Ulster Championship 2023

CliffClavin

New Member
I know in my local club its probably split 50/50 with the same ones doing everything and the other having doing nothing.
What if you are like me and have no family connection to the club? Why would a bachelor man like me go out and coach other men's kids? That usually doesn't happen anyway, usually coaches are the fathers of players.
My relatives play for another club in the county, my link with my local club is zero and it is hard to build a relationship with it when you are over 30.
 

CliffClavin

New Member
Members are tasked with furthering the aims of the association. Paying membership is only part of being properly involved in the GAA.
Not every volunteer has impact on the county teams success anyway. The last player in my local club to play for the county in the championship was 50 years ago. If my local club shut down it would have zero impact on the county team. So all this talk about volunteers "nourishing future talent" isn't always the case.
 

Kem

Active Member
The whole thing is a mess but throwing the hands up isn’t going to help.

UC/GAA need to establish what funding is available for Casement, another northern stadium (new or existing) or one in the South (basically Clones) and then see what that funding could deliver and then pick one of those options. We can’t just sit and hope that the Casement funding will just expand to the number we think we need.

I genuinely can’t see a stellar option here but we need to establish the best available option and get on with it
Anyone supporting Casement as a better venue than Clones hasn't been stuck on the M1 trying to get onto Kennedy Way, trying to find a parking spot when you eventually get there and fingers crossed that your car would still be there when the game was over. Armagh is geographically near the centre of the 9 county Ulster and would make a better choice than Belfast for a new stadium.
 

Armaghball

Well-Known Member
Anyone supporting Casement as a better venue than Clones hasn't been stuck on the M1 trying to get onto Kennedy Way, trying to find a parking spot when you eventually get there and fingers crossed that your car would still be there when the game was over. Armagh is geographically near the centre of the 9 county Ulster and would make a better choice than Belfast for a new stadium.
Realistically no matter where any stadium is, it’s gonna be pandemonium trying to drive to it if tens of thousands of people are going to one place.
 

Peter grimes

Well-Known Member
Anyone supporting Casement as a better venue than Clones hasn't been stuck on the M1 trying to get onto Kennedy Way, trying to find a parking spot when you eventually get there and fingers crossed that your car would still be there when the game was over. Armagh is geographically near the centre of the 9 county Ulster and would make a better choice than Belfast for a new stadium.i
At some stage Casement Park will reopen as either a basic stadium for Antrim or the main stadium within Ulster. If it’s the latter I am sure that the park and ride system will be activated.

The car parks, buses and roads are all there and available at the weekends. It just needs someone with the smarts to put it together.
 

PatMustard

Well-Known Member
Anyone supporting Casement as a better venue than Clones hasn't been stuck on the M1 trying to get onto Kennedy Way, trying to find a parking spot when you eventually get there and fingers crossed that your car would still be there when the game was over. Armagh is geographically near the centre of the 9 county Ulster and would make a better choice than Belfast for a new stadium.
You have a point, but I believe they have to persist with the Casement project now, even if it will rarely be filled, or used. Otherwise it looks like the GAA aren’t all big and powerful in the biggest city in Ulster (no, not that Ulster!).
 

Wee man

Well-Known Member
Has to be serious money spent on casement planning to date so I would doubt they would pull the pin plus it would be egg on the face for the GAA brass
But IMO they should abandon it, sell casement and invest the money building a new stadium on a greenfield site
Something similar to the balmoral show set up with Ample parking and good road network.
 

Peter grimes

Well-Known Member
I would guess that the chances of Casement being abandoned as a site is zero.

The question is what gets built there? And I suppose, when does it get built?

We will know soon enough whether the Euros thing is going to happen. I think that has to be sorted by end of September.

Unless the euros somehow provide the gap in the funding then I suspect that the most likely outcome here is a scaled back Casement. The biggest problem is funding and I can’t see how a different location is going to come in any cheaper (or quicker). A refurb/expansion of an existing stadium in Northern Ireland doesn’t look likely and if it is in the other Ulster counties then the main funder drops away.
 

Wide ball

Well-Known Member
Realistically no matter where any stadium is, it’s gonna be pandemonium trying to drive to it if tens of thousands of people are going to one place.
I agree, I can't think of one place where traffic wouldn't be bad, Armagh is bad at times, Newry is desperate asnis clones, and Omagh too. Basically all are bad for parking/traffic but clones either needs an upgrade or Ulster needs to change venue, it's is like going in a time machine, serious development needed
 

Peter grimes

Well-Known Member
I don’t see how the traffic issues in Clones would ever be addressed even if the stadium facilities were. Clones is a small town. The investment required for match day traffic couldn’t be justified.

Belfast has the infrastructure, it just has to be used smart. If the euros go ahead and the money is there then the focus is on an all seater stadium and the biggest that can be accommodated within the planning and financial constraints. If the euros project doesn’t proceed then the financial pot gets smaller but so too does the obsession with all seater.

The Ravenhill model with pitch side standing areas and seats higher up is very good. They also have some corporate boxes and a discounted family area.

Reign in the Casement Park wish list and get on with it as soon as the euros position becomes clear looks the smartest move
 

Armaghball

Well-Known Member
Killeavy have just put up a Facebook post saying they’ve been allocated 114 tickets but have 638 ticket requests from members…
Ffs. would say it is the same across the board. Question is do they give it to the people who pull their weight around the club or do a ballot?
 

Armagh_paul

Well-Known Member
Dublin v Louth final on 14th in Croke Park... how many are likely to attend?

Is a double header viable?

On a side note our support is insane. In a good way.
 

gael_force_orchard

Well-Known Member
Jaysus you'd nearly forget there was a game of football to be played Sunday week. To hell with casement, it'll get built some day, clones it is for now. How do people see the match ups? Will we push up on kickouts or concede them short to Derry to try and sit deep, soak pressure and break? Will we go man for man and surprise them?

My gut on this one is that we will sit deep and try and hit with pace on the break. I think we will see a gameplan similar to that against Galway and Kerry in the league. Arguably that gameplay should have taken something from both games. So it will be an interesting tactical battle.

Who gets the nod in the half forward line? Hall or Cumisky? Do we bring in McCambridge from the start again? Will Crealey be fit to start and who partners him at midfield. Back to the game in hand here.
 
Top