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Following an EGM of the NECSL and in line with recommendation of the point 10 of the player development plan.  The member clubs of the NECSL have voted in favour of moving to a calendar year football.
It is planned to have a short year and the league will facilitate football for 2016 from September to December. Â Then in 2017 we will commence the calendar year season in March with the year ending in November 2017. Â
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Great stuff NECSL
Adrian Corcoran Michal Adam Bidziński Claire Smyth Alan Smyth Senan McDermott Oisin Mcdermott Conor Kirwan Lewis Odonnel
personally i think a lot of teams will lose players because this runs through the gaelic season, i can see players not being available for match days because of gaelic, my son doesnt play gaelic but a lot of his team mates do so which will they choose???
Brian Donnelly
Pity the adults couldn’t do the same
Monica I have to disagree the GAA runs four different seasons one for each season. They used start after the non competitive leagues had finished but have come back earlier and earlier over recent years. Also we lose players due to the lack of game time over Dec/Jan/Feb with pitches not playable the kids get fed up. I am glad this decision was not made based on GAA and made for the right reasons of football player development
You are probably right Mick, I wouldn’t really know as Josh not involved but I was just remembering times when some of our players weren’t available because of Gaelic games being played in Sept/Oct/Nov, and you are right it does seem to be all year round now I think they only took a month off last year. I’m just worried that those players that only play the one sport will lose out because they can’t field a team if maybe half their team are playing gaa same day and pick Gaelic over soccer hopefully they will be played different days as someone else said.
GAA training is almost year round but competitive leagues only start in March and most over by October. Totally understand the reasons behind this but my son loves both sports and last thing I want is for him to be made choose between them. Unfortunately there are still many coaches on both sides who will makes kids choose.
Sharon King they have for years and unfortunately Sharon that will never change, I have been involved in coaching both sports plus others and have always encouraged players to do whatever sports they enjoy. It is not the coaches who should be blamed but the governing bodies needed to sit around a table and organise it between them but that will never happen I am afraid
If the necsl sit down and communicate with the meath county board and both come to a compromise it won’t be a problem. I’ve never come across any coach who has forced a kid to choose. If the times clash on a particular day yes they have to make a decision same way if swimming clashed with karate. I know governing bodies won’t sit down and there will be clashes but at the start but both will learn quickly and learn to come to a compromise just like they did in mayo and in clare. The fai are going to enforce this change shortly anyway
Already a couple of clubs have pulled out of the league’s because of this decision which will make for very short seasons
Who monica?
Pm u
Turlough Maher
Excellent decision and true the Gaa is nearly on all year round now, they didn’t think of clashing with the football!!!
Great news..This was going to happen anyway…We can’t run our sport to accommodate another sport. Football has to do what’s best for football.. it’s another step in the right direction.. ddsl and ndsl have both gone to calender year football and loosing players to those leagues is much more a threat than gaa
I’d hope the coaching leagues will follow suit.. can’t have those kids out freezing getting soaked. Nothing fun about football in those conditions during Nov Dec Jan Feb
I assumed they would automatically follow suit obviously not
I wasn’t at the egm but I was told it wasn’t mentioned
Nearly got it right first time lol
You were misinformed jonathon
So coaching leagues are calendar year also?
They were mentioned.
Ok they were mentioned..are they moving to calender year or not?
No mate as far I am aware due to they were not in the motion put forward along with motion of competitive motion so can not be changed madness I think
So let me get this straight.. We have moved 12-17s to calender year football to get them out of harsh conditions but we leave our 6yr olds up to 11 yr olds playing in these same conditions? I have no words
So let me get this straight.. We have moved 12-17s to calender year football to get them out of harsh conditions but we leave our 6yr olds up to 11 yr olds playing in these same conditions? I have no words
I reacted the same way pal but was a little less kind in choice of words lol. It will also mean that a lot of parents will never get a break having kids in both.
The whole point in moving the season is that we have joined up thinking. This is half arsed..We either move or we don’t.. what reasoning could there possibly be to leave the younger kids playing winter months
Brilliant. Play football in half decent weather.
The kids should be able to play both codes and I think most clubs in the NEC have GAA players , so it would be a good idea for coaches of both codes to have a line of contact with each other so they can keep the fixture clashes to a minimum and NEC coaches can do the same.. Neither code soccer or GAA should suffer
To me it’s wrong to ask a young child to choose a sport they are both good at as we all know they can’t do both because training & matches will clash! for years we did that & the children were getting worn out too quick maybe it is the right thing to do for the future time will only tell!
If gaa and football do it for the child’s sake and actively avoid clashes ie.. football Saturday gaa sunday it won’t be a problem.. The sports clash as it is now.. gaa has become an all year sport. Kids won’t get burned out by playing 2 matches at the weekend as long as they are not on same day it’s not an issue.. This is the right decision for football..It won’t suit all but fai have to start producing players and this is a step in right direction.. have to sort the coaching out now..that’s a much bigger problem
Happy to have 5 to 10 year olds out in the pissing rain,frost etc a complete money racket,it will be very interesting to see will the nefl grounds be available all year round to accommodate clubs who don’t have thier own grounds eg adult football and grass pitches not getting a break
There will be a 6-8 week break during June July Aug. So that’s not realy an issue.. I’m hopi g necsl comitee would move coaching lges aswell in line with competitive teams
Frank Ferry Philip Warren
Gary Smith
Has summer football helped the Loi ? Just out of interest.
Helped in terms of what? Attendance? No it hasn’t helped. But reasons for schoolboys moving to calender year is completely different to adult season moving.. schoolboy football is being moved to aid development of young players. So they have matches consistently and on grass not mud baths. It’s only a small part..biggest part is getting the coaching right which in this country we are miles off.
No it was moved mainly for attendance which is why it’s on Friday nights. Pitches were part of it also..There has been one match called of since the switch.. you can only improve the quality if you produce quality… schoolboy football in ireland is not producing quality..not only because of the winter season there are 100s of other things wrong but this is an easy fix. Kids plating in better conditions on better pitches develop quicker and that’s a fact.. as I said before our main problem is the coaching but that’s going to take a long time to fix
No it was moved mainly for attendance which is why it’s on Friday nights. Pitches were part of it also..There has been one match called of since the switch.. you can only improve the quality if you produce quality… schoolboy football in ireland is not producing quality..not only because of the winter season there are 100s of other things wrong but this is an easy fix. Kids plating in better conditions on better pitches develop quicker and that’s a fact.. as I said before our main problem is the coaching but that’s going to take a long time to fix
brilliant decision
Well done to the members/clubs of NECSL – from all in Clare – we switched seasons in 2007 – and have seen many positives in the growth of the game at all levels – n.b for League and individual clubs to attempt to communicate with other sports at county and local level re agreeing a calendar – designated soccer fixture nights that dont change are the cornerstone for its success. There will be a few teething issues – however the calendar season allows for greater flexibility to grow, develop and promote our game oh and yes we still managed to win a few Hurling All Irelands as well
Patrick Chetan
Jervis Fleming James Hand
In my house where my 3 sons play Gaelic and only 2 now play soccer, with my husband involved in Gaelic training and I am involved managing one of the soccer teams, this can only spell disaster. We can see no way how we will be able to manage this, and with one having junior cert next year, no way will 2 sports be manageable simultaneously, very worrying.