HoganStand GAA Football and Hurling

Meath Forum

No Semi Finals/ Finals In Some Underage Competitions.

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I notice in the u13 football/ hurling competitions this year there was no knock-out stage, the team that finishes top in the group stage are deemed to have won the competition. For me this was a very bad idea (this was a common complaint I heard on the sideline of these matches), teams that lost a few games had little to play for and lost interest a bit. Each division should have had knock out games to look forward to at the end of them, I hope they don't organise them in the same way next year (there should also have being knockout 'shield' games for the teams in the bottom half of the table). bdbuddah (Meath) - Posts: 1402 - 22/10/2023 14:12:11 2509628 Link
Replying To bdbuddah: "I notice in the u13 football/ hurling competitions this year there was no knock-out stage, the team that finishes top in the group stage are deemed to have won the competition. For me this was a very bad idea (this was a common complaint I heard on the sideline of these matches), teams that lost a few games had little to play for and lost interest a bit. Each division should have had knock out games to look forward to at the end of them, I hope they don't organise them in the same way next year (there should also have being knockout 'shield' games for the teams in the bottom half of the table)." Kind of crazy if the reason is the county board have decided kids at this age are not competive and just want to just fulfil fixtures rather than try to win out completions. I had a child playing at age level and not having chance at a final kind of ruined the later games. GreenMan1987 (Meath) - Posts: 53 - 17/12/2023 21:24:37 2517236 Link
The message from the county board is that this is in line with national policy to have less pressure on young players, remove the win at all costs mentality. I personally think it's nuts. One of the best competitions is the Cumann na mbunscoil competition where you have 100's of children representing their schools in real competition, some as young as 9 or 10. There will be joy and disappointment along the way but that's sport. The tears will always dry up quickly when the boys and girls get their can of coke and a bag of crisps or a trip to Supermacs with the team. That's the stuff they remember. Another reason for no finals is the lack of availability of cups and county board representatives to present them on final day. The CB have been giving out about clubs not returning cups in prior years, to the point where winning clubs were asked to supply their own cup for the presentation. This is just bad planning and an unwillingness to put a process in place. GoalsWinGames (Meath) - Posts: 305 - 18/12/2023 10:59:21 2517271 Link
When it was announced that there would be no semi-finals and finals at U13 level this year, there were a lot of clubs unhappy and in contact with the juvenile board. The reply from official level in Meath was that it was a Croke Park ruling and that their hands were tied. Lo and behold, every county that borders Meath then proceeded to have U13 knockout games - Louth, Monaghan, Cavan, Westmeath, Offaly, Kildare and Dublin. The rule in question says that underage competitions must be run on a league basis. Nowhere does it say that finals cannot be held but that was the interpretation of the Meath juvenile board. Roger (Meath) - Posts: 479 - 18/12/2023 11:17:15 2517276 Link
Replying To Roger: "When it was announced that there would be no semi-finals and finals at U13 level this year, there were a lot of clubs unhappy and in contact with the juvenile board. The reply from official level in Meath was that it was a Croke Park ruling and that their hands were tied. Lo and behold, every county that borders Meath then proceeded to have U13 knockout games - Louth, Monaghan, Cavan, Westmeath, Offaly, Kildare and Dublin. The rule in question says that underage competitions must be run on a league basis. Nowhere does it say that finals cannot be held but that was the interpretation of the Meath juvenile board." I cannot believe that. Sounds like they just could not be bothered seasiderblues (Meath) - Posts: 353 - 18/12/2023 11:45:54 2517282 Link
They'll probably argue it will teach them the importance of winning. Irish_downunder (Meath) - Posts: 642 - 18/12/2023 12:07:14 2517287 Link
Its weird that nationally u13 are deemed as non competitive but primary school games are!!! hedgefund (Meath) - Posts: 12 - 18/12/2023 15:29:50 2517311 Link
Is u13 non-competitive? I am sure there are finals in Dublin and they are doing alright seasiderblues (Meath) - Posts: 353 - 19/12/2023 07:48:39 2517360 Link
What's even more ridiculous is that each county is allowed do their own thing regarding age grades, for example in Meath it could be U15, U17 (Minor), U19 while in Kildare, they could do U14, U16, U18 (Minor). How has this been allowed happen. The GAA have done an awful lot of tampering with structures and grades from inter county to club and I am not sure if it is better off for it. BigJoe14 (Meath) - Posts: 998 - 19/12/2023 09:48:56 2517373 Link
Replying To seasiderblues: "Is u13 non-competitive? I am sure there are finals in Dublin and they are doing alright" Officially in Meath I think it is considered competitive in that there is a winner (whoever finishes top of the table after the league games was deemed the winner) but it didn't feel that way when it was happening in my experence of looking at the u13 games this year. The interest levels of the players had dropped off for last few games as there was nothing to play for. In my opinion thee kids definitely would have enjoyed it more had there been knock out games to play for. We shouldn't be molly coddling kids that much in u13s, they enjoy being competitive against each other. bdbuddah (Meath) - Posts: 1402 - 19/12/2023 15:19:51 2517402 Link
Replying To Roger: "When it was announced that there would be no semi-finals and finals at U13 level this year, there were a lot of clubs unhappy and in contact with the juvenile board. The reply from official level in Meath was that it was a Croke Park ruling and that their hands were tied. Lo and behold, every county that borders Meath then proceeded to have U13 knockout games - Louth, Monaghan, Cavan, Westmeath, Offaly, Kildare and Dublin. The rule in question says that underage competitions must be run on a league basis. Nowhere does it say that finals cannot be held but that was the interpretation of the Meath juvenile board." I heard yesterday at the first u13 game of the year that the county board decided no u13 semi finals or finals this year as well. Going on your post they can hardly pretend this year they think it's a national policy when last year the neighboring counties had semi finals and finals. These kids have been playing go games for years, it would be exciting for any of them that managed to get to a semi final or final and created good memories for them. The county board have diminished the u13 competition again this year with this decision. bdbuddah (Meath) - Posts: 1402 - 06/04/2024 17:10:04 2536066 Link
Participation levels are at all time low. Semi or finals, not really sure of the impact. League is a league at end of day, top is top? My worry is outside Div 1, maybe 2 what minor teams really have 15+ genuine u17 Players? I'd say less then 5% we are focused on wrong problem. Meathooooo (Meath) - Posts: 94 - 06/04/2024 23:20:12 2536127 Link
Replying To Meathooooo: "Participation levels are at all time low. Semi or finals, not really sure of the impact. League is a league at end of day, top is top? My worry is outside Div 1, maybe 2 what minor teams really have 15+ genuine u17 Players? I'd say less then 5% we are focused on wrong problem." I'm specifically talking about u13 competitions not minor. U13 is the first age bracket after go games. Saying league positions should determine winners makes more sense in a 20 team league (like premier league soccer) where each team plays 38 games, we're talking here about underage GAA games!. When you see kids involved in some of the club blitzes (where a number of teams play in shorter matches against each other) you see how excited kids get playing in what they precieve as a bigger game at the end. All the county board are doing in having no semi finals/ finals at u13 level is diminishing the competitions and depriving kids of memorable childhood memories. bdbuddah (Meath) - Posts: 1402 - 07/04/2024 22:26:44 2536391 Link
Replying To bdbuddah: "I'm specifically talking about u13 competitions not minor. U13 is the first age bracket after go games. Saying league positions should determine winners makes more sense in a 20 team league (like premier league soccer) where each team plays 38 games, we're talking here about underage GAA games!. When you see kids involved in some of the club blitzes (where a number of teams play in shorter matches against each other) you see how excited kids get playing in what they precieve as a bigger game at the end. All the county board are doing in having no semi finals/ finals at u13 level is diminishing the competitions and depriving kids of memorable childhood memories." Well said oceanofnoise (Meath) - Posts: 52 - 08/04/2024 11:20:21 2536518 Link
Replying To oceanofnoise: "Well said" Was this not decided last year where it was agreed that no cups would be awarded to winners. I could be wrong? 199710 (Meath) - Posts: 120 - 08/04/2024 12:28:52 2536544 Link
Replying To 199710: "Was this not decided last year where it was agreed that no cups would be awarded to winners. I could be wrong?" Reading replies to this topic last year seemingly the county board used as an excuse for not having u13 semi finals and finals was that the national GAA have a ruling that underage competitions must be run on a league basis. To me that excuse can't be used this year as what the other counties did last year at u13 is have a round robin stage followed by semi finals/ finals (I see this by reading other replies here1). Talking to an u15 mentor of our club team rumour is that the county board would run the u15 competitions in the same way as the u13s but haven't done so yet as they would get too much opposition from the clubs. bdbuddah (Meath) - Posts: 1402 - 08/04/2024 13:32:58 2536587 Link
Meath LGFA U13 leagues go to semi finals and final after round robin games. GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7703 - 10/04/2024 22:10:00 2537251 Link
From what I can see things seem to have got worse this year in the u13 grade. A few of the grading games seemed to be cancelled by the county juvenile section leading to few games for the teams in first half of the year. Also big issues also with referees not being properly arranged for the games meaning the home club has to scurry around at last minute to find a referee and the games end up starting well late then. I know there can be misunderstandings but definitely seems to be happening way more this year. We need to keep the kids/ parents interested if we want them to keep playing. GreenMan1987 (Meath) - Posts: 53 - 02/09/2024 10:58:54 2567973 Link
Replying To GreenMan1987: "From what I can see things seem to have got worse this year in the u13 grade. A few of the grading games seemed to be cancelled by the county juvenile section leading to few games for the teams in first half of the year. Also big issues also with referees not being properly arranged for the games meaning the home club has to scurry around at last minute to find a referee and the games end up starting well late then. I know there can be misunderstandings but definitely seems to be happening way more this year. We need to keep the kids/ parents interested if we want them to keep playing." Ye two of our u13 games this year no ref showed up. Also played only four games earlier in the year as there was a problem with grading. To be fair all competitive. Then our first league match two weeks ago we are beaten 30 points by a team downgraded two divisions. Second game we won. Shambles the way these are set up. Finally agree with comments surrounding finals. You remember them for years to come. They are the highlights of my career and I lost more than I won but again short sighted. No wonder lads play soccer and give up Gaelic. Competitiveness is such a huge part. My son playing u13 played 25 games of competitive soccer from last September to June. In this calendar year he will be lucky to play half that at the Gaelic. Greensheen (Meath) - Posts: 58 - 02/09/2024 22:56:41 2568136 Link