Well his comments before the league final were well vindicated.
Plus most Cork fellas would agree with him about our underage structures. In fact I'm delighted someone in the national media is highlighting it.
Would say similar.
Why is the obvious decline in the game in Cork not of concern to anyone who loves the game.
Frank is obviously a major part of it but he's just the figurehead for the luddites in Cork GAA. If you look at club hurling here, that's not Frank's doing & there seems a dearth of deep thinking about the game.
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Originally Posted by auch
No I never said people who go to collage deserve to get good jobs I was only asking who spent all those years in college to be left without a job in there givin area.
Why is the obvious decline in the game in Cork not of concern to anyone who loves the game.
Frank is obviously a major part of it but he's just the figurehead for the luddites in Cork GAA. If you look at club hurling here, that's not Frank's doing & there seems a dearth of deep thinking about the game.
Would have to agree with you. Say what you like like about Mr Frank but its not his problem the like of the Barrs and the Rockies are doing so badly.
But they seem to be doing badly because they've taken their eye off the ball at underage. Thats got nothing do with whether they love or hate Frank.
Blackrock are doing quite well at underage, especially Féile and u16 for some reason. Avondale and Con are screwing them after that though. Especially Con and their play rugby only policy after 18.
Blackrock are doing quite well at underage, especially Féile and u16 for some reason. Avondale and Con are screwing them after that though. Especially Con and their play rugby only policy after 18.
its not avondale & con ffs, if it was I doubt if con would still be welcome to the annual dinner? and anyway how many do they actually loose to rugby/soccer? especially as those seasons are almost over when gaa starts.
There is a good thesis there for any sports student as to how blackrock with a thriving underage scene are such a joke at senior level.
THey have the biggest catchment area of any club in the county and still wont be far off relegation again this year.
They are a bit like the ccb do, absolutely arrogant and unable to even see that there is a problem, they even got rid of michaels down to mahon
Not sure what to say to you mate, as of right now Blackrock are the best team in underage hurling by far, presumably they've just after getting their act together recently, but they've definitely after getting their act together. I doubt they were ever that poor at underage level though, and certainly they've never been as bad as the Barrs and the Glen are right now.
However, I think people somewhat misdiagnose just as to why the traditional clubs aren't as good as they once were. Its not as simple as saying lads aren't interested in hurling any more, or that the clubs aren't trying. By all accounts the second point isn't true at all. Things maybe aren't as negative as people say - Rockies and to a lesser extent Na Piarsigh and Douglas are doing fine underage, and the smaller clubs like Mayfield and Brian Dillons aren't exactly disgracing themselves. The Glen are struggling badly underage but they still have a very good senior team (imo) and Na Piarsigh likewise. The Rockies have a lot of talent coming through and will be fine in a few years and in general the age profile of the city clubs is young. The Barrs are a tragedy but they are basically a football club at this stage through their own choice, evidently.
Anyway, I'm inclined to think there are three things that are putting city hurling in a negative light. First, city club successes in the past were built on lads from the countryside coming into playing for the Barrs, the Glen etc for a few reasons (like work, or because of a lack of players in their own club) - this has changed completely and the rural clubs have just being equalising the playing field over the past 2-3 decades.
Second, schools are no longer providing academies to clubs any more, like the Mon and Na Piarsigh. A massive amount of new schools have been created and some have lost interest in the GAA. This is a problem throughout the county but it seems particularly acute in the city with lads from one club often spread across 3-4 schools, or else one school only picking from a small amount from a handful of clubs.
Third, the increasing suburbanisation of Cork city and the surrounds over the past decade in particular places like Carrigaline, Carrigtwohill, Midleton, Douglas etc means that people have either moved away from or not moved into the big three hurling clubs catchment areas and instead gone to these massive suburbs close to the city. The exact same thing has happened in Dublin where they were smart enough to focus in on these new super-suburbs. Very simply, for demographic and educational reasons almost completely outside a lot of the big city clubs control, the hurling talent in Cork has become scattered throughout the county where once, 3-4 decades back, it was focused primarily in the city.
As such, I don't think the problem necessarily is that the city clubs are weak so Cork hurling is weak. I don't think its relevant and people who suggest such a thing seem to be living in a bygone era. We had loads of city lads on the Minor panel last year, hardly any this year and the difference was zero. Our problems stem imo from the fact that we fell completely behind other counties in underage prior to the second strike, that our schools are completely uncompetitive and that we keep giving our underage jobs to inexperienced managers. These are generic problems for Cork hurling stemming primarily from the inefficient system running underage hurling in the county.
How do we solve these problems? Well there are too obvious things - (a) in future get experienced people in looking after our underage teams at both U-18 and U-21, people who have been successful with senior and intermediate clubs over a number of years - the likes of Ricken, Paul O'Connor, Toms Mulcahy etc. There are plenty out there even if these lads don't want the job. The selectors should be picked from the people who have worked with past development squads and recent inter-county stars. And (b) create two Cork city schools amalgamations, one in the south and one in the north (people better acquainted with the city then I might work out who should join with who).
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