Hammer Archer wrote: » Footballers league fixtures are (finally) out: Tyrone (A), Sunday January 26th, 2pm Donegal (H), Sunday February 2nd, 2:30pm Mayo (H), Sunday February 9th, 2pm Kerry (A), Sunday February 23rd, 1pm Galway (H), Sunday March 1st, 2:30pm Dublin (A), Sunday March 15th, 2pm Monaghan (A), Sunday March 22nd, 2pm
RugbyLover123 wrote: » Fairly certain we’ve had this jersey for 2 years
Cavan_King wrote: » How come Meath are getting a new jersey? Did they change sponsor again?
rpurfield wrote: » I think it is so far it's five dollars a month (the platform they use is American) and you get two or three a week. For example over the knock out rounds of the championship they had one podcast of about 45 minutes to an hour for each grade. They have player interviews etc on it too and to be fair to the lads they know their club scene. It will be interesting to see how they manage it now the games are winding down, they have said already they'll have Seamus Kenny on soon and it sounds like they will be looking to line up some former players too.
rpurfield wrote: » The We Are Meath Patreon podcast has it this week. I forget them all but two I remember are the chap from Galway that plays with O'Mahonys is in. So is a chap from Longwood Hugo Henry (I think Henry was his second name) he's a goalkeeper has played soccer with Dundalk too. Other names coming to mind are Jack O'Connor and Toner from Curraha, Morris from Nobber, Caolach Halligan, Donal Lenihan and Brian Conlan are also back in. There's a few more but names escape me. Adam Flanagan, Marcus Brennan and Shane Glynn have left the panel. I think there was one more name as well but I can't remember (again)
Hammer Archer wrote: » Think Biggy is gone.
Obrieski wrote: » Any word on additions or changes to the panel for next year? I would assume the lads are back training, or in some form of pre season / gym work?
Hammer Archer wrote: » As for Meath teams' performances in Leinster, I think there's a few reasons. Firstly, while I feel the quality of our senior football championship might not be great, its competitiveness compared to a lot of other counties is near the top.
CrabRevolution wrote: » Tipp's haul is plentiful compared to Meath. In 50 years we've 0 All Irelands, 4 Leinsters, and only 2 more Leinster final appearances!
windy shepard henderson wrote: » Look tipperary in hurling is the same, huge team intercounty wise have had very little succes at club level think 3 all irelands in total Meath would be the football equivalent in my opinion
CrabRevolution wrote: » Well we have 5 times the population of Longford so it'd make sense to have more clubs. (We've 52 football clubs in any case). Plus the winners of the last 5 Meath championships have been from towns with populations dwarfing Mullinalaghta, so I'm not sure if we can use that as an excuse.
Cavan_King wrote: » Too many clubs? For example, in the Kells area ya have Drumbaragh, Kilmainham, Gaeil Colmcille, abd then plenty of others nearby like the Michaels and the Ultans. It’s diluting the pool of talent for teams. There are 61 active clubs in Meath and only 22 in Longford where Mullinaghta won Leinster from last year.
vapor trails wrote: » Meaths deplorable recent run in the Leinster Club SFC continues. Really had high hopes for Ratoath but the damage was done in the first half following the text of the game. Does anyone have any theories as to why we can't get passed the 1st round?
Stationmaster wrote: » Do they get that much in their first year? Very hard to turn it down if you're a young lad.
The reason that the number of Irish going the Aussie Rules route has increased the last while looks to be due to the fact that the salaries at all levels have increased dramatically in the last few years. The rules were tweaked a bit so that international rookies salaries don't count towards the team's salary cap, which made it a more attractive for clubs to sign international rookies. The AFL negotiates a collective bargaining agreement with the Aussie Rules Players Union and these agreements are easily available. The following are the minimum rookie salaries as agreed in the collective bargaining agreements. These are in Australian dollars 2012 41,400 2013 49,200 2014 53,825 2015 56,275 2016 57,940 2017 71,500 2018 75,000 2019 75,000 2020 80,000 2021 80,000 2022 85,000 Using today's exchange rate of 1.5447 the table would look like the following in Euros. 2012 €26,801 2013 €31,850 2014 €34,844 2015 €35,890 2016 €36,965 2017 €46,287 2018 €48,553 2019 €48,553 2020 €51,789 2021 €51,789 2022 €55,026 Clear to see that the salaries have gone up significantly. Two big things to remember 1) the base salary is only part of the pie 2) these are the absolute minimums that the worst-paid are getting. Once you go past the rookie stage, the salaries on offer jump up significantly. For any of the rookies who signed recently and are starting in 2019 they will all have a two year contract. They will receive All relocation costs and "Player and Parents Travel" - basically whatever it costs to move out including flights. They also get "Reimbursement for the cost of any household item reasonably required by the Player in setting up living arrangements as a result of being relocated " up to the amount of $6,515 (or €4,218) They also get "Living allowance based on actual costs up to the following limit, excluding FBT which is to be borne by the AFL Club" FBT is tax so this looks like it is tax free. 2018 $10,686 (€6,918) 2019 $10,900 (€7,056) I'd imagine that this is mainly for rent, food, clothes, transport - basically €14k to cover that for the two years. From my reading, it also looks like each player is entitled to four return economy flights per year. The collective bargaining agreement also makes reference to pensions - not sure exactly how much if anything this is worth but the AFL must pay €15 million (€9.7 million per year) to fund these. AFL teams must provide "top-level" health insurance to players, there's also payments if a player is on the injured list. If a rookie player makes appearances for the senior team they also get guaranteed match fees - I think Mark O'Connor would have pocketed an extra $12,000 (€7,768) for his 6 appearances with the first team this year. There's also other bits and pieces - free tickets to games including Grand Finals, anything that's needed for training covered by the club, there's a whole weird section covering players getting paid for signing memorabilia, bonuses for best and fairest, bonuses for getting to the final four, but those are less relevant as regards lads who just go and do the initial 2 year contract. Any of the lads who are starting in 2019, do a two-year stint and don't even play for the seniors will get Salary 2019 $75,000 €48,553 Salary 2020 $80,000 €51,790 Salary Total $155,000 €100,343 They also get Relocation Costs - all covered Setting Up Living Cost $6,515 €4,218 Living Allowance 2019 $10,686 €6,918 Living Allowance 2020 $10,900 €7,056 Total living Allowance $21,586 €13,974 8 economy return flights to Ireland Plus other bits and bobs. If people don't think that's an attractive option for lads of 19/20, I don't know what to say. Once a player goes past the rookie stage (basically past the first 2 years) i.e. like Mark O'Connor the absolute minimum they can make in base salary in 2019 is $105,000 (€67,979) However I'd imagine this is very much the lowest possible starting point for negotiations. 9 players made more than $1,000,000 (€647,375) in 2017 with 2 players earning more than $1.2 million (€776,850) and the average salary in 2017 was $352,470 (€228,180) More than half of the AFL's players earned between $200,000(€129,475) and $500,000 (€323,687) 135 players earned more than $500,000 (€323,687) It's clear there is a significant amount of money on offer if a player does "make it". Agreement 2017-2022www.afl.com.au/news/2018-02-22/player-payments-revealed-millionaires-on-the-up
Hammer Archer wrote: » Whatever about McBride, by all accounts Nash is doing very well at Hawthorn. And chances are, even if he did leave Australia, he'd probably be more likely to get into rugby than football. Looking it up, it's a nice earner for a young player. Minimum $80000 per year, free car and rent for two years and three free return flights between Ireland and Australia per year for him and his parents. Honestly, if it's offered to you in your late teens, why wouldn't you take it?
