So you are too old/fat/unfit/ *delete as appropriate* to play?

Im 30 years old, havent played football since I was at school. Looking to get back playing, even just training with a team to see how I get on. I'm on the north side of Dublin, any ideas where I could start ?

Alaska1 wrote: »

What part of the Northside are you ?

Drumcondra/Glasnevin

TomKat wrote: »

Same here, haven't played since school. In that area too.... Na Fianna looking for ridiculous prices for membership. A postgrad student here by the way

Out of interest what embership price are they looking for?

It's €40 in Co Clare

Im from Crossmaglen so unless you're absolutely brilliant playing football is a bit of a no-starter. They tend to take it very seriously and I'd just be looking a bit of craic. I actually prefer hurling, used to play it in Uni but fat chance of getting a team down this neck of the country

how ya doin lads.
im livin on the northside, in artane.
I was wonderin if ya can suggest a club.

im quite unfit, and haven't played since i was about 10, so wouldnt be lookin for a high skilled team.

ive been lookin at the zip file, but finding it hard to make sense of half the websites.

whats the best way to go about it also?

thanks in advance for any help that can be given.

Here's a suggestion lads. Look at the local paper or contact your county board to find out what clubs have a team in the bottom 2 disivions. Call to the grounds any evening around 8.15pm and get the name and no of the junior manager. Then take it from there.

Br4tPr1nc3 did you have any luck?? I'm in the Raheny area - looking to join up somewhere beginner friendly too!!

Hi all,

Unfortunately Réalt Dearg were recently beaten in the county semi final of the Junior D championship halting our progress up the ranks. However we still remain in contention for the league final and with it promotion to AHL6 for next year.

Essentially Réalt Dearg is a club set up by players, for players. That sounds cliché but we really are run by the players. We currently field two adult Junior teams in League, Cup and Championship. A problem we face in the future is that as the players age and retire we may run out of players as our plans for underage teams are some way down the road yet. We're not here to poach anyones players, we offer a route into hurling for people who haven't hurled for a while due to work, travel etc or for people who can no longer afford to be going home to play while working in Dublin.

Our aim is to keep the club progressing up the divisions, right up to senior long term. To do this we will need an underage set up and this is something we are working on. However for now we to get more adult players involved. If you think you would enjoy junior hurling in Dublin or are just looking to try out hurling next Spring then please contact us and we'll stay in touch over the winter to let you know when we start back.

I appreciate this is very early to advertise for next season but even if you haven't hurled since U-16 you'd need a transfer form so we'd like to sort them out over the winter months so you're ready to go for the cup competitions in February. To contact us please email realtdearg.hurlingclub@gmail.com or visit www.realtdearg.ie and text/call one of the committee. Thanks for your support.

Sounds like you'd be a good fit with Réalt Dearg hurling club. Depends where abouts you are in Dublin but if you were on the southside it'd be handy enough for you and we always maintain a team that lads who are rusty can start back with. As we are hurling only you'd be able to play football with one of the football only clubs up the road too. Go to www.realtdearg.ie and email,text,phone one of the lads on the committee section. The more the merrier

Hi everyone,

Im 26 and have never played hurling more than pucking it about with friends. However I've always wanted to play on a team and I'm looking for a new sport to take up so, even though I suspect it's not feasible, I'd love to give hurling a go.
When I was younger I had some skill with the sliotar but nothing to write home about and by now I'd probably be at the level of someone ocming to Ireland and picking up a hurl for the first time.

Is there any hope for me? Do they even have leagues with a beginner level?

I've checked out Realt Dearg but sadly Im in Dublin 5 so it just isn't feasible. Are there any other teams that I might find a spot on? (After a few months work at it, obviously!)

The man in red and black wrote: »

If you're in Dublin 5 then I think Raheny are closest, they just beat us in the Junior D semi final so would have a Junior team for you to work into. Website is http://www.raheny.gaa.ie/teams/hurling

Alternatively Clontarf wouldn't be too far away, they have a team in Junior F so may be an even better starting point for someone that's been out of the game a while. http://www.clontarfgaa.com/

Best of luck with it anyway, you'd be amazed how quickly you'd get back into it. I used to think that it was too late to start/go back as an adult but after seeing some of the lads in our club it really is amazing!

Thanks very much for that.
What sort of standard is junior F? Would most of the lads have been playing since school?

When I say get back into it, I never played for a team. Just pucking it about a bit and wanting to be on a team but living in an area of Dublin where hurling wasn't even an afterthought! I'd essentially be a total novice if I went down.

The man in red and black wrote: »

What I've found as we've come up from Junior F to Junior D is that in every division you have 1-2 teams that are good junior teams that could play higher up the grades, 3-4 teams that are solid junior teams, and generally a couple that don't train at all that will ship some big scores. Roughly speaking of course!

We had a guy playing for our A team this year who only started hurling in 2010! We have plenty of lads on our B team who never hurled before too! We have a Canadian and a German playing. Think it was Civil Service who had a guy from Argentina and I can't remember who we were playing when the corner forward was a very fast Chinese guy. There's plenty of room to take up hurling now, just give it a go and get into the training as much as time allows. Contact your local clubs, there's probably more than Clontarf/Raheny with junior teams in your area, and see which one is most welcoming and go see what it's like

I take a lot of heart from the fact that people not from Ireland were able to pick it up, give me some hope I guess
How long did it take the those guys to get to a standard where they could be competitive in games?

Cheers for the advice anyway, I really appreciate it. I'll definitely give it a go. I had a look online and Naomh Barrog (who are a 5-10 min walk from my front door) also have a team in the Junior F so I can see which is better suited/welcoming to my level of ability.
Very lucky to get 2 clubs so close to me with Junior F teams I suppose!

When will clubs most likely be starting pre-season for next year?

The man in red and black wrote: »

It depends on how much time you can give to training, obviously the lads who were able to train twice a week were showing the greatest improvements and were able to to get stuck in after a few weeks/months of pre-season. Most clubs will probably start some light training in February as the cup competitions start then. They're really considered a friendly competition but it's useful to get matches so early in the year. Each club is different, some clubs may not start training hard until championship starts in March/April. Depends how well the players wintered

Great stuff. I'll keep pucking it around until then with more of a focus on what I'm doing than usual rather than just lashing it around.
Thanks for all the help!

One last question (apologies!)- I currently have an elverys torpey hurley, which I know is a poor piece of kit but is fine for pucking it around. But would I be better served getting a decent one from a proper hurley maker and practising with that over the winter?
I was told a lighter one is easier to use when controlling the sliotar etc, and that's an area I'd need to drastically improve if I was to stand any chance in Feb/March.
Not sure on what constitutes a light hurley but the one I have now is heavy enough that I don't have accurate control of it when I'm at full stretch/have it above my head.

The man in red and black wrote: »

It's hard to advise someone else on a hurl but if you think it feels uncomfortably heavy it's probably best to consider something lighter. If it's only for pucking around with over the winter and you want to keep costs down the hurls in lidl aren't actually bad, have a good root around in them though as they can be hit and miss similar to the Torpey hurls. A lighter hurl may suit you better as you hope to get your first touch settled.

Thanks very much, for all the answers. I appreciate you taking the time. Just sorry Im on the wrong side of the city for Realt Dearg! I'd be down in a flash with an attitude that helpful and welcoming. Best of luck with it all, great idea.