Waterford GAA thread - mod warning post #1 and #51

EYEBALLSOUT

cul beag wrote: »

#Brick Thank you.

One of the real greats of Waterford hurling and a thorough gentleman! Thanks for the memories. #brickislegend

Cake Man

Am I missing something, has Brick announced his retirement? Haven't seen any news report on it.

Stopitwillya

See nowlan park is now going to be called UPMC Nowlan park. Following netwatch Cullen park in Carlow and innovate Wexford park.
Wonder would anyone out their like to sponsor Walsh park or Fraher field and give some much needed money to our county board.
Knowing our county board we would probably end up with Mr Price Walsh Park and Dealz Fraher Field.

PTH2009

Thank you brick

Amazing servant to Waterford hurling and gave it his all. It's a pity he never got that all ireland medal

Best of luck to him

hardybuck

Stopitwillya wrote: »

See nowlan park is now going to be called UPMC Nowlan park. Following netwatch Cullen park in Carlow and innovate Wexford park.
Wonder would anyone out their like to sponsor Walsh park or Fraher field and give some much needed money to our county board.
Knowing our county board we would probably end up with Mr Price Walsh Park and Dealz Fraher Field.

A hospital based in Waterford naming a stadium in Kilkenny too?

Giveitfong

Draft Strategic Plan for Waterford GAA 2010-2015

Waterford County Board Chairman Paddy Joe Ryan recently announced that the Board would be conducting an internal review of its structures and activities. It is hard to be optimistic about anything much coming out of this, given the fate of the external review drawn up at the beginning of the decade by the Chief Executive of Waterford City and County Council and former Waterford hurler, Michael Walsh.

As far as I am aware, Walsh’s Draft Strategic Plan for Waterford GAA 2010-2015 was never published, nor was it ever presented to the County Board. Paddy Joe Ryan stated in an interview in the Irish Examiner last week that some of the recommendations in the Plan had been implemented and some had not. As someone who is familiar with the contents of the Plan, I am not aware that any of its recommendations have been implemented.

I am also surprised that Michael Walsh is to be a key participant in the new review, given the treatment his previous review received. I hope that at least he has insisted that the findings of the new review will be acted upon as the price of his involvement.
Some posters on the board have inquired about the contents of Walsh’s Strategic Plan. It is hard to do justice to a report bristling with good ideas and proposals in a short piece such as this, and I will confine myself to what I think are some of the most important elements of the Plan. As one might expect from the head of a large administrative organisation, Walsh concentrates on a major overhaul of how the County Board conducts its business, but also devotes some attention to competitive structures.

Walsh is very clear on the need to abolish the divisional boards, which involve unnecessary duplication of effort and spread limited volunteer resources too thinly. This is particularly important given Walsh’s proposals for an expanded system of specialist committees at county level to streamline and focus the County Board’s activities. These include separate committees to administer Adult and Underage competitions and player development, a Finance Committee, and a committee to promote all aspects of the GAA in the county.

Rather than functioning as talking shops, each member of the proposed committees would have a specific set of responsibilities. For example, the members of the Promotions Committee would be responsible, respectively, for traditional media (print and broadcast), electronic media, publications and presentation of games. Given the dreadful presentation of even major championship games at the moment and the appalling excuse for a County Board website, the need for effective action in these areas is obvious.

The Plan also proposed the establishment of a set of officers with specific responsibilities, at least some of whom might need to be employed on a professional basis. These include a Training Officer whose job would be to provide training to both County Board and Club officials (including team managers) on how best to perform their dutues. Also a County Promotions Officer (to oversee the promotion of County Board activities), Sponsorship Officer (to develop and manage external sponsorships), a Ticket Officer (responsible for ticket distribution and accounts), an Audit Officer (to monitor the Board’s financial transactions on a day-to-day basis) and an Urban Development Officer.

A further innovative suggestion in the Plan is that all County Board officials whose existing remit is not particularly demanding should be given an additional special area of responsibility, as follows: Vice-Chair (liaision with all county hurling teams), Central Council delegate (liaison with all county football teams), one Munster Council delegate (club development and infrastructure), other Munster Council delegate (responsibility for development and management of county grounds).

As regards competition structures, the Plan is very much focused on placing the club at the centre of GAA organisation in the county and giving priority to the creation of competitive structures which will provide regular games to the maximum number of players: “It is imperative that scheduled and regular league and championship games be provided for all players. The existing situation whereby absolute priority is yielded to intercounty teams for periods of the year cannot continue.”

The present writer is strongly of the view that the massive resources and prioritisation currently being given to senior intercounty teams all over the country is seriously injurious to the long-term welfare of the GAA as a community-based organisation. In my view, the schedule of county teams should be required to fit in with that of the clubs, not the other way around. A knock-on from this is that the power of county hurling and football managers needs to be curtailed, and in particular that they should be required to fit in with broader plans and strategies for games and player development at club level.

In this respect, an important proposal in Michael Walsh’s Strategic Plan is that a charter should be drawn up to cover availability of club players for county teams and of availability of county panelliests for their clubs. In this context, it was good to hear Liam Cahill, in his WLR interview, speak of his willingness – even desire – to allow county panellists play for their clubs during the course of the intercounty season.

The Plan proposes that, as far as practicable, all competitions should operate at county-wide level. The Plan reckons that there are too many teams in the Intermediate Hurling championship and proposes that it be split into two levels – Premier Intermediate and Intermediate.

The Plan devotes particular attention to the fact that, unlike many other counties, Waterford has never taken league competitions seriously. It proposes that a tiered league structure be created based on a model of ten-team leagues, with promotion and relegation between each tier. There should be as many tiers are there are teams available to play in them, and clubs should be encouraged to enter as many teams as they can in order to maximise regular competitive participation for players.

The proposed structure should mean that any team entering at a particular level should be capable of winning at that level and be promoted. Apart from maximising participation, a well-run league system should have the effect of raising playing standards at all levels which in turn will stimulate public interest in these competitions.

Championship structures should also involve tiers wherein all teams have a chance of winning their particular championship. League performance would be a key indicator here. There is a need for an overall Supremo in charge of all adult competitions in both leagues and championships who would draw up a master plan (such as many other counties do) for league and championship fixtures throughout the year. The Plan proposes that this function should be given to the County Secretary although not everyone would be confident of the current incumbent executing this function effectively.

Ultimately, of course, the ambitious but necessary proposals of the Strategic Plan ran up against the brick wall of an entrenched County Board officialdom which combines resistance to change and a high degree of administrative incompetence. There is no obvious reason why we should expect things to be different with the current internal review.

Alf Tupper

Dunford, Moran, Curran gone!

PTH2009

Alf Tupper wrote: »

Dunford, Moran, Curran gone!

Interesting if true

Mastermcgrath

Alf Tupper wrote: »

Dunford, Moran, Curran gone!

Commissioner Sheedy to Secret Agent Cahill;

'Have we exterminated the enemy yet'

'Not yet commissioner. Mission in progress'

Jjjjjjjjbarry

Alf Tupper wrote: »

Dunford, Moran, Curran gone!

I can understand these 3 more than Connors.

iebamm2580

Is it true that connors got a car from tom murphy every year and made sure it was registered as number 4?

DiscoStew

iebamm2580 wrote: »

Is it true that connors got a car from tom murphy every year and made sure it was registered as number 4?

Since 2017 yes. Whether it was him or the dealer who came up with that idea, I have no idea.

iebamm2580

DiscoStew wrote: »

Since 2017 yes. Whether it was him or the dealer who came up with that idea, I have no idea.

I know that wouldn't sit well with cahill anyway or sheedy for that matter.

Fred C Dobbs

Alf Tupper wrote: »

Dunford, Moran, Curran gone!

Curran ...... surely not ?

JesusRef

Giveitfong wrote: »

Draft Strategic Plan for Waterford GAA 2010-2015

Waterford County Board Chairman Paddy Joe Ryan recently announced that the Board would be conducting an internal review of its structures and activities. It is hard to be optimistic about anything much coming out of this, given the fate of the external review drawn up at the beginning of the decade by the Chief Executive of Waterford City and County Council and former Waterford hurler, Michael Walsh.

As far as I am aware, Walsh’s Draft Strategic Plan for Waterford GAA 2010-2015 was never published, nor was it ever presented to the County Board. Paddy Joe Ryan stated in an interview in the Irish Examiner last week that some of the recommendations in the Plan had been implemented and some had not. As someone who is familiar with the contents of the Plan, I am not aware that any of its recommendations have been implemented.

I am also surprised that Michael Walsh is to be a key participant in the new review, given the treatment his previous review received. I hope that at least he has insisted that the findings of the new review will be acted upon as the price of his involvement.
Some posters on the board have inquired about the contents of Walsh’s Strategic Plan. It is hard to do justice to a report bristling with good ideas and proposals in a short piece such as this, and I will confine myself to what I think are some of the most important elements of the Plan. As one might expect from the head of a large administrative organisation, Walsh concentrates on a major overhaul of how the County Board conducts its business, but also devotes some attention to competitive structures.

Walsh is very clear on the need to abolish the divisional boards, which involve unnecessary duplication of effort and spread limited volunteer resources too thinly. This is particularly important given Walsh’s proposals for an expanded system of specialist committees at county level to streamline and focus the County Board’s activities. These include separate committees to administer Adult and Underage competitions and player development, a Finance Committee, and a committee to promote all aspects of the GAA in the county.

Rather than functioning as talking shops, each member of the proposed committees would have a specific set of responsibilities. For example, the members of the Promotions Committee would be responsible, respectively, for traditional media (print and broadcast), electronic media, publications and presentation of games. Given the dreadful presentation of even major championship games at the moment and the appalling excuse for a County Board website, the need for effective action in these areas is obvious.

The Plan also proposed the establishment of a set of officers with specific responsibilities, at least some of whom might need to be employed on a professional basis. These include a Training Officer whose job would be to provide training to both County Board and Club officials (including team managers) on how best to perform their dutues. Also a County Promotions Officer (to oversee the promotion of County Board activities), Sponsorship Officer (to develop and manage external sponsorships), a Ticket Officer (responsible for ticket distribution and accounts), an Audit Officer (to monitor the Board’s financial transactions on a day-to-day basis) and an Urban Development Officer.

A further innovative suggestion in the Plan is that all County Board officials whose existing remit is not particularly demanding should be given an additional special area of responsibility, as follows: Vice-Chair (liaision with all county hurling teams), Central Council delegate (liaison with all county football teams), one Munster Council delegate (club development and infrastructure), other Munster Council delegate (responsibility for development and management of county grounds).

As regards competition structures, the Plan is very much focused on placing the club at the centre of GAA organisation in the county and giving priority to the creation of competitive structures which will provide regular games to the maximum number of players: “It is imperative that scheduled and regular league and championship games be provided for all players. The existing situation whereby absolute priority is yielded to intercounty teams for periods of the year cannot continue.”

The present writer is strongly of the view that the massive resources and prioritisation currently being given to senior intercounty teams all over the country is seriously injurious to the long-term welfare of the GAA as a community-based organisation. In my view, the schedule of county teams should be required to fit in with that of the clubs, not the other way around. A knock-on from this is that the power of county hurling and football managers needs to be curtailed, and in particular that they should be required to fit in with broader plans and strategies for games and player development at club level.

In this respect, an important proposal in Michael Walsh’s Strategic Plan is that a charter should be drawn up to cover availability of club players for county teams and of availability of county panelliests for their clubs. In this context, it was good to hear Liam Cahill, in his WLR interview, speak of his willingness – even desire – to allow county panellists play for their clubs during the course of the intercounty season.

The Plan proposes that, as far as practicable, all competitions should operate at county-wide level. The Plan reckons that there are too many teams in the Intermediate Hurling championship and proposes that it be split into two levels – Premier Intermediate and Intermediate.

The Plan devotes particular attention to the fact that, unlike many other counties, Waterford has never taken league competitions seriously. It proposes that a tiered league structure be created based on a model of ten-team leagues, with promotion and relegation between each tier. There should be as many tiers are there are teams available to play in them, and clubs should be encouraged to enter as many teams as they can in order to maximise regular competitive participation for players.

The proposed structure should mean that any team entering at a particular level should be capable of winning at that level and be promoted. Apart from maximising participation, a well-run league system should have the effect of raising playing standards at all levels which in turn will stimulate public interest in these competitions.

Championship structures should also involve tiers wherein all teams have a chance of winning their particular championship. League performance would be a key indicator here. There is a need for an overall Supremo in charge of all adult competitions in both leagues and championships who would draw up a master plan (such as many other counties do) for league and championship fixtures throughout the year. The Plan proposes that this function should be given to the County Secretary although not everyone would be confident of the current incumbent executing this function effectively.

Ultimately, of course, the ambitious but necessary proposals of the Strategic Plan ran up against the brick wall of an entrenched County Board officialdom which combines resistance to change and a high degree of administrative incompetence. There is no obvious reason why we should expect things to be different with the current internal review.

They all sound like great recommendations, pity we are now 10 years behind

willbeuptuesday

Sadly this review will go the same way, our club has yet to hear for the review committee. We had a visit from Coaching and games but its the structures that are clearly wrong. We need a vision and a plan to achieve that vision, unfortunately we have neither. If we get the structure right we can build from there, one thing that urgently needs to be upgraded is the county board website. They need to employ an expert and come up with a proper website/app that is regularly updated. If its done correctly it can generate income for the county board.

emergingstar

the club structures esp a good proper league is needed for clubs to hold onto players this should be brought in, in 2020

Jerry Atrick

Refreshing to see the band before the county final Sunday...pitch looked well on TG4 last night too. Walsh Park could be a nice little ground if the proper redevelopment work is completed.

hurler on de ditch

Mastermcgrath wrote: »

Commissioner Sheedy to Secret Agent Cahill;

'Have we exterminated the enemy yet'

'Not yet commissioner. Mission in progress'

We were always our worst enemy , maybe things will change now and a bit of success will come our way, hope he keeps the cull going ,half that panel at least

TheScoringGoal

hurler on de ditch wrote: »

We were always our worst enemy , maybe things will change now and a bit of success will come our way, hope he keeps the cull going ,half that panel at least

If he cuts any more we'll need you to bring the hurley and shed the under name

hardybuck

Alf Tupper wrote: »

Dunford, Moran, Curran gone!

Going by certain social media posts in recent months, I was expecting Moran to call it a day.

thesaturdayman

iebamm2580 wrote: »

Is it true that connors got a car from tom murphy every year and made sure it was registered as number 4?

the stereo typical kind of idiot on here.

no it isnt true.

McConnells Toyota he is a national brand ambassador, and the company insisted he have his number 4 etc.

DiscoStew

With players leaving the panel at present it might be worth thinking back on the present club campaign to see what players could potentially be brought in to a training panel now.
Avoiding the usual types who have been a part of the panel before and are unlikely to receive a recall these would be the picks for me.

Dessie Hutchinson (very obvious)
Jack Fagan
Evan McGrath (Mt. Sion)
Conor Sheahan (Ballygunner)
David Prendergast (Lismore - not sure if has been a part of the panel before)
Michael Kiely (Abbeyside)
Sean O’Brien (DLS)
David Gartland (Ardmore)

I haven’t seen as many intermediate and junior games as some posters here would have so would be interested in hearing opinions on other potential additions.

whiteandblue

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/sport/deise-legend-michael-brick-walsh-ends-inter-county-career-957250.html

Mastermcgrath

whiteandblue wrote: »

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/sport/deise-legend-michael-brick-walsh-ends-inter-county-career-957250.html

Interesting point by Kelly that Cahills decision to drop Connors and Shanahan would have come from advice by his selectors given that he’d be close to Connors and cousins with Maurice.

I doubt it myself, Cahill seems his own man with his own vision. I would think that he has a fair idea of the core group of 23/24 players that he wants. He’d know that Shanahan and Connors are not be the best lads to have knocking around as panel players. They’re the type of lads that need to be starting and leading the team. That’s the kind of individuals they are and when there comes a time that your not guaranteed your place anymore your better off out of the picture and leave the squad player positions to younger lads.

Cody did it in KK, he cut off lads like Tommy Walsh and Cha Fitz when they weren’t quite what they were. The worry here is have is that I hope Cahill realises we’re not KK it his own county Tipp that has a conveyor belt of young talent. It’s all well and good axing these lads but who do you replace them with

PTH2009

The Munster league and NHL will be interesting

New format in the league with only top 3 progressing to the knockout stages with 6th place going into a relegation playoff

deiseach

I'd like to think he has taken the advise of the Stephens with respect to the makeup of the panel in general and giving Maurice and Noel the heave-ho in particular. There's no way he has enough insight himself to be able to say they are not worthy of a place on a 30-man panel, and surely it's a good thing that he is willing to take advice. What's the point in having selectors if he is going to be his 'own man'?

debok

Mastermcgrath wrote: »

Commissioner Sheedy to Secret Agent Cahill;

'Have we exterminated the enemy yet'

'Not yet commissioner. Mission in progress'

We donethat ourselves the last couple of years.

tonc76

deiseach wrote: »

I'd like to think he has taken the advise of the Stephens with respect to the makeup of the panel in general and giving Maurice and Noel the heave-ho in particular. There's no way he has enough insight himself to be able to say they are not worthy of a place on a 30-man panel, and surely it's a good thing that he is willing to take advice. What's the point in having selectors if he is going to be his 'own man'?

If anything I'd have thought that Cahill would have had a chat with Fanning or members of last years management team rather than people that had no involvement?

JesusRef

Obviously Liam Cahill called some players at the weekend and gave them the option to announce their retirement first as he was going to drop them otherwise.