Struggling to field teams

Would be interested to hear from people invloved with clubs around the county on this one, particularly at underage level. I didn't really think it was an issue until I heard recently that Leixlip were unable to field an U-16 football team this year. I found that to be an incredible situation given the population in the area and the facilities at hand also.
This must be a concern for the county board. Anbody have any insight on the Leixlip situation in particular? If Leixlip are struggling i'd be surprised if smaller clubs weren't finding it difficult also

think it comes down to poulation demographics, leixlip was one of the fastest growing population towns in Ireland at one stage about 15-20 years ago because of the intel and HP and also the strong economy. as a result underage teams in leixlip at the turn of the decade were the strongest in the county because of the vast numbers to pick from.

Gradually over time this trend has diminshed as the population boom diminished with surrounding towns like Celbridge Maynooth and Naas experiencing vast population booms similar to Leixlip years ago and again are showing the rewards at underage level.

Its just a constant evolving cycle - from what i hear it is only u14-u16 teams that are suffering with numbers in leixlip whereas the underage structures are in a simalr position they were in 10-15 years ago.

you would still think they could get 15 guys to libe out. how are confey getting on? no room for 2 clubs?

U16 is defo the hardest age to keep interest in games. It is also gonna be difficult for small clubs as the u14 is on sunday morn. I know my club has several u14's on the team/squad. If the kid plays soccer or rugby thats asking kids for 3 matches in 24 hrs. Maybe the Feile comp could have waited for a month and play evening games?

any senior clubs been hit badly by emmigration

walsheman wrote:

any senior clubs been hit badly by emmigration

i rekon ballyteague are fucked anyway!

In leixlip from u-14 to minor level we are struggling badly to field teams. The majority of the current minor panel are 15-16 year olds with the few 17 year old. This is partly due to the rise in numbers of young lads playing rugby and soccer nowadays.

i'd say ballyteague are missing about 10 good players all to leaving the country and still have a decent side left too!!

Just looking at the teams taking part in the underage competitions
* 8 Clubs are fielding 2 under 14 teams (Sarsfields, Raheens, Clane, Maynooth, Kilcock, Naas, Moorefield & Celbridge)
* 5 Clubs are fielding 2 under 16 teams (Naas, Moorefield, Celbridge, Maynooth & Raheens)
* No Club are fielding 2 Minor teams

Not sure if these figures are better or worse than previous years but it highlights the fall off in numbers from 16 to 18 years of age which has always been a problem.

homerj wrote:

i'd say ballyteague are missing about 10 good players all to leaving the country and still have a decent side left too!!

Yeah we are after losing a few alright Gavin smullen been the main one, It looks like a lot of teams are going to struggle, prob has a lot to do with the age of the team if you have alot of young guys in early 20s with no ties and with no work they are going to go and in fairness you cant blame them.

lilypremier wrote:

In leixlip from u-14 to minor level we are struggling badly to field teams. The majority of the current minor panel are 15-16 year olds with the few 17 year old. This is partly due to the rise in numbers of young lads playing rugby and soccer nowadays.

Yep lilypremier, was talikng to a mentor from the minor team in leixlip and they told me that rugby and soccer are now where the young lads are playin terrible pity Leixlip used to be one of the best underage teams in Kildare up to a few years ago. There is a good numbers at the 8-12 age group but losing them at 14 needs to be looked at

bob12 wrote:

lilypremier wrote:

In leixlip from u-14 to minor level we are struggling badly to field teams. The majority of the current minor panel are 15-16 year olds with the few 17 year old. This is partly due to the rise in numbers of young lads playing rugby and soccer nowadays.

Yep lilypremier, was talikng to a mentor from the minor team in leixlip and they told me that rugby and soccer are now where the young lads are playin terrible pity Leixlip used to be one of the best underage teams in Kildare up to a few years ago. There is a good numbers at the 8-12 age group but losing them at 14 needs to be looked at

Lads, growing numbers participating in rugby and soccer might be a small factor in losing GAA players in Leixlip, but from the age of 16 onwards we lose the vast majority of players to drink, drugs, travel and women.................... in that order.

I've lost count of the number of promising players at U16 or minor who we have lost to these, however I can't think of many useful players we've lost to other codes? Maybe Brendan Burke and Stephen Gray the only two I can think of.

You have a point ElGuerrouj external activities are always there even in my day and that was a long time ago but clubs need to regenerate the whole underage system make it attractive to kids to saty off the 'streets' as it were.But getting back you your other point Burke was an exceptional loss to football had what it took to go all the way.

bob12 wrote:

You have a point ElGuerrouj external activities are always there even in my day and that was a long time ago but clubs need to regenerate the whole underage system make it attractive to kids to saty off the 'streets' as it were.But getting back you your other point Burke was an exceptional loss to football had what it took to go all the way.

I was involved with the underage training a couple of years ago when Divilly was head coach and it seemed organised enough but I'm hearing these days the underage training is a bit of a shambles. Also, I think they are finding it pretty hard to attract coaches to take on the jobs as well.

The fact we can't field an u16 team is an absolute joke, my year at u16 (which wasn't that bloody long ago) we had an u16b team as well which was well able to compete in the b championship! Don't know how things have deteriorated so much.

Bord Na nOg could do more to help clubs in this regard. For instance we had a couple of under 14 kids playing under 16 last Saturday evening, after playing a soccer match on Saturday morning. On Sunday morning the same under 14 lads had to play a Féile competition, which we lost. This was a game we would have expected to win, however the best players on the team were barely able to walk.
On the ladies side of things, they have amalgamated the Under 16 and Minor grades, so that you have a bigger pool to pick from. In previous years there was a girls competition in the spring at U12 U 14 and U16, this year it's at U12, U 14 and Minor, with a U16 during the summer. The summer (starts in June) U16 competition is based on a smaller team size, due to the amount of girls away in the Gaelteacht and Holidays. Another good idea that we could borrow from the girls is the idea of temporary transfers for particular competitions. Say we can't field a team at U16 level, in the ladies set-up those girls can go on a temporary transfer to a neighbouring club for the U16 competition only. They still remain members of their own club. This contrast with the mens side, where if we can't field a team, the lads can either look for a transfer or not play any football.
I am not saying the ladies side of things is perfect, however it obvious that clubs both big and small are struggling, and we need to come up with ideas to keep kids playing football,

ElGuerrouj wrote:

bob12 wrote:

lilypremier wrote:

In leixlip from u-14 to minor level we are struggling badly to field teams. The majority of the current minor panel are 15-16 year olds with the few 17 year old. This is partly due to the rise in numbers of young lads playing rugby and soccer nowadays.

Yep lilypremier, was talikng to a mentor from the minor team in leixlip and they told me that rugby and soccer are now where the young lads are playin terrible pity Leixlip used to be one of the best underage teams in Kildare up to a few years ago. There is a good numbers at the 8-12 age group but losing them at 14 needs to be looked at

Lads, growing numbers participating in rugby and soccer might be a small factor in losing GAA players in Leixlip, but from the age of 16 onwards we lose the vast majority of players to drink, drugs, travel and women.................... in that order.

I've lost count of the number of promising players at U16 or minor who we have lost to these, however I can't think of many useful players we've lost to other codes? Maybe Brendan Burke and Stephen Gray the only two I can think of.

I think the drink, drugs, travel women problem was a big reason for losing lads after minor level but I don't think it's the reason we can't field an U16 team.

The population of Leixlip hasn't changed much since you were U16 so the way I see it there are 2 reasons for the lack of numbers, either lads of that age in Leixlip aren't playing sport as much as they used to or they are playing for the likes of Leixlip United or Barnhall instead of Leixlip GAA. Lads will be attracted to play GAA if training is interesting and there is a strong team with a chance of success.

I see our most successful underage football coach is out training the hurlers, I think it would be a good idea to get him to get involved with training the under 14 football team and take them up through the age grades like he did in the late 90s. Not sure if he's interested but he certainly knows what it takes.