Meath Forum

Should Championship Go Ahead This Weekend ?

(Oldest Posts First)

Listening to a lot of players and managers from various clubs throughout the county .the general talk seems to be that the co board should make the call sooner rather than later as regards which pitches are playable for games this weekend , many clubs have not been able to train on their own pitches and are poorly prepared for championship ,, now I know some of ye will say "it's the same for everyone ". But that's not the point , . For most teams this is the most important weekend so far this year and teams wanna put their best foot forward ,, would delaying the championship for a week or two make a huge difference.

onionboy (Meath) - Posts: 32 - 04/04/2018 17:14:05    2091098

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Replying To onionboy:  "Listening to a lot of players and managers from various clubs throughout the county .the general talk seems to be that the co board should make the call sooner rather than later as regards which pitches are playable for games this weekend , many clubs have not been able to train on their own pitches and are poorly prepared for championship ,, now I know some of ye will say "it's the same for everyone ". But that's not the point , . For most teams this is the most important weekend so far this year and teams wanna put their best foot forward ,, would delaying the championship for a week or two make a huge difference."
Can see your point but, this is what everyone has been gearing at for months....the fixtures are out over a month, even if it means changing venues around i think they should go ahead if possible, think that they could maybe delay one of the competitions if that helped by a week,

longroadback (Meath) - Posts: 300 - 04/04/2018 17:27:43    2091104

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If we get the weather that they are expecting then not all games will go ahead.
Worst case scenario would be not all pitches are playable and the best way to make sure there isn't a backlog of championship games because Meath are still going would be prioritize any game that has a player on the county panel and make sure it goes a head this weekend.
A lot of people won't be happy with this but other games with no county player involved could be pushed back to a further date and give the club's involved plenty of notice.

UsernameInvalid (Meath) - Posts: 126 - 04/04/2018 17:53:33    2091112

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2 points in relation to this, I think the damage caused to pitches by forcing games to go ahead could take months to undo. If there is even a question of a pitch being unplayable, then the decision should err on the side of not playing it, as stated the waiting for one week could make a huge difference to that pitch in relation to the serious damage that would be caused and its availability going forward . But more importantly, surely player welfare would dictate that the games be postponed for a week if there is any doubt.

Footnote (Meath) - Posts: 55 - 04/04/2018 18:42:31    2091122

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Couple of points.
1. Player welfare. If they were getting paid you wouldn't send them out in them conditions for fear of injury.
2. Crowds..... or lack of. Who would give up their arm chair or other type of seat to pay into and watch rain!!!
3. 13 day rule for clubs with county players.
4. Standar of football will be poor, the ranting about how poor football in Meathis when lads are playing stuck in the mud all weekend.

aces (Meath) - Posts: 159 - 04/04/2018 19:18:38    2091129

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Replying To aces:  "Couple of points.
1. Player welfare. If they were getting paid you wouldn't send them out in them conditions for fear of injury.
2. Crowds..... or lack of. Who would give up their arm chair or other type of seat to pay into and watch rain!!!
3. 13 day rule for clubs with county players.
4. Standar of football will be poor, the ranting about how poor football in Meathis when lads are playing stuck in the mud all weekend."
Good points, but I think the 13 day rule only applies for the county having players available for 13 days in advance, not the club, am open to correction

I am not suggesting that players are put in danger in any way, I think that most have prepared for this week and would prefer games going ahead.

longroadback (Meath) - Posts: 300 - 05/04/2018 11:06:41    2091209

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Replying To longroadback:  "Good points, but I think the 13 day rule only applies for the county having players available for 13 days in advance, not the club, am open to correction

I am not suggesting that players are put in danger in any way, I think that most have prepared for this week and would prefer games going ahead."
I agree with that. The fixtures have been made a while so there should be no problem except for pitch availability- all sand based pitches will be fine along with some others which have good drainage. Players do not like fixture change at the last minute so CB are correct in going ahead.

browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2189 - 05/04/2018 11:52:29    2091219

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Replying To browncows:  "I agree with that. The fixtures have been made a while so there should be no problem except for pitch availability- all sand based pitches will be fine along with some others which have good drainage. Players do not like fixture change at the last minute so CB are correct in going ahead."
Yeah even some brand new pitches have serious drainage issues, cheap stone is the culprit

Analyst (Meath) - Posts: 1338 - 05/04/2018 13:13:42    2091235

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Replying To Analyst:  "Yeah even some brand new pitches have serious drainage issues, cheap stone is the culprit"
Does anyone know if if Ratoath V pats game is still in Ashbourne tomorrow evening ? Seen on twitter that ashbournes pitch is closed,also dunderrys,dunboynes,longwoods and walterstowns. They all supposed to be hosting games over the weekend i think.

thelutch (Meath) - Posts: 856 - 05/04/2018 18:51:11    2091308

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Most clubs closed their pitches this week in the hope of them being playable at the weekend if the weather isn't too bad.

Royal_Gunner (Meath) - Posts: 534 - 06/04/2018 08:31:45    2091338

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Hearing that there will be a number of venue changes at the weekend, especially where there are double headers apart from Parc Tailteann which will be fine, Simonstown, Carlanstown have told county board that they will only now host one game

longroadback (Meath) - Posts: 300 - 06/04/2018 11:22:16    2091370

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I see Duleek has already deemed their pitch unplayable with Ashbourne Senchalstown moved to Stamullen.

Given the rain falling today, id imagine there will more switches, if not cancellations of some matches due to no available pitches.

juicy (Meath) - Posts: 384 - 06/04/2018 12:18:47    2091388

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2 IFC and 3 JFC games gone due to unplayable pitches and 2 more JFC moved to Dunganny

Count (Meath) - Posts: 92 - 06/04/2018 14:02:17    2091413

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Can't see pairc tailteann being fit to host 4 games this weekend as scheduled switches should be made well in advance

Northsidegaels (Meath) - Posts: 227 - 06/04/2018 14:45:37    2091418

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thats not the end of the changes either, there will be more before the day is out, CB are currently asking clubs can the take fixtures

longroadback (Meath) - Posts: 300 - 06/04/2018 15:04:15    2091420

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