Football Development Squads

Can see both sides of that coin lads we have a terrible habit of building up teenagers in this county.

I think it's best to keep these things out of the media. 16yos have enough to be dealing with without having their performances disected in the papers or on the internet (this isn't Hoganstand afterall).

Other counties not so far away from us have ruined a generation of players by building them up as young lads telling them the world was at their feet. Lads at that age should be kept well grounded.

I don't see what's wrong with putting a little bit on the County website saying these lads have done well and your money is well spent. You don't have to go overboard but a little encouragement and recognition could give those teams that extra boost.

If the lads are playing and winning but nobody acknowledges their good work it may put some of them off putting in all the effort. You don't need to single players out but a general this team is doing well.

Its surely a great honour for anyone to play for their County, and if you asked any young lad they would say the same, and I am sure would be happy to be named as having won a Leinster as part of their County Team.
Club reports week in and out name players as part of there match reports in the local press, again lads are delighted to get reconition.
The Leader has maybe 3 pages covering underage soccer etc, why not more highligthing of our County Teams.
I agree totally with Ogie on this one. and it might help with fundraising if people know how well its been used to develope players.

There is a simple solution

One additional person for each Squad with the task of reporting.

How about it Rex & SeamusMurphy, all that would be needed would be to attend each session and report

kelf wrote:

There is a simple solution

One additional person for each Squad with the task of reporting.

I though we were trying to cut costs not add to them ...... or are these unpaid positions kelf.

Seriously though, we should be promoting the development squads better. Last years u/16s went the whole year unbeaten including winning the tournament in Cork which was an unofficial All-Ireland if I'm not mistaken. Yet there was hardly any coverage of this.

As someone said earlier young lads like to see a bit of recognition for their efforts. I don't think anyone is suggesting that their individual performances be analysed/criticised in detail but a general piece every so often on how the squads are progressing wouldn't go astray.

Fear an G

Unpaid, of cours and no exes Volunteer.

Thats how I operated for 35 years !!!!! Now retired and leaving it to the young bloods.

A little publicity would not harm those kids but as someone warned dont go the way of the noisy neighbouurs !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This idea of the media dissecting under-16s and what not, to be honest I have never ever come across criticism of a minor team, any feature was always easy going and any match report only gave credit and never placed blame.

kelf wrote:

There is a simple solution

One additional person for each Squad with the task of reporting.

How about it Rex & SeamusMurphy, all that would be needed would be to attend each session and report

Kelf, not sure if your being sarcastic there but if I could ditch work and spend my time writing about football matches I'd be gone in a second.

I understand that there is no one to write about them but a paragraph in the Locals or on the County's website stating who the two teams were, the score and so on.

Rex

Not being sarcastic, that would not be fair to you and the many other serious fans who share their opinions here.

I'm just making the point that unless someone takes on the role we wont get reports as most mentors just dont do it for many reasons mostly not having the confidence, just not thinking of it or deciding not to have publicity.
Some ot the people on here just might be interested in giving a hand

kelf wrote:

Rex

Not being sarcastic, that would not be fair to you and the many other serious fans who share their opinions here.

I'm just making the point that unless someone takes on the role we wont get reports as most mentors just dont do it for many reasons mostly not having the confidence, just not thinking of it or deciding not to have publicity.
Some ot the people on here just might be interested in giving a hand

This crap we keep hearing about lads being volunteers and doing it for nothing as an excuse for people not doing their jobs winds me right up. It's endemic in the GAA because there is a perception that they are entitled to the coverage. People talk about there being so much soccer coverage on the radio and local papers - that's because it's provided free of charge. Fixtures, up to date tables, countless reports, within hours of the games finishing.

If it's a vice chairman's job to look after fixtures and collate tables, they should be done on a weekly basis. If it's a PRO's job to publicise, that should be done. If they can't do it, they should not be in the job.

Look at the GAA website... don't bother actually, there's no point. When is the last time you saw a league table apart from what the good lads here manage to put together? Being a volunteer is no excuse. Being an amateur organisation is no excuse for being amateurish.

As for publicising the development squads, you're not talking about bigging lads up. You're talking about letting people know that a Kildare team beat Meath and Dublin to win an U16 Leinster title. That the U15s have beaten Louth, Westmeath and whoever, that the U17s have been in Tyrone or wherever... so people know there is proper work being done. That is all.

Ogie

The Vice Chair & PRO are unpaid volunteers

There were a number of events on last week-end

The Fund Raiser at Naas Races
Under 21 Championship games

were all on Sat as were 2 Blitzes

so PRO could not be everywhere. Thus an extra scribe to do a few lines and pass them to the PRO and/or the papers, KFM, the website would help
Was the PRO even told the Blitzes were on. I know from time as a club Sec that things like blitzes happened and I was not told, the info went directly to the mentors who never thought of informing or reporting so I'm not blaming without knowing !!!!!!!!!!

Couldn't have said it better ogie

kelf wrote:

Ogie

The Vice Chair & PRO are unpaid volunteers

There were a number of events on last week-end

The Fund Raiser at Naas Races
Under 21 Championship games

were all on Sat as were 2 Blitzes

so PRO could not be everywhere. Thus an extra scribe to do a few lines and pass them to the PRO and/or the papers, KFM, the website would help
Was the PRO even told the Blitzes were on. I know from time as a club Sec that things like blitzes happened and I was not told, the info went directly to the mentors who never thought of informing or reporting so I'm not blaming without knowing !!!!!!!!!!

As its Underage squads, this should be covered by the Bord Na nOg PRO...

[/quote] As its Underage squads, this should be covered by the Bord Na nOg PRO...[/quote] bet they didn't even know it was on....

[/quote] This crap we keep hearing about lads being volunteers and doing it for nothing as an excuse for people not doing their jobs winds me right up. It's endemic in the GAA because there is a perception that they are entitled to the coverage. People talk about there being so much soccer coverage on the radio and local papers - that's because it's provided free of charge. Fixtures, up to date tables, countless reports, within hours of the games finishing. [/quote] well said ogie

It never fails to amaze me though as to why people take on the role of PRO and then don't answer their phone, can't attend games, don't know the team is playing....

If there are 4 0r 5 selectors over these teams, surely one of them is keeping the score, statsman, or whatever you would call him. Am i wrong also that each squad has a fulltime Kildare GAA Coach to assist the selectors?
Dont see the excuse to be honest, and to add to Ogies point, every Club has a PRO and the majority do a decent job without getting a shilling. I applaud the selectors for giving there time, but how long would it take to send an email to the head of the Development squads, so that he could then email the papers and KFM about up coming matches, results etc. Surely people would love to go and watch these lads playing and support (If They knew in advance).
And why not a regular section in the Leader / Nationalist weekly, on the Development squads goings on, like they do for the Kildare academy (soccer )?

Look, the point is that someone either has the responsibility, or they do not.

Thanks for repeating what I said Kelf about the unpaid volunteers. I don't know why, but anyway, that's common knowledge. But why take on the job if you're not able to do it? If the job entails keeping the league tables up to date, surely that's what you do. Surely not being paid doesn't mean you decide not to be arsed? And who said being present was a prerequisite for doing the PRO's job. And why can soccer and rugby officials do their equivalent jobs infinitely better, while also unpaid volunteers?

And yes, it can be a selector doing a report. Or it can be a liaison officer. Or someone within the development system. Or it can be Santa Claus. But right now, it's nobody, so it comes under the remit of PR. Don't think it would come under Bord na nÓg because that only goes to U16. But really, it shouldn't be separate reports, it should be an overall development section report, giving a rundown of teams played, results, competitions, guest trainers that have attended etc.

It is terrible when so much of the GAA has moved with the times to be more professional but so much of it is amateurish, and that has nothing to do with money.

Yea terrible

but if none of the current Dev Squad mentors will do reports then would an extra person with each having that responsibility not be worth considering ?????????????????

kelf wrote:

Yea terrible

but if none of the current Dev Squad mentors will do reports then would an extra person with each having that responsibility not be worth considering ?????????????????

absolutely. But who needs to make that decision? The decision-makers. there's no point the U15 mentor/liaison/all-round-good-egg doing one, and there being nothing for 16s, 17s - what you need is a drip-feed of info on how the overall thing is going. One person doing the job. But there is no-one in place. It's very simple. What's more, it has been discussed many times by people within the system. It's not seen as important. It's insane. I know a guy who started doing a little bit but it seems to have stopped again. He was doing it to help out. But it needs to come from the top. Leaders are supposed to lead and decision-makers are supposed to make decisions. How can people not see that this is very important. And they wonder why they can't raise money? It beggars belief.

IT does seem that the promotion and reporting of development squads is being over looked at the moment perhaps the answer is to have someone in an overseeing roll of dev squads and part of the remit would be the reporting etc. Its the mentors job to keep the players feet on the ground and not loose the run of themselves. With this in mind it was great to Johnny Doyle at the coaching seminar today working with the u/17 squad as he's probably the perfect role model'

Lads is alan dunny not head over coaching and development within the county along with head coaching officer noel mooney, surely them are the lads that call the shots with regards to promotion and reporting of the progress of all development squads......

Who needs to make the decision: The decision makers:

So see if "ur" Clubs' Delegates, the decision makers, are willing to do their JOBS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For 14's & 16's One delegate to make the proposal at a Bord Na nOg Meeting, preferably proposing 2 names as well

For Under 17's: One delegate at a County Board meeting doing similar.