Move to return league status
Aim is to improve standards
WICKLOW COUNTY BOARD have moved to return the status to the county’s leagues in a bid to improve the competitiveness of games and, it is hoped, improve the standard and development of footballers in the county.
“We feel that our players are not developing like the way they used to in years gone by,” said Chairman Martin Coleman at the recent County Board meeting in Ballinakill. “They’re not getting enough competitive competition within the county and that’s probably due to our leagues at this moment in time where you can win four or five league games and sit idly by for the rest of the year. The vice Chairman feels very strongly on this as well, in relation to the status on the league that it was giving better competition, players were always available to play for their clubs and everyone knew exactly where they stood at the end of the day,” he added.
“Back in the day when we had stronger county teams, 10 or 15 years ago, we had status on the leagues. Everybody played, we played competitive matches, a match was like a championship match. You had to win every match,” said Martin Fitzgerald.
“In the last couple of years in the league semi-finals, there were two walk-overs in last year’s league semi-finals in Division 1. Nobody cared.
“Everyone gets 10 or 12 points now in every division and they sit back and play a game and they don’t care. There’s even a lot of walk-overs given. There’d be no walk-overs if you played status.
“County players could play with them. We’d talk to the county managers, you’d have your county players for all your league games and championship games and I think that’s better than wrapping up players in cotton wool here in Ballinakill and players who are released sometimes don’t go play with their clubs.
“My opinion is, the way forward for more competitive football and a lot of counties are bringing it in at the moment is competitive games. Players are a lot sharper if they’re playing competitive games for their clubs than just running around training. Let them train during the week and at the weekends or Tuesday night or whatever, let them play with their clubs. As it is the leagues are not working,” added Fitzgerald.
James Doran sought clarification on how the leagues would be structured and Martin Fitzgerald said that clubs would have Senior, Intermediate and Junior teams and that a Division 1 team would be Senior, Division 2 would be intermediate and so on.
Martin Coleman said that removing the status from the leagues was done with the intention of improving football in the county but that that hadn’t happened.
The County Chairman said that there would be no decision made on the issue on the night but that delegates should go back to their clubs and discuss the proposal.
A delegate from the floor said that the ‘bite’ was gone out of the championship in Wicklow as well as the leagues.
“At the moment, I work in Dublin and I work with the two lads in various clubs, Ballyboden and the likes, and the talk around Dublin at the moment is the competition between club in Dublin at the moment. There were a lot of big teams beat last night in the championship again.
“And going back to when I started playing football myself for Laragh, we were coming up against very good Junior clubs where players had been regraded from Senior clubs, in a way it stunted Laragh to an extent but we were playing competitive football and if you were knocked out in the first round of the championship, you’d only one option left to try and get out of it and that was the league. I think we need to try and look at it from, possible the championship and the league, bringing the championship back to knock out, even just for a year or two and see what kind of competition it brings.
“Because, if you’re training flat out for the championship and you’re knocked out in the first round, then you’re going to go all guns blazing for the league to get up, definitely in Junior and Intermediate,” he added.
Jason Doyle of Kilmacanogue asked how it would work in terms of promotion?
He was told that one team would win promotion from the championship and another from the league and it would be likewise with relegation.
“Do you not run the risk, with the teams sitting around the middle, do you not have the same problem. You said clubs getting 15 points and just sitting there. How does it change that?” asked Doyle.
You’re playing with your county players. Every week you’re out with your county players. In the league at the moment there are teams struggling to compete with 15 players,” replied Martin Fitzgerald.
“It is up for discussion and some of ye would have been involved in teams that would have played when there was status on the league. And we also have the problem of we can’t get our county players. This would be one way of saying you’re county players are available for all your league games,” said Martin Coleman.
The subject was put down for discussion in the September County Board meeting.