I can see some merit in the actual grading of this competition but the Ulster Council are pulling a fast one here.
Basically they will name a date in July for semi finals and then two weeks later have the finals, relegation/promotion games.
All they are doing is giving up 2 Saturdays in the year (it will be Saturdays because they need to get their blazers on for the free feed etc at the Sunday football) then they run off down to Dublin and say that they held and Ulster Championship.
The wording was ridiculous when they said it could be "run off quickly". Basically just get it out of the road and tick that box please. They say it will help clubs. Total crap. it will help football clubs yes but at the same time they take 10 weeks to run off their football competition.
This is an absolute whitewash to get their little box ticked and backs slapped. And they know that too
The format is fine bald eagle, no-one could really argue with it as it makes sense in respect of not having annihilations and making matches competitive.
However, will it improve standards or the profile of hurling in Ulster? I don't think so hence my previous post about it being cosmetic.
I know im stating the obvious here but we need kids right across all the counties in ulster including antrim and particularly Belfast picking up a stick at primary school. Quite a few primary schools in Belfast wouldn't know one end of a stick from another and those that do are depending usually on a teacher coming in for a few years who has played the game pushing it, if he leaves then hurling dies again in that school. Some clubs, but not all, send coaches to schools but im not even sure how often they visit, maybe once a week which as you know is simply not enough. This is where central and ulster council should be stepping in to work alongside the clubs by providing full time coaches maybe twice a week to supplement the time clubs are trying to put in to their local schools.
Until we address the real issues the format for UHC is/has and always will be irrelevant in my opinion.
I already said it can only be an improvement based on the fact that theres more teams involved and Antrim are treated the same as every other team in it. I also made the comment that the success of this Ulster Championship and its timing is paramount as we've seen in the past teams getting six days notice of when a game is to be played not to mention the shambolic Ulster championship final that was played in February of the following year and was squeezed in the day after Down played a Kehoe cup match as it suited Kevin Ryan and Antrim.
The Ulster council and a lot of the county boards in Ulster have a lot to answer for when it comes to hurling development, club fixtures and coaching. Only the other day the coaching and development officer in Down put out a spreadsheet of the upcoming coaching courses on offer within the county, there was probably forty odd courses on it, do you know how many were dedicated to hurling? ONE, yes ONE solitary course and we'd the Director of Coaching and Games Development in Ulster congratulating him on getting these set up, obviously blinded by the big ball. Laughable if it wasn't so blindingly obvious at times.
I think its a good idea especially antrim not getting a buy into ulster final, if its a open draw and fermanagh get drawn away to antrim is that really going to help them? Should we not invite london back yes i know we treated them badly a few years ago but we need a better standard, do we have a few counties joining up? Something needs to be done but this is a start.
"Surely you'd let Fermanagh hurlers decide if they wanted to play Down or Derry or what not, no?"
YES and 31 member out of 32 in the GPA voted for no second tier competitions. They have spoken.
Playing better teams only improves 'weaker teams' Look at world rugby and the argies. Look how Fermanagh celebrated after losing to dublin last year, a game no one thought they would win so why even bother playing it? If it happens again where a small team in any code is massive underdogs and in for a 15 point hiding just give the dubs, kerry, kk etc a bye! That is what ulster is doing
At 4pm Saturday 21st November 2015 Cumann Pheadair Naofa GAC are hosting a unique hurling event in which a St Peter's/Ulster Select will play a Kilkenny legends team in a one off hurling 'Legends' match. The Kilkenny panel includes legendary net minder James McGarry, a full back line of John Tennyson, Michael Kavanagh and Noel Hickey, a half back line that would grace many current county teams of Tommy Walsh, Brian Hogan and JJ Delaney. Derek Lyng will marshal the midfield whilst up front they boast players of the quality of Aidan Fogarty, Martin Comerford, Eddie Brennan, DJ Carey, Charlie Carter and Henry Shefflin.
The Ulster team is made up of county players spread from throughout Ulster including; Conor McKinley, Ciaran Clarke, Odran McFadden and Chris O'Connell of Antrim. Sean McCullagh, Ruairi Convery, Kevin and Liam Hinphey of Derry. Fintan Conway, Paul Sheehan, Danny Toner, Ciaran Coulter and Stephen Keith of Down as well as county players from Armagh, Fermanagh and Donegal (Sean McVeigh of St Eunan's and Danny Cullen of Setanta). "