Hurling-Dead or Alive?

louiec

Looking at the championship this year has been an absolute pleasure, Waterford kings of Munster, Limerick on the rise and Wexford dethroning the Cats (Hey we can't win it every year and it was just getting embarassing.) It would be the ultimate year if Antrim (who impressed me the last two years under Dinny Cahill) could finally win a game in the All-Ireland series.
With all this going on though I worry that the continuing discussion over competitivness and popularity of the ancient game is by no means settled. Living in Kilkenny gives an over optimistic view of the current state of the game as everyone's a fanatic there. Moving to Dublin and you obtain a completely different impression. There seems to be a small core of devotees struggling against the tide.
So what's the real state of the game? Can Dublin achieve a revival that seems to be vital if Hurling is to become anything other than a "farmers game?" And can the eclipse of Cork and Tipp over the past two decades be accompanied by a lasting growth of strength of some of the weaker counties? Or is this year's championship the beginning of a Golden age in Hurling?

EKRIUQ

Give Hurling Back to the landlords, Tipp, Kilkenny and Cork let the lesser counties have their few years of glory but eventually give it back to the landlords

Imposter

Wrt Dublin the same 'problem' exists in football too. GAA is just not as dominant in the big smoke as it is in more rural communities. From my experience the same is true of other urban centres. For example Mullingar has just 2 clubs (if you ignore the outlying villages). These clubs are constantly turning away youngsters as they don't have enough teams for them all. I think the same is probably true of most of Dublin. That needs to change before Dublin (and other counties, but moreso Dublin) will get stronger.

Now I know most of that last bit was about football but it sort of serves to highlight some of thew problems with hurling too. Hurling, outside of the main powers, struggles to stay alive. Again taking westmeath as the example, it is played mostly in the North of the county with less than half a dozen clubs south and west of mullingar (75% of the county). In this area you have probably about 40 or more football teams. Why is this?

To answer my own question, I think a lot of it has to do with what is available ot the youngsters and who their local role models are. In Dublin Robbie Keane is more of a role model than Dessie Farrell for example. In Kilkenny there's no sport with anywhere near the same level of interest and as a result DJ is a role model. This works at local level too. If there is a football and a hurling club together the more successful sport generally gets stronger while the other generally gets weaker.

In order for that to change it needs investment in time and resources in the children giving them proper coaching and training. This needs a determined effort on behalf of the club but it also needs help from the county board, the provincial council and ultimately also the support of Croke Park.

Back when I was in national school the County board were attempting ot do this in westmeath. We used to have a guy paid by the county board who would come out to the school for 2 hours once a fortnight, with hurls, sliotars, helmets and other training gear. For us it was a great introduction and some proper coaching. The only problem was that the local club didn't jump in with this to recruit players. The fact that our football (U10 and U12) teams were becoming quite successful and nobody local was willing to make sure we got to hurling training (5 miles away - club covered 4 football teams), meant that this very good initiative was more or less wasted on us.

But I don't think it's all doom and gloom for hurlings weaker counties. Bit by bit there's a small core of decent clubs building in a lot of the counties. You now see a situation in Leinster where Laois and Dublin can compete quite well with the bigger teams (even if Offaly's quality may be questionable at the moment) but you also see a situation where Westmeath, Meath, Carlow and Kildare are able to compete with Dublin and possibly also Laois. When you consider that the standard of Laois is now comparable ot that of Antrim then I think the future bodes well for the game in these less than strong counties.

Similarly Derry with just 3 clubs were ulster champions a while back. Now while noone from Ulster is likely to be seriously challenging for the championship anytime soon the passion for the game is, if anything, getting stronger there.

Now come to the strong counties, thank christ for wexford. Kilkenny were turning the Leinster championship into a competition that was more predictable than Formula 1. Offaly are struggling but it still has it's core clubs who are as determined as ever. Similarly Clare, Limerick and dare I say it Tipp need to get new teams together in order to seriously compete, but none of them are likely to see the passion for the game wane all that much for the foreseeable future. The team I feel sorry for is Kerry. They're not a bad side but being stuck in Munster doesn't help. As for connaught well here is where I do see problems. Problems for all the other strong teams from Galway who are still going strong despite the problems they face with being located in Connaught. Problems for the other teams in that they seemingly are not improving like the weak counties in Leinster. Same goes for the other Ulster counties as those in connaught.

Ok that turned out a bit longer than I thought but anyway.

Just seen that Kilkenny seemed ot have whipped Galway! Hurling needs an 2-tier championship with promotion and relegation imo. Play the provences as seperate tournaments but give everyone a fair chance for the all-Ireland.

galwaydude

Yet again galway fail the big test.Surely no they have to enter the leinster championships as playing the lieks of down every year aint helping.They were so bad today, its either waterford or kilkenny for the all ireland.Been from galway its a miserable summer for the hurlers as every year we are hiped up so much and every year we get worse.They need a complete overhall of the team.

Waylander

I agree it is very unfair to ask Galway to play their first meaningful match in July, and against Kilkenny. Bring them into Leinster! They are a better team then todays scoreline suggests.

Big Ears

It would be unfair to put them into Leinster (unfair on Leinster teams that is ) simply because they're not from there .

Im sure Kerry would like to play in Ulster as it would mean they would get more games (currently 1 provincial game a year )

I would try improve other connaught hurling counties and from a connaught championship .

it would be weak at first but how is hurling gonna get better in connaught (besides Galway ) if they're not playing .

even losing on TV can encourage younsters .

Waylander

They tried that before, with Roscommon having teams in the past but it never worked. As regards fairness to Leinster, I think it would be a good thing, as it would improve the standard, forcing the other teams to continue to raise their games.

cruiserweight

Originally posted by Big Ears
It would be unfair to put them into Leinster (unfair on Leinster teams that is ) simply because they're not from there .

But Galway played for a few years in the Munster championship and nobody had any problems

The Rooster

In Autumn 2003 the Leinster Council invited Galway to participate in the Leinster championships. The Galway County Board, in their infinite wisdom and against the wishes of most supporters and players, turned the offer down.

That was a massive mistake on behalf of the GCB. But Galway have nobody to blame but themselves for the fact that it was their first competitive game in the championship.

Waylander

I didn't know that, that was not too bright of the county board. You gotta feel for the players having to endure that kind of muppetry!

cruiserweight

Actually for the record the reaon that they pulled out of the Munster championship is because they barely won a game(if at all), and so were not guaranteed an all-ireland semi final place!

Waylander

And the difference now is?

cruiserweight

Back then they got an automatic berth into the semis. Now they don't and I can't understand their reasons for not wanting to play in Leinster. It is just plain stupid really.

With the new format next year things may change for Galway though, who nows?

Waylander

Sorry cruiser that was sarcasm, I was wondering how their tactic improved matters for them.

cruiserweight

Sorry, boards needs some sarcasm tags!!!:D