We all have opinions on the best way to run competitions in the county but what is most disappointing is that clubs have decided to stay with the status quo. It sends out a clear message that change is almost impossible to get through all the various committees.Why would anyone bother proposing anything new. Can clubs not see that the GAA is slowly becoming the third sport of choice for many of our better young athletes. Change is needed to our structures to attract the better players and while the proposal wasn't very radical it was a change and would encourage other changes needed particularly at underage.
Amalgamation is the answer to a lot of the problems with smaller clubs and I cant understand why more clubs dont follow the Na Fianna example. This change in the championship structure would have fast tracked that decision for many of these clubs but instead we will have these same clubs struggling to stay in Junior A and complaining year after year how unfair it is to have second teams from senior clubs competing with them .

Poormouth (Meath) - Posts: 204 - 22/03/2016 18:01:36    1836858

Poormouth


Indeed,your first line is very worrying.As you say,they are happy to keep the system the way it is.Thats because these clubs want to stay in their grades with little chance of going down.Instead of trying to work hard and get better,they would rather go through the motions.Even a suggesting of a new structure will take years now imo,but what annoys me the most is that this notion passed and still it won't go ahead! I don't understand that.

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 22/03/2016 18:25:14    1836868

Seems to be a determination for this county to not move on and stay behind the times.Between the clubs and county board they clearly only care about themselves and not Meath football or hurling for that matter as a whole.

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 22/03/2016 18:31:20    1836871

Poormouth

Change is needed to our structures to attract the better players.

Changing structure doesn't mean clubs will attract better players at the end of the day lad's and clubs put in the best effort they can. To see people on here question clubs commitment in regards training hard is very harsh. If you went to any GAA pitch on any evening you will see lads working hard at training. The pitch might not always be full but the players and management are trying their best and doing what they can too try and win.
There is a change needed in championship structures in meath but a quick fix of mass relegation isnt the answer. It needs to be done on a much longer term basis, there is no I want it and I want it now fix for meath football at the minute It needs a longer 5-10 year plan in place.

glover (Meath) - Posts: 24 - 22/03/2016 19:02:27    1836881

What difference does it make whether it's done over 1 or 5 years? The same teams would get relegated no matter what.

All this fiasco has done is identify how many unambitious small time clubs we have in the county. Too many clubs are delighted at winning 1 match a year and staying in their current grade. Finish 2nd last in your group and it's job done, you can enjoy the winter and get going again in January. That's the stagnation and lack of drive that's killing us in football terms.

I'm actually surprised that clubs explicitly stated that survival at a higher grade was more important than winning. If that attitude has been let take hold throughout the entire county then there must be no hope.

CastleBravo (Meath) - Posts: 1644 - 22/03/2016 19:34:47    1836892

The reason for clubs changing their mind is actually simple. They voted for it before the league has started, lose a few games and suddenly its panic stations, thinking they might be dragged into a relegation fight. all's it takes is a bad year with injuries and a club could easily find themselves in the mire doesnt mean their unambitious. Could easily happen to bective or dunsany relatively strong junior clubs.

glover (Meath) - Posts: 24 - 22/03/2016 19:49:02    1836904

So a committee is set up, they consult all the clubs in Meath and invite recommendations from all living Meath gaels everywhere. They come up with a report and recommendations based on the findings and feedback and report back to the clubs. Then in the first month its submitted to the Executive and both them & the club delegates overwhelmingly vote in FAVOUR of ALL the committee's new proposals.
Subsequently theres rumblings from an unknown alleged number of smaller clubs. They allegedly have decided they now dont like the outcome of the majority vote.
So the following month the Slane GFC delegate seconded by an other meath gael is allowed to submit a motion to overthrow the newly voted in structure in its entirety. The vote this time is a 100% reversal of the committee's work & the previous majority vote and ALL committee's changes are dead forever. .....UNLESS.... MAYBE....say Next month..... another club MIGHT NOT like the result of this vote ... and so they COULD .....put down a NEW motion to overturn the Slane GFC's delegate's motion and..... then that will be allowed based on the SlaneGFC precedent and .... can be carried on another majority vote.
And all the while the separate Football Steering Committee has nothing to say publicly about any of the changes.
Considering all the above events, the floodlights saga, halving of sponsorship money & senior mgmt/ lack of on field success, imho sadly we have reached our lowest in living memory.

meath1967 (Meath) - Posts: 56 - 22/03/2016 21:08:08    1836929

Well said

Analyst (Meath) - Posts: 1467 - 22/03/2016 21:59:03    1836942

i agree that change is needed but the proposals were too radical not every club voted the first time i think 7 or 8 abstained why did it have to happen in one swoop? radical change like this is not gonna improve our county teams, it might make the senior champonship more competitive but overall its investing in underage development is the key

srgt_slaughter (Meath) - Posts: 462 - 23/03/2016 08:24:21    1836947

And people wonder why other sports in the county like soccer and rugby are taking all the talent..

Irish_downunder (Meath) - Posts: 630 - 23/03/2016 08:35:12    1836950

Meath1967 -

Excellent post - and I would add in a reference to the state of the stand in Pairc Tailteann - its an embarrassment to host home league matches and stand on the terrace and look over at a dilapidated structure that is 30 years past refurbishment, our County Board needs to get its act together !

Royal_Rover (Meath) - Posts: 72 - 23/03/2016 09:42:17    1836959

re Srgt_slaughter

To my knowledge there was an option with the original proposals to either go for the all in one swoop or to stagger their implementation, the delegates voted for all in one swoop ...

Analyst (Meath) - Posts: 1467 - 23/03/2016 10:18:42    1836979

Meath1967- The clubs voted to change and then they voted not to change- Can you tell me which vote was democratic and which one was not? or was one vote more democratic than the other one!
I think that we should not relate to lights on PT with changes in the running of the championship as we have enough confusion without introducing 'red herrings'. The clubs did not vote or have much say in the lights being taken down and not being repaired (I'm not aware of any vote on that issue!). My concluding point on this matter is that there are great advantages in democracy but there are also disadvantages.

browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2342 - 23/03/2016 10:48:47    1836999

I agree Browncows, however the county board executive should have been on the ball and anticipated this turnaround and had an alternative motion in place to keep the new changes at least alive. Much like in the Dail when the opposition have a motion the government will make their own motion and get it through.

Very very bad management at county board level. Seperate from the issues with the team but all of it leaves me with a bad taste in the mouth regarding the state of Meath GAA.

Probably awkward for the Chronicle to row in on this but they need to man up and start calling the situation for the debacle it is.

oldsam_newsam (Meath) - Posts: 638 - 23/03/2016 11:49:36    1837019

I agree with Oldsam..

In general in the past year or so,I have never seen such negativity in the Meath GAA circles.Its very difficult to see or find positives anywhere and its leaving the paying fans very numb.At every avenue it seems everything is crumbling down around us.

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 23/03/2016 12:33:43    1837031

oldsam_newsam - I don't disagree with what you are saying. However I do think that when a new format is proposed the guys who proposed the format should spend some time selling the benefits to the clubs before a vote is taken and in that way you have a better chance of success -maybe its a good lesson going forward. Ziggy, I do not see much negativity within clubs although county is different matter.

browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2342 - 23/03/2016 13:15:57    1837043

Analyst royalrover ty browncows I wouldnt have any interest in discussing the democratic values of either of these votes. You said it I never mentioned democracy. Re floodlight s as you said red herrings, eh no they are but one of many examples of lack of leadership and common sense in last 15 years at least. There is more tangible evidence of leadership and esp. Common sense in my clubs juvenile committee than shown at top in Meath. And yes royalrover you are absolutely right re Stand in PT. We can add this as further evidence of the prevalence of the Peter principle at work in Meath. I'm sure there's more so until there's a serious change of attitude and clear out of mediocrity and old men's thinking, my efforts and many of my colleagues will be exclusively for my club.

meath1967 (Meath) - Posts: 56 - 23/03/2016 13:34:03    1837048

I think that is championships were seeded next year than this newly proposed format would be a fair one, lets face it if the relegations are staggered over 3-5 years then the so called 10 year plan is 15 years away!! The bottom line is as everyone has said, teams win one match to survive (relegation play off) and are happy being senior, yet if they had to fight to win a championship it would improve the team as a whole, and fight they would have to, look at ratoath scraping by Don/Ash second team in junior final........ 3 years later they demolish nobber in inter final. That junior final win di alot for those players id imagine, making them realise that they need to work to get the credit the might think they deserve. A good few teams in senior especially could do with the same wake up call and have to battle against the teams they thing they are so far above

ratlag (Meath) - Posts: 557 - 23/03/2016 13:50:18    1837054

Browncows - However I do think that when a new format is proposed the guys who proposed the format should spend some time selling the benefits to the clubs before a vote is taken and in that way you have a better chance of success

If you knew anything about this process (which you clearly don't) you would know that there was a meeting in Dunganny before Christmas, hosted by the CRC and laid on specifically so the clubs could listen to and consider the proposals, air any concerns, and go away to think about everything before deciding what way to vote.

The blame for this debacle lies squarely with the clubs & club delegates, not the CRC who, as far as I can see, did everything they could to engage with the clubs and keep them informed at all stages.

BarneysTie (Meath) - Posts: 258 - 24/03/2016 09:54:09    1837230

In my opinion the proposal was the safest bet. Just add another championship grade and that well make meath football better. How? What was their reasoning? Does anyone really think reducing teams would better football in the county? Their reason for not proposing the kerry format is that there's too much games in a calendar year for it to work. Well that's easy to fix in my opinion. 1. Reduce the leagues by adding another league div 5. 2. Scrap cup comps. This frees up time for a regional championship in which good young players in lower grads can compete with senior players in a competitive competition. My reason for league reduction is there are at least 4 games in each div that are points hammerings benefiting no one. The two cup comps are unfair and favour the stronger teams. In my opinion they failed in there task and that's why we have the embarrassment of last week. The blame lies with crc and not delegates. The delegates can only take the blame for agreeing to it in the first place not the format or lack of it.

username.if (Meath) - Posts: 67 - 24/03/2016 11:05:22    1837257