If you are to include casual players on one side, you need to do so for all. Regardless, those playing 5-a-side and such are revenue generating for the clubs involved so shouldn't be used as a justification for additional funding for those clubs.
€3m for league of Ireland football academies.
- Thread starter Brendan Burgess
- Start date
I have never seen GAA football, hurling or camogie played either in a gym , community hall , small sized Astro pitches or 5 a side pitches .
It’s telling that in any space I played small sided games I’ve seen football goals & basketball hoops but never Gaelic Goalposts , because of it’s physicality GAA football and the preponderance of high balls is totally unsuited to either indoor or small sided Astro pitches and as for Hurling & camogie !
I think it’s obvious that most small sided games are football games played by a huge number of people.
Some junior clubs do indeed have Astro pitches and make a few bob , more power to them but the vast majority of small sided venues are owned by schools , communities, local authorities or private enterprises.
A couple of LOI clubs have artificial pitches but the majority do not .
It’s telling that in any space I played small sided games I’ve seen football goals & basketball hoops but never Gaelic Goalposts , because of it’s physicality GAA football and the preponderance of high balls is totally unsuited to either indoor or small sided Astro pitches and as for Hurling & camogie !
I think it’s obvious that most small sided games are football games played by a huge number of people.
Some junior clubs do indeed have Astro pitches and make a few bob , more power to them but the vast majority of small sided venues are owned by schools , communities, local authorities or private enterprises.
A couple of LOI clubs have artificial pitches but the majority do not .
Try a tour around places like Kilkenny where the kids playing on greens or against gable ends is a common site. Regardless, in the context of funding, how are you proposing funding would be allocated to such casual participants?
Most likely, but that is self-funding. It doesn't make any sense to use the numbers participating in such activity to determine what funding should go to a completely unrelated organisation. Where I live, if you were to target funding at numbers playing 5-a-sides on astro, it is the GAA clubs that would get most.
My contention is that due to fact that the huge popularity of small sided indoor and Astro football means many more people participate in football than all GAA sports combined not that such casual participants should benefit from Government funding , that would be simply ridiculous.
Indeed Kilkenny is simply over the bridge from us and yes you see kids swinging hurleys all the time although currently their kids aren’t a patch on Waterford’s - the current All Ireland minor champions.
The Kilkenny & district league have 24 Junior clubs catering for adults , those clubs provide 180 schoolboy & schoolgirl teams playing in a multitude of divisions, there are also competitive 5 & 6 a side leagues , leisure leagues & floodlight leagues .
When I was a teenager in Waterford the thought of that many teams and leagues in Kilkenny was simply unthinkable, the spread of football outside the traditional strongholds has been hugely encouraging.
Funding should be confined to LOI clubs , Junior Clubs & Academies .
Indeed Kilkenny is simply over the bridge from us and yes you see kids swinging hurleys all the time although currently their kids aren’t a patch on Waterford’s - the current All Ireland minor champions.
The Kilkenny & district league have 24 Junior clubs catering for adults , those clubs provide 180 schoolboy & schoolgirl teams playing in a multitude of divisions, there are also competitive 5 & 6 a side leagues , leisure leagues & floodlight leagues .
When I was a teenager in Waterford the thought of that many teams and leagues in Kilkenny was simply unthinkable, the spread of football outside the traditional strongholds has been hugely encouraging.
Funding should be confined to LOI clubs , Junior Clubs & Academies .
Fair enough, but this is a thread on funding, so we shouldn't be talking numbers of casual participants, and funding for organised clubs should be based on their playing numbers .
I can bring any doubter here to some GAA clubs that use good indoor facilities for hurling and using goal and points goal-posts and fake grass, I know Assiciation Football clubs have indoor facilities too. Some policing of government grants is needed but the bottom line is the funding is mostly deserved and required. It’s good value to the tax payer too - sporting clubs are saving people from prison, drug abuse, excessive gambling, etc and promoting positive behaviour in our youth. Take the funding away and look at what’s left.
The Connacht Dome was hugely popular while it lasted too, even holding inter-county games.
I don't know about that. I think I'd rather be known as a failed footballer
