Antrim / down ( and maybe armagh ) can stand alone . Monaghan / tyrone are kinda equal then a drop . It does no-one any good to systematically ruin the sport you love because " its always been this way "
In munster its similar with football .

The growler

cjmc wrote: »

Being from a "football county" I've often wondered if the hurlers shouldn't be allowed to play for an amalgamated teams like cavan/fermanagh/leitrim /Longford or monaghan/ armagh/ tyrone.
There are some( a few) good hurlers in each of these counties, just not enough of them or a big enough fanbase. Also a lot of co. boards would see hurling teams as much an obligation as opposed to football which is a passion.
At least these hurlers could test themselves on a bigger stage and it could even generate interest in the weaker sport .
Im not saying such a team would compete with the big teams but if they could reach antrim/ laois/kerry standard it could bring the game on in leaps and bounds . .... Of not !
The same would apply to weak football counties .
This isnt a forced thing and players would need to be on board but it might be worth trying for say a 10 year period so minor/ u21 s could also benefit .
?
Sorry if i got carried away and derailed the op but i think some counties are dreading a demoralising hammering and i parish/county boundaries aren't sacrosanct any more.

Interesting idea but wouldn't work in my opinion. The problem is that supporters wouldn't get behind it and in time the players interest would peter out. Can you imagine players really killing themselves to win for an amalgamated team? As the GAA is an amateur organisation it depends on tribal loyalty for player motivation. Look at what happened to club rugby in Wales - professionalism forced club sides to amalgamate and the supporters never really got behind it plus the Welsh sides chances of winning in Europe didn't improve.

The whole foundation of the GAA is built on parish and county boundaries. I know clubs can amallgamate but it just would not work at inter county level.

cj maxx

The growler wrote: »

Interesting idea but wouldn't work in my opinion. The problem is that supporters wouldn't get behind it and in time the players interest would peter out. Can you imagine players really killing themselves to win for an amalgamated team? As the GAA is an amateur organisation it depends on tribal loyalty for player motivation. Look at what happened to club rugby in Wales - professionalism forced club sides to amalgamate and the supporters never really got behind it plus the Welsh sides chances of winning in Europe didn't improve.

The whole foundation of the GAA is built on parish and county boundaries. I know clubs can amallgamate but it just would not work at inter county level.

Msybe not where the hurling / football divide was closer but it might work where one or the other was totally in control

Flukey

The "weaker" counties should focus on their own games, not look to amalgamations. Even the term "weaker" counties can change in terms of what counties fit into it . Many weaker counties of today have strong pasts. Louth was mentioned above. It may be a while ago now, but they were once a strong county. Equally, some of today's stronger counties were weaker counties in their time. They changed that by putting the work in. Weaker counties stay weak until they start doing that. Every county is capable of putting out a competitive team if they put the effort in, with the full support of the county board. Those are the things that are lacking. In some cases county boards even work against their county teams. County boards like that should be sacked and replaced with ones that will put full effort into supporting both codes.