Moving my kids to another GAA club

fatherted1969

You need to be registered with your club to be covered by insurance, there's loads of examples of clubs having to cover costs of an uninsured player. Don't go down this route.

In my county boys can only transfer during the month of January, not sure if this is the case in every county.

farmerval

In my County underage players can transfer at any time provided they have not played championship for their current team in the current year. e.g. they cannot play in a championship with two different clubs in one year.

Here in a dual county hurling and football are separated in the Calender and not all clubs have teams in both at all ages, so transfers are regular enough, e.g. a player that prefers hurling might be in a club that doesn't have a hurling team in their age bracket might transfer to a club that does.

The standard procedure is the club you wish to join sends the form to the County Board who contact the club you were with, and if they sign off all is well and done.

threeball

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119282465#Comment_119282465

The first club rule is certainly beneficial but its far too strict. There are plenty of cases where the kids just aren't compatible with the club due to ties elsewhere, not having friends there etc. and I know of one situation where the club isn't fit for purpose, Constantly not fielding, conceding games, randomly dropping age grades. Kids shouldn't have to deal with such environments and county boards should have enough cop on to deal with clubs like that and do the best for the kids involved.

theoneeyedman

Ultimately, you as the parent of the kids will decide who the kids play with, not the club who they have played with or anyone else. It just depends how much hassle you are prepared to cause to get your way.

There are rules and County bye laws, but ultimately the law of the land is what takes precedent. My own club has rightly and wrongly been involved in a few of these cases, and once parents dig the rules are meaningless.... Threaten to get the lads with the wigs involved and you'll see.

I'd normally be against getting legal eagles involved, but this rule is a very blunt instrument for today's society, with mobile families and different societal changes. Most officials know this and are very fair-minded, but all it takes is one asshole with a bit between his teeth to cause a lot of hassle.

deiseindublin

Some counties have Parish rule, others don't, so it sounds like yours does.

I'm presuming that, with five children, you are hoping to transfer both boys and girls, so don't forget that you will have to transfer for all three associations, which all happen at different times of the year. If you want transfer to go through without current club approving it/signing form you will have to find out the different lengths of time that you can't have played a competitive game with all three associations also. My advice would be to contact the country registrar for GAA, LGFA and Camogie and get the definitive answer.

TAFKAlawhec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119310559#Comment_119310559

The law courts on both sides of the border generally don't get involved in such cases that you mention above as they (quite rightly) don't get involved in the rules of private groups and associations with the exception of demonstrating visible harm or discrimination because of the rules they set i.e. they don't determine what group of membership can is provided. Some arsehole may try and threaten the legal route and while some might fold in the face of this others will simply tell them "Go ahead!" knowing that they'll likely win and get their costs covered. In any case, a failure to constructively go through the rule book regarding membership & transfers in the GAA both through the Official Guide & local bye-laws up to & including the DRA will highly unlikely impress a court of law. As it is, the DRA has in the past passed at least one verdict on a matter such as this and IIRC they determined that the players in question would have to formally nullify their GAA membership first, nothing that simply not paying annual membership dues with the last club you paid them to doesn't cease your membership of the GAA.

As it is, in most Ulster counties at least transfers of youth players away from their first clubs tends to attract very heavy scrutinty even when the club being left by the player has no objection to the transfer. Quite often a youth transfer will only be sanctioned by the county if it can be unambiguously shown that the player looking to transfer to a new club is now permanently living in the catchment area of the new club and has done so for a minimum time period e.g. three months. If even a sniff of cute hoorism is suspected in trying to get the transfer approved, it'll be immediately rejected.

Personally, all parents/guardians wishing for their child to get involved in GAA sports should be aware of the rules regarding youth transfers at both central and local levels if they have any idea that they might want to move them to a different club in the future. If you don't like the current rules, then either don't have your children get involved in elements of the association that you'd rather not wish to be associated with, or get a club in question to propose an amendment to either their county for local bye-laws or for the GAAs annual congress to change the Offical Guide on how such transfers are handled. Contrary to what many parents in such scenarios think, your child in over 99% of cases isn't deserving of special treatment when looking a transfer.

Uncle Pierre

^

Excellent post above.

And for what it's worth, it's not just Ulster counties where transfer applications for underage players are properly and thoroughly scrutinised according to the rule book. You can't just up and move from one club to another because of a personal grievance or some other such issue, no matter where you are in Ireland.

arctictree

Surely in this day and age, it should be soley up to the parents of a child where that child should play? Child welfare/safety should be the priority.

theoneeyedman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119455903#Comment_119455903

It is.

It's not a professional sport, there are no contracts, and we don't live in the 1930's where where are defined family units that last a lifetime. People move, go to different schools, circumstances change, and for the most part players are rightly allowed to play where they want.

You do get lugs like the Killerrerin chairman who recently tried (unsuccessfully I may add) to dig his heels in to make an example of Shane Walsh, but ultimately while they can make it awkward of they feel like it, the player will play where the player wants to play, or else the player will just decide they don't want the hassle and give up on the game altogether.

I can understand up to a point why the GAA try to to maintain the parish unit, but increasingly, the parish has become less relevant in general. Many families wouldn't know or care what parish they live in nowadays.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119456251#Comment_119456251

Why would the Killererin chairman be trying to prevent Shane Walsh leaving Kilkerrin-Clonberne?

FlubberJones

Tell them to go and f*ck themselves and introduce the kids to a proper sport like football or rugby... all that bollox about the 'parish'... what a crock of inbred shite

crossman47

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119458551#Comment_119458551

I presume your tongue is firmly in your cheek.

crossman47

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119458606#Comment_119458606

Its a worthwhile protection against bigger clubs hoovering up all the best players in the neighbourhood.

StupidLikeAFox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119458606#Comment_119458606

My nephew was on a very successful underage team in rugby up until he was around 15, then they lost 5 or 6 core players who went off to play for better clubs or schools teams and the club had to start from scratch. The same happened to the local soccer team when I was in secondary, they had a great team until few were picked up by academies in home farm, St pats etc and the local team fell apart.

I know its unlikely to be much comfort to the op but this is exactly what the gaa is trying to avoid, and they are pretty good at it

arctictree

I can see both sides to the transfer arguments.

There are two clubs near me, club A is very successful, has a great juvenile setup and plays in division I (and also has 2nd teams in lower divisions). They form the backbone of the county team too at all age levels. Club B on the other hand plays in division 6 and struggles to field teams. I cant remember the last time they had a player in the development squad.

I can really understand why a promising young lad would not want to play with Club B. On the other hand, club B needs these players. Its a hard one to call.

theoneeyedman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119458551#Comment_119458551

A typo, of course, no intention to beamirch the Killererin Chairperson in any way, assuming they are not involved in this saga 😂

By and large, protections against needless transfers, especially from smaller clubs to bigger ones, where players will fall out of the system somewhere along the line inevitably.

My point is that the parish rule is a poor mechanism nowadays. There are always ways around it, I've seen a So called bigger club poach 14 year old from us for instance, where the lads head was turned by a family member, and because his mother was born in that parish he got his transfer eventually (following a pretty overt threat of legal action.). As usual, the rulebook can always be beaten if there is enough pressure out on, and the threat of a long public battle (eg if poor Johnny has his picture in the paper saying the big bad GAA man won't let me play football with my friends).

threeball

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119459903#Comment_119459903

Sometimes Club B need to get up off their hole and actually put the work in to create the structures needed to hold on to players. There's far too many clubs that exist for the sake of it. Held together for the ego of a chairman who knows nothing about running a club but likes his name being front and center. If you are a child unfortunate enough to be born within the grasp of these lugs then it can be an near impossible situation. Kids caught in clubs with no nursey set up who decide they'll start entering teams at u12, can't field a team most days, disappear again at u16 only to resurface at junior. This is what some kids are told they have to put up with and no real way out without kicking up an unmerciful sink.

TAFKAlawhec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119458606#Comment_119458606

That'll be football (soccer) & rugby (union, I presume) that limit what countries you can represent at international level?

ReinaAbella

Since September 2022, I’m in coordination between the two clubs, and two coaches for my son's transfer - Under 14. At that time I was advise to send the form and when I send the filled form to Kill Club, they (KILL Secretary, through the Coach) informed me that the form is invalid due to a wrong version for 2023 transfer. So I went back to the website to look for 2023, but at that time it is not yet available. After that I don’t hear anything between coaches on when the form will be available on the website. We are new here and we don’t know the whole process, we are dependent on what the coaches will say. We don’t have direct contact to the Secretaries of both club. On Feb, 03 Naas Coach asked me, if the form was went thru the process and all I thought the form submitted on Sep,2022 will represent the transfer and it only a matter of replacing the 2023 Form. In fact there is no change on the content at all, just version. On that night itself I filled-up the 2023 form, submitted to Kill and Naas for them to process. After few days they came back that the deadline was on 01-Feb and we missed it!

We appeal to GAA Kildare County Board, Secretaries of Kill and Naas and they decline us twice. I’ve spoken also to Leinster GAA but they said they can’t do anything on the decision/rules of each county. I even contact the County and GAA National for 'Child Welfare and Protection', but we don't hear anything at the moment.

We knew Kildare GAA has set-up a rules, but we did not initiate this transfer overnight. My son is very devastated, very down at the moment, he can't accept the fact that he can't play matches for a year. We also received a message from Kill coach that his transfer is rejected this year and possible to be rejected also next year. Very sad to know how they run this organization.

Hope someone can give us advise on how we can help our son based on their experienced.

Thank you so much in advance.

brokenbad

What does the club Child Welfare Officer have to say on the issue?

Its hard to fathom the politics of the GAA sometimes - even at underage levels......

Uncle Pierre

Would say this is a case of rules rather than politics. Seems the poster - admittedly through little or no fault of her own - missed this year's deadline for transfer applications.

Unclear too that grounds they were seeking a transfer on. May not have been valid grounds, therefore transfer request may not have been approved.

Also, find it somewhat strange that she claims "no direct contact" with either Secretary. No reason for a coach in any club not to give the name and number of a Club Secretary, if asked. In addition, contact details for all Club Secretaries in Kildare are given on the Kildare GAA website: https://kildaregaa.ie/clubs/

ebbsy

The club secretary of the "receiving" team certainly cannot be seen to be urging a transfer.

The secretary of the "departing" team certainly will not be helpful.

That is why the player has to put in the transfer themselves.

If the departing club refuses to give permission then it usually comes down to address.

If the departing team cannot field a team then it is all systems go.

In conclusion it all comes down to the actions of the departing team.

Tommy Max

What age does transfers come into play if a child is moving club?

Is a transfer required at u8, u9, u10 etc or is it only if a child has played at u13 grade for their current club?

Uncle Pierre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121330469#Comment_121330469

It's at U12 level that the 'First Club' rule kicks in - i.e. once you play in an official match at U12 for a club, that becomes your official 'First Club', and you need a transfer if you ever want to move on to another.

Note that it doesn't matter if a child is only 9 or 10 years old at the time they line out for that U12 match - the deciding factor is that they've played at U12.

Note too that you need to be eligible to play for that club in the first place. For instance, in a county with a traditional and literal application of the 'Parish Rule', you can't bring a child to play Go Games with the club in your own parish at age 8, 9, and 10, but then decide you just don't like that club and start bringing him to the club in the next parish over for U12 games instead.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120358230#Comment_120358230

I think (if the story is correct) rejecting paper work on a version number when you've not made the correct version available, only to say it's too late when it is. Seems very convenient. Not least if there's no difference between versions.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119455903#Comment_119455903

That's one side of it for sure.

The other side of is people taking advantage of the system for competitive advantage.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119456251#Comment_119456251

The system really is out touch with the reality of urbanisation and migration.

Tombo2001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121334101#Comment_121334101

We have local local lads playing soccer who are trekking across Dublin to play for Shamrock Rovers youth teams, because they consider themselves Elite. And maybe they are Elite.

But the great thing about the GAA is that you dont really have that at all. At underage at least, players may move for a variety of reasons - but getting headhunted by or wishing to join a really strong club is not one of those reasons.

What this means in practice is that - at underage in Dublin and I am sure elsewhere - its quite random who has the best underage teams at anyone time. Just depends on what crop of players that club has at any given time (as well obviously as the wonderful coaching).

One issue with this level of rigidity is however that you will have kids who want to leave a club for valid playing reasons or for social reasons; and that type of kid - if they are told, well you'll have to wait 9 months, and not play gaa for 9 months - then they will walk away and take up another sport, or worse again they will give up playing sport.

heftie

Hi Help required ,

Applied for a transfer for my son , he's 12 - got shot down by the CCC under rule 6.2 ( can think why ,he lives in the area since birth, I'm from the area he's not within 6km of any club , satisfies all the points of rule 6.2 - appealed the decision, ruled out of order because Hearings Committee wouldn't accept me signing on behalf of my son ( who is 12 years old) - no have to go to Provincial Council to appeal on a procedural issue - they didnt follow their own procedures but yet i've no avenue of appeal within the county - has anyone any idea what legal recourse i might have to put my side of the appeal forward - any help appreciated??

celt262

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121838561#Comment_121838561

Has the young lad played competative football for his current club?