Hoping someone can help with the following.
I am living on border between 2 counties. We will call them counties x and y.
Officially our address is County X. My son has started primary school in parish in County Y recently and I would like him to play club football with club in same parish in County Y as that is where his class mates will be playing and also i am actually from county Y. We are welcome at both junior academies however I have been told that because our address is officially County X we will have to join club team in same parish in County X when he reaches an age where he is starting to play for the club. Obviously this is his first club! Can anyone tell me if he is eligible to represent club in parish where he is attending school?

GreenGael (Meath) - Posts: 108 - 25/09/2013 19:45:32    1489499

Play him in a club thats in County X (Louth) and not in County Y (Meath).

OLLIE (Louth) - Posts: 12224 - 25/09/2013 20:22:48    1489524

give club y your home home address and thats that. the way you are talking this may be u-6/u-8 agegroup. the only thing is then your alligence( sorry bout the spelling) will always be first club. in fairness, at that age group most clubs wont argue in order to promote the game for youngsters/

luimneachboy (Limerick) - Posts: 242 - 25/09/2013 20:25:15    1489531

I'm very ofay with all the rules of eligibility ( I've encountered many):-

Firstly a player can join any club ( that thing called parental wish - has a massive pull/call/ on the outcome of transfer or eligibility
2. A player is not officially registered with a club until they have played competitive football/hurling/camoige etc - ie a player can register with a club at 7/8/9/10/11/12 - go games is not competitive football - so a player doesn't need a transfer - this is not just an Armagh or Ulster thing, but can leave if they haven'y played competitive

3. Now what I encounter and is becoming more prevalent is a player playing hurling in one club in one county and football in another club in the neighbouring county, e.g. Newry Shamrocks have a football/hurling teams and attract a number of young hurlers from south Armagh ( even though we have Klieavey and Craobh Rua) and play football with their South Armagh clubs,
4. Now there are young south Armagh lads on Down teams in hurling and Armagh teams in football ---- confused yet!!!!

cuchulainn35 (Armagh) - Posts: 1673 - 25/09/2013 20:27:41    1489537

The parish rule only kicks in after a player has been registered with the club i.e. when his or her name appears on an official team sheet for a competetive match usually U 13's. Up untill that point your son is free to play for any team in any parish or county.

Once he registers the parish rule will count if he subsequently wishes to move clubs.

We had an interesting one recently. A lad requested a transfer to our parish rivals. The lad actually lived in a neighbouring parish.

Neither club objected to the transfer but the County board refused the transfer as they deemed it as a move outside of the even

though he was not a registered player for any of the clubs from his own parish.

My experience is that you should always let them play for the local club as this allows them to mix better into the local community.

I had a similar issue with my own children. We moved out to the country but the kids continueed to attended school in my home town

when it came to football I decided to let them play for the local club and it was the best decision as the integrated fully into the

local community. Don't let your own club or county loyalties get in the road.

Skillful_Bill (Tyrone) - Posts: 102 - 26/09/2013 09:32:18    1489658

Meet me for a pint in the Grasshopper (in Clonee) and we'll discuss it.

BlackAndBlue (UK) - Posts: 100 - 26/09/2013 10:17:33    1489694

green gael, the answer to your question is to look at the forgotten man of Mayo football Tom Parsons... His club, Charlestown Sarsfields straddles both Mayo and Sligo. Could've played for either Curry in Sligo or Charlestown. Schooled in Charlestown and played with his buddies as a child and as a result donned the Sarsfields shirt even though the magpies claim him as one of their own.

ceefarr (Mayo) - Posts: 39 - 26/09/2013 11:09:38    1489723

How would the parish rule work in Britain? It is a law unto itself.

shabba (Down) - Posts: 55 - 26/09/2013 12:12:48    1489778

Thanks for replys lads. Sent an email to county board and got a reply saying that young lad has to live in County Y to play for a club in county Y. So rightly confused now.

Does anyone remember the case in Kerry a few years ago involving 2 young lads who wanted to play for Listry which was nearest their home rather than the parich club Ballhar. Kerry county board voted and said the lads would have to play with the parish club.
Maybe it is different when the 2 clubs in question are in same county??

GreenGael (Meath) - Posts: 108 - 26/09/2013 13:38:56    1489841

Parish rule lads is no longer the name for it. The " Catchment area " replaced it a couple of years back. You can register your child with club Y and all will be fine if no club that Y play against objects to your son. X club cannot object unless X play Y in a match that your son plays in. So its all down to the relationship and understanding between X and Y. There are a lot of players not playing for the club in whose catchment area they reside in and if the other club is ok with that then you are fine.

Clubgaa (Limerick) - Posts: 879 - 26/09/2013 15:02:15    1489951

There's an page looking to add all the club catchment and parish boundaries: www.gaafans.com

JXV (Mayo) - Posts: 39 - 22/11/2018 18:23:17    2152147

You play for your parish. He will make new friends and will be the better for it.

icehonesty (Wexford) - Posts: 2550 - 22/11/2018 21:26:35    2152167

Never heard of any parish rule in Wicklow. You play for one club, doesn't matter where you live. Sure we have lads living in Dublin playing for our club.

liam500 (Wicklow) - Posts: 175 - 22/11/2018 21:50:55    2152170

I know it's not the question at hand here but parish rules really annoy me. Gaelic clubs should exist for players not the other way around. Everyone should be allowed to play for whoever they want.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4217 - 22/11/2018 23:12:52    2152179

i have often wondered how the club boundaries are drawn in dublin?if there are any?

perfect10 (Wexford) - Posts: 3929 - 23/11/2018 09:08:34    2152188

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13707 - 23/11/2018 10:53:15    2152202

Kurt_Angle (Dublin) - Posts: 567 - 23/11/2018 11:05:43    2152203

In fact, I played for a club in the next parish for my whole playing career, nothing was ever said about it. I can think of loads of examples of lads I played with/against that lived in different areas than their clubs. In fact, this parish rule just seems bizarre to me. Maybe it's a rural thing?

liam500 (Wicklow) - Posts: 175 - 23/11/2018 15:04:16    2152243

arock (Dublin) - Posts: 4896 - 28/11/2018 00:49:36    2152675