The leagues and club scene in Longford at the moment is a joke. County players not being released for their club games makes no sense. Fair enough if it's the core 10/11/12 players that start every game, but not allowing extended panel to play club games is ridiculous - at senior and u20. Some u20 players were not permitted to play for their clubs over the past weekend, and then didn't even get named for the u20 game.
This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I don't blame any young players who give it up - county and club level. Train very hard early in the year, tog out for league games with depleted teams, and it doesn't even matter if they win/lose league games because all managers will say is "well done lads we're down numbers wait until our main lads are back we'll give the championship a go". - a mentality developed due to CB making a mockery of the leagues.
From what I've gathered over the years, and especially in division 2 possibly 3, is that the league is just not worth winning. Why would anyone go training 3x a week (4-6 hours total ) and do 3x gym sessions (3 more hours), to win their league go up a division and get beat with that stick back down the following year?
I understand that that is a hyper-negative take, but it's not far from reality at all. My solution to make the leagues more competitive is simple - split the divisions into and A and a B, based on where teams finish. If you win division 1B, you play division 1A next year. This would allow for clubs to have something to play for and gives a chance for the div 2 teams coming up to senior - they will be playing the lower tier / depleted senior teams. Why not try it, and if it doesn't work, just go back to original format.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I suppose it's a suggestion - let it be a good or bad one
Looking at named panels from senior vs Westmeath and u20 vs Louth, here is breakdown of players by club. All able senior players should have been released for rounds 3 & 4 of the league at least. Hard to understand how the quality of the game in the county improves by turning the league into a lesser competition without county players. No specific exemptions, an across the board approach that real world game time is better than having lads sat around for weeks doing nothing, or if you are a sub on the county panel sat around for months doing nothing.
Replying To Gaalongford1: "The leagues and club scene in Longford at the moment is a joke. County players not being released for their club games makes no sense. Fair enough if it's the core 10/11/12 players that start every game, but not allowing extended panel to play club games is ridiculous - at senior and u20. Some u20 players were not permitted to play for their clubs over the past weekend, and then didn't even get named for the u20 game.
This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I don't blame any young players who give it up - county and club level. Train very hard early in the year, tog out for league games with depleted teams, and it doesn't even matter if they win/lose league games because all managers will say is "well done lads we're down numbers wait until our main lads are back we'll give the championship a go". - a mentality developed due to CB making a mockery of the leagues.
From what I've gathered over the years, and especially in division 2 possibly 3, is that the league is just not worth winning. Why would anyone go training 3x a week (4-6 hours total ) and do 3x gym sessions (3 more hours), to win their league go up a division and get beat with that stick back down the following year?
I understand that that is a hyper-negative take, but it's not far from reality at all. My solution to make the leagues more competitive is simple - split the divisions into and A and a B, based on where teams finish. If you win division 1B, you play division 1A next year. This would allow for clubs to have something to play for and gives a chance for the div 2 teams coming up to senior - they will be playing the lower tier / depleted senior teams. Why not try it, and if it doesn't work, just go back to original format.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I suppose it's a suggestion - let it be a good or bad one"
There is a big commitment but in this current situation these lads are getting games at the moment. If county players were released more often the lads down the pecking order would get even less football. If the clubs weren't putting in the hours on the field and the gym the standard would be dropping even further so while it is tough for club players to keep on it probably isn't a good idea to put in a system that would encourage clubs to not work as hard in the earlier part of the season