Underage players playing up a year - u15s playing u16 - what is best practice here?

teachinggal123

There was a lot of bad feeling in my local (small rural) club this year which is still ongoing. It started when a group of u15s were selected for the u16 team at the start of the season. The u15 players selected were the coach's son and his friends. The coach said he only wanted his own son and his friend to play up, and then he held 'trials' and selected 7 of the u15 players.

This meant two things:

1. Many of the 'correct age' u16s didn't get a game - some of them didn't play all year. Admittedly, some of these lads are not good players, but one excellent player is not in the 'in crowd' so he didn't get selected.
2. The u15 team didn't have enough players to make a full u15 team - the U15's selected to play up to u16 all decided not to play u15.

I was wondering if there are any official GAA guidelines on this. Or is it left to the clubs to make their own guidelines? It's now a massive problem in my club as some players left and parents were very upset. The biggest problem is that now there probably won't be an u16 team next year as the u15's now are unlikely to play with the other guys (there was a lot of bad feeling between the players about this which has carried into the new school year).

I don't have a dog in this fight, but my sister's son is one of the u15s who didn't have a team because of this. Any guidance or advice is very much appreciated.

Uncle Pierre

Short answer is there are no official guidelines nor actual rules on such matters. Underage players are allowed to "play up" a level, and far more often than not, this is actually a help for smaller clubs. But a few things strike me as unusual about the situation you've described:

• Can I ask what county it is that you're in, if it has U15 and U16? I presume this means it also has (for example) U13, U14, and U17. Would appreciate a PM on this if you prefer not to say publicly.
• I ask because most counties only have age grades at two-year intervals - e.g. here in Wexford, it's U12, U14, U16 and U18. Would have thought only Dublin and maybe one or two others would have sufficient numbers to have them in single-year increments, but you say you're from a small rural club.
• Even if a player "plays up", they'd still generally play at their own age too - e.g. my own club has several U14s who also line out with our U16 sides, but all these lads also play U14. Only way this wouldn't work is there were so many matches for each age (e.g. U15 and U16 in your case) that it wouldn't be feasible for a lad to play for both sides. This again makes me think of Dublin, but again, this doesn't tally with you being small and rural.

Overall, I see nothing particularly wrong or unusual with an U16 manager wanting to pick the best players available to him. But I do find it highly unusual that if you have teams at U15 and U16, somebody who's eligible for both would choose to turn his back on one of them and just play with the other instead. And obviously I find it seven times more highly unusual if seven of them made this decision!

rpurfield

Our club has a team at every age i.e. 12, 13, 14 etc but the age grades are 13, 15, 17. The younger team plays in either lower or "reserve" leagues for those grades. In club policy is you play with your own age group first and foremost but lads would prop up the higher age teams where required, or in some instances we've lads from a higher team graded so they can drop back to the "reserve" team. Priority is always your own team first though and even what we try to do on our team is our own lads get priority over the lads playing off other teams.

Ceist_Beag

That is a very poor culture in the club if players who play up then refuse to play for their own age group. First and foremost players should play for their own age group. If they are asked to play up a level that is their prerogative (and that of the manager of the older group obviously) but they should not be allowed to refuse to play for their own age group.

I believe the GAA probably promote guidelines around this but ultimately it is something the club themselves should take control of and not allow this to happen.

BaywatchHQ

I played under 16 a few weeks before my 13th birthday. The club had small numbers so the coach just drove around the houses collecting people.

Uncle Pierre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121246403#Comment_121246403

Have to agree with this. I've been knocking around the GAA a long time and have dealt with all other clubs in the county as well as my own through different county admin roles, and I've never before heard of a case where young lads choose not to play at their own age if they're also asked to 'play up' a level.

And I'm still puzzled by some of what the OP says. Having separate squads at U15 and U16 doesn't tally with being a small rural club. Even an U16 manager holding trials seems strange, as in a small rural club, the U16 manager would already know who are the strongest players in the age group below.

crusd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121249225#Comment_121249225

What possibly is more likely here is that there is an A and B at U16 level in the club and they designate A as 2007 and B as 2008 kids. The coach of the A then has promoted some of the better ( or better connected) members of the B side and left the B side short. OP would need to clarify.

Uncle Pierre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121253832#Comment_121253832

But even still, that would mean at least 30 (and probably closer to 35) 15-year-olds and 16-year-olds in the club, if they operate what are designed to be two separate squads. And having those sort of numbers at U16 level would be extraordinary for what OP calls a small, rural club.

I don't think it's that anyway, because if really was essenitally an U16 'A' team and an U16 'B' team (with the 'A' team supposed to be primarily made up of 16-year-olds, and the 'B' team of 15-year-olds), then certain 16-year-olds could have dropped back to the 'B' team and both sides could have fielded anyway.

I'd like it too if the OP clarified, but at this stage, not sure we're going to hear from her again at all....

crusd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121254491#Comment_121254491

Ah, but 16 year olds suddenly being dropped to the B team would quite often drop away. Its a common theme even in relatively small rural clubs where they would consistently be able to field 2 teams up through the age brackets but begin to struggle at u16.

Tombo2001

A few comments on this:

1. You sure dont have a dog in this fight. Your sisters son is on the team? You are getting 20% of the story.
2. As to guidelines - I really dont know why you think there would be guidelines. I feel sometimes people think the GAA is like the government, or like Microsoft or something like that. Its not. 95% of it is Parent Volunteers giving up their time every other night of the week to run training sessions. There is no massive administrative middle like the Vatican here. There are volunteers in the middle organising fixtures, etc. There are no guidelines for this stuff. If you think there should be then volunteer to do it. If you wont volunteer to do it, then dont say that there should be guidelines.
3. Players dont decide what team they are on. There is no such thing as a player 'refusing' to play on such and such team. Coachs/ Mentors decide where they play. If a player 'refuses' the coach either backs down, or tells them they have to live with it. But ultimately the coach decides.
4. If there is an u15 and u16 team, then there is an u15 and u16 coach. The U16 coach decides who is on the u16 team, not the u15 coach.
5. You came on an made this impassioned plea about unfairness and a 'massive problem', and then didnt respond to any of the subsequent 8 responses to your post. Hence you probably wont read this either.
6. Most of all - underage mentors are routinely lambasted despite being the foundation on which every underage gaa team is built. If you are not happy with the free service these people have provided over several years to your nephew, then get involved in the mentoring panels. Help out, and get involved in how its being run.