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Westmeath Forum

Format Of Club Championships 2020

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Talk of 2 rounds of championship in April club window ? Also rumours that underage reverting to odd age groups (comes up every year of late) Don't think there was much progress on this at the county convention on Sunday gone. Assume it will be January before any draft proposals get circulated. BigSur (Westmeath) - Posts: 659 - 16/12/2019 13:59:01 2255145 Link
Replying To BigSur: "Talk of 2 rounds of championship in April club window ? Also rumours that underage reverting to odd age groups (comes up every year of late) Don't think there was much progress on this at the county convention on Sunday gone. Assume it will be January before any draft proposals get circulated." Re 2 rounds of championship...assume hurling. Nothing wrong with way football is rang over the last 2 years in new format. Regards underage, another disaster in the making with underage teams left hanging re team managements and the like guessing if odd or even teams. Groundhog day year 3 for this malarkey. Convert2 (Westmeath) - Posts: 16 - 16/12/2019 14:42:32 2255157 Link
Football championship has been excellent in its own right for the past two seasons but we are a dual county competing at a high level in both codes and the dual players/clubs are looking for changes to current format. Leinster club championship next year has been brought forward so fewer Sundays available for fixtures. Meeting with clubs last Thursday was divided close to evenly on the issue. Dual players can't be expected to play 10 championship matches inside 6-7 weeks like previous years. No easy solutions. Bellewest (Westmeath) - Posts: 150 - 16/12/2019 16:25:40 2255167 Link
Replying To Bellewest: "Football championship has been excellent in its own right for the past two seasons but we are a dual county competing at a high level in both codes and the dual players/clubs are looking for changes to current format. Leinster club championship next year has been brought forward so fewer Sundays available for fixtures. Meeting with clubs last Thursday was divided close to evenly on the issue. Dual players can't be expected to play 10 championship matches inside 6-7 weeks like previous years. No easy solutions." If the football championship has been excellent over the past 2 years don't change it. Why not play 2 rounds of hurling in April? And start football in July. I think players from both codes would rather play games every week in the middle of the summer than go back training in January trying to get in shape for 2 games in April and then 2 months without a championship game and then try get in shape again. If you move games to April you will also lose out on the league that has been brilliant over the last 2 years. Games would go into December like they used to Temple56 (Westmeath) - Posts: 44 - 16/12/2019 18:29:30 2255194 Link
As I pointed out in earlier post we are a dual county and our hurlers play all of their important championship matches from the beginning of May and for three out of four weekends thereafter. Shane O' Brien and selectors unlikely to facilitate this while Jack Cooney and co have free access to the footballers. That's why clubs were being asked to consider at least one round of each code in April, possibly two as club players would rather two rounds if they're training to get fit for championship. There are no easy solutions. Bellewest (Westmeath) - Posts: 150 - 16/12/2019 18:43:45 2255199 Link
Replying To Bellewest: "Football championship has been excellent in its own right for the past two seasons but we are a dual county competing at a high level in both codes and the dual players/clubs are looking for changes to current format. Leinster club championship next year has been brought forward so fewer Sundays available for fixtures. Meeting with clubs last Thursday was divided close to evenly on the issue. Dual players can't be expected to play 10 championship matches inside 6-7 weeks like previous years. No easy solutions." Why not play one game of hurling and football in April. If a team loses 2 games in April then lads wont bother training untill July. I dont know why we have to bother with leinster club why not nominate a team for leinster and then we will have no time limit for our own club championship Moorehead (Westmeath) - Posts: 105 - 16/12/2019 18:44:41 2255200 Link
Not participate in Leinster club? A ridiculous suggestion. Surely county champions deserve to compete against champions in other counties. It would be a shocking indictment of our ability to organise games were that to happen. Westmeath clubs have a decent record over the years in Leinster. Bellewest (Westmeath) - Posts: 150 - 16/12/2019 22:57:00 2255247 Link
Replying To Moorehead: "Why not play one game of hurling and football in April. If a team loses 2 games in April then lads wont bother training untill July. I dont know why we have to bother with leinster club why not nominate a team for leinster and then we will have no time limit for our own club championship" That is a ridiculous statement. Teams earn their right to represent their county in Leinster and take massive pride in that. But okay let's pull a teams name out of a hat for the craic and allow them to play in a competition they don't even deserve to be in. Iarmhi04 (Westmeath) - Posts: 27 - 16/12/2019 23:36:38 2255251 Link
That suggestion re Leinster club is complete nonsense. With regard to the club championships, I think it's cutting it very fine to not have made a decision so far. These days pretty much all coaches will have their training for the year planned in order to peak at the right time. Changing the timing of the championship at a late stage throws all of that out the window. If they are to change it then it has to be done before the New Year in my opinion to give teams enough time to adjust their plans. anon (None) - Posts: 327 - 17/12/2019 09:47:44 2255290 Link
Replying To anon: "That suggestion re Leinster club is complete nonsense. With regard to the club championships, I think it's cutting it very fine to not have made a decision so far. These days pretty much all coaches will have their training for the year planned in order to peak at the right time. Changing the timing of the championship at a late stage throws all of that out the window. If they are to change it then it has to be done before the New Year in my opinion to give teams enough time to adjust their plans." this goes on every year in Westmeath especially with underage competitions and age grade the decision should be made in October/November when clubs are winding down for the winter, and not left until spring. valley84 (Westmeath) - Posts: 1708 - 18/12/2019 10:29:07 2255451 Link
Replying To valley84: "this goes on every year in Westmeath especially with underage competitions and age grade the decision should be made in October/November when clubs are winding down for the winter, and not left until spring." Agree, way too late in January deciding on underage age teams. Clubs will push back on odd ages and want even ages at present due to short timelines before season starts.. Not fair on clubs to be left hanging for 3rd year in a row. Trainers of teams need to know what ages they will be or not training. Convert2 (Westmeath) - Posts: 16 - 18/12/2019 13:45:28 2255483 Link
Minor Board looking for a new chairman after Niall O' Brien stepped down. He did great work as chairman over the past three years, a time consuming job, chance for Valley to put his name forward and bring about the necessary changes he pontificates about here on a weekly basis. Bellewest (Westmeath) - Posts: 150 - 18/12/2019 18:02:32 2255515 Link
Replying To Bellewest: "Minor Board looking for a new chairman after Niall O' Brien stepped down. He did great work as chairman over the past three years, a time consuming job, chance for Valley to put his name forward and bring about the necessary changes he pontificates about here on a weekly basis." At a guess id say he will join a long list of guys who became mentors, managers to county underage squads with good ideas and end up frustrated . Another good man whose heart was in the right place, but he got handcuffed everytime he tried to bring about real change. Musical chairs will start now to fill that. Thechick (Westmeath) - Posts: 53 - 18/12/2019 22:39:01 2255551 Link
Replying To Thechick: "At a guess id say he will join a long list of guys who became mentors, managers to county underage squads with good ideas and end up frustrated . Another good man whose heart was in the right place, but he got handcuffed everytime he tried to bring about real change. Musical chairs will start now to fill that." Like Johnny Greville. Think what you like about him he's a serious coach and manager. How he won't be involved in hurling in our county next year is incredible LockLeanGayl (Westmeath) - Posts: 60 - 19/12/2019 23:09:09 2255646 Link
Ref the Underage set up - It's been a complete disaster across all the counties. Should have been made compulsory instead of this ad-hoc nonsense. So many counties, whose county boards who are controlled by 2/3 clubs, have the say. In my own county we opted to remain - which was no surprise as the club's most affected at minor and U-16 would have been the major clubs in the county. Maroon Heaven (Westmeath) - Posts: 23 - 22/12/2019 10:51:52 2255865 Link
Replying To Maroon Heaven: "Ref the Underage set up - It's been a complete disaster across all the counties. Should have been made compulsory instead of this ad-hoc nonsense. So many counties, whose county boards who are controlled by 2/3 clubs, have the say. In my own county we opted to remain - which was no surprise as the club's most affected at minor and U-16 would have been the major clubs in the county." Re underage and being controlled by stronger clubs, patently not true. Almost all clubs want the current even ages to remain in situ. As someone a long time involved with attending minor board meetings there's no appetite for the odd ages by clubs. Biggest problem is senior county board wants to steamroller it thru anyway. As can be seen by adult meeting and county AGM, no is listening to underage reps. U19 will not work with players in college and being a way during week for games and training, just afob off to clubs to keep them happy. Convert2 (Westmeath) - Posts: 16 - 22/12/2019 15:01:31 2255888 Link
Replying To Convert2: "Re underage and being controlled by stronger clubs, patently not true. Almost all clubs want the current even ages to remain in situ. As someone a long time involved with attending minor board meetings there's no appetite for the odd ages by clubs. Biggest problem is senior county board wants to steamroller it thru anyway. As can be seen by adult meeting and county AGM, no is listening to underage reps. U19 will not work with players in college and being a way during week for games and training, just afob off to clubs to keep them happy." U19 can work when other grades are in place We need to have B competitions though and even a C competition to provide games to this age group Basically underage clubs in the county have not been able to arrange challenge games against neighbouring counties for the last 2 years due to using the even age groups Clubs have had to travel to Dublin or Galway for games of hurling Plus underage tournaments have been difficult to run and invited clubs in has been hard valley84 (Westmeath) - Posts: 1708 - 23/12/2019 14:04:05 2255981 Link
Has there been any update on the potential April fixtures yet? Maybe there has been and I've missed it. It's the middle of January now and teams really should know whether they will be playing championship in 3 months or 6. anon (None) - Posts: 327 - 15/01/2020 09:31:54 2259904 Link
Replying To anon: "Has there been any update on the potential April fixtures yet? Maybe there has been and I've missed it. It's the middle of January now and teams really should know whether they will be playing championship in 3 months or 6." I think the decision will be made next week. A lot of teams back training anyway just in case. Looking like 2 rounds of football and possibly one hurling? soreknee (Westmeath) - Posts: 117 - 15/01/2020 14:39:40 2260007 Link
Replying To soreknee: "I think the decision will be made next week. A lot of teams back training anyway just in case. Looking like 2 rounds of football and possibly one hurling?" Id say Jack Cooney and O Brien will love that!!! the21yardline (Westmeath) - Posts: 119 - 15/01/2020 16:49:30 2260033 Link