Limerick Desmond League 2018/19

[southern kid]

I'm not saying I want them out but if refs won't ref there games how can league move on with cups semi-finals and league last 4 games etc.. from talking to 2 different referees they say they have no issue with going back there but there superiors are on a power trip..I can only imagine them referee meetings with the boss on top of room with the big stick..😂

[robotwarsfan]

Desmond youths cup Semi-Final
Broadford 2-2 Breska Rovers
Broadford won 3-2 on penalties.

[Foxynob44]

Southern Kid Are you suggesting that the refs should brush this under the table as if nothing happened?. Bring the offenders to justice, kick them out of the game, get the law involved & the relevant punishment for the offenders, fine abbey as a club for failing to control its players & move on.. v easy in my eyes, but if the refs don't get justice then it will continue to happen & may even get worse ala Mullingar

[Griffo]

Lat week it was the refs ability and that he had a habit of exaggerating stories, now its the refs bosses being on a power trip. What will it take to be the fault of the members of the club who do these ridiculous things? Its this type of dismissive attitude towards refs that is part of the problem, when they are looked on as the enemy and because of this should not get any sympathy, as its part of their job. I think everyone has heard what went on at this stage and its safe to say the handling of the matter by the people and club involved has not shown them in the best light. On top of this, what was the league doing making the fixture last week when the issue clearly hasn't been resolved? Either a break down in communication or trying to force the refs hands, either way they haven't covered themselves in glory in handling this issue. For the sake of every club involved in the DL they need to get a decision made and resolve this asap.

[Yorkshire rose]

I'm sure if you were to call down to the Rathkeale House Hotel you'd be told otherwise. I'm sure there are ̶H̶a̶n̶d̶j̶o̶b̶s̶ handshakes all round about how the League and Irish Football in general is great place and you can bet your arse JD has given a few crumbs off the table to sweeten everything even more.

Now JD is gone who looks after the grassroots of Irish soccer despite his faults.....FAI.....no chance Sports Council of Ireland....not a hope
Shane Ross.... Ireland only exists inside the Pale........Sometimes you get what you wish for!!

[southern kid]

First of all as I said earlier I do not condone any violence or abuse towards any referee, how ever good or bad they are. It's a tough and thankless job.my point was about the lenght of time and the actions of referees to get their own way. What they are doing is holding desmond league to ransom as all of our clubs will soon not be able to proceed if Abbey do not play..I also said I was involved in incident similar with this ref awhile back and I seen first hand how not all facts are revealed..apparently one young 17yr old was giving a very lengthy ban which he totally deserves if guilty and club fined so what more do they want..are they going to do this every time there not happy with a suspension??my guess is they want national media which will not help anyone.. just accept leagues findings and move on.. by all means punish the club/players when refereeing from hear on. Just let the whole league move on..

[the 12 th man]

Now JD is gone who looks after the grassroots of Irish soccer despite his faults.....FAI.....no chance Sports Council of Ireland....not a hope
Shane Ross.... Ireland only exists inside the Pale........Sometimes you get what you wish for!!


Only stepped aside,he's not gone away you know...

[Shearer]

Now JD is gone who looks after the grassroots of Irish soccer despite his faults.....FAI.....no chance Sports Council of Ireland....not a hope
Shane Ross.... Ireland only exists inside the Pale........Sometimes you get what you wish for!!
I get the sense you also vote for the politician who will tar your road too.

[Gazza29]

Was Desmond Cup draw made

[Round Tower]

First of all as I said earlier I do not condone any violence or abuse towards any referee, how ever good or bad they are. It's a tough and thankless job.my point was about the lenght of time and the actions of referees to get their own way. What they are doing is holding desmond league to ransom as all of our clubs will soon not be able to proceed if Abbey do not play..I also said I was involved in incident similar with this ref awhile back and I seen first hand how not all facts are revealed..apparently one young 17yr old was giving a very lengthy ban which he totally deserves if guilty and club fined so what more do they want..are they going to do this every time there not happy with a suspension??my guess is they want national media which will not help anyone.. just accept leagues findings and move on.. by all means punish the club/players when refereeing from hear on. Just let the whole league move on..

Question if the refs. of any league is not happy with the suspensions a league has given to a player or club have they any avenues of appeal say to the provenchial FA or the FAI

[southern kid]

Yes of course they have and I totally agree that they have that right to appeal any decision,same as a player does..but no not these bunch, they make there own laws and hold up whole league of finishing..you would wonder is there a personal agenda from the 2 or 3 refs leading the charge against club involved..

[Round Tower]

Yes of course they have and I totally agree that they have that right to appeal any decision,same as a player does..but no not these bunch, they make there own laws and hold up whole league of finishing..you would wonder is there a personal agenda from the 2 or 3 refs leading the charge against club involved..

Their is bad ref. here in the ML as well, the grade of refs as well., 2 weeks ago our ladies team was playing a league game, we have only 1 ladies group in Mayo, a ref. which is a grade 3 ref. ccould not do the game. But the following day our junior mens team which is in the 3rd level of the ML so the ref. who was not high enough graded for the womens game was graded enough to do the mens game.

[Shearer]

Was Desmond Cup draw made
Broadford Vs Rathkeale
Abbeyfeale/NCW Town Vs Glin Rovers

To be played May Bank Holiday

[Soreloser]

Was talking to a ref earlier this evening who said they are not refusing to ref abbey games and they have asked the league to put linesmen on the games until its sorted.

[southern kid]

the refs are back tracking at a serious rate..the league can not be dictated to by the refs other wise it would be carnage..the league held firm so refs will need to give in and get on with it and I'm sure the whole league, players and supporter will be delighted..

[Griffo]

The league held firm on not supporting a ref that was attacked and spat on. Now the refs need to give in and accept this behavior, what could possible go wrong in the future.

[Langerdan007]

Whats the story with this last 4 games of the league having to be played at the same time? is it a rule or a rule of thumb? Shountrade seem to have 3 games in hand on most in Div 1 who only have 3 left to play

With the weather being favorable enough over the winter is the season dragging on a bit? Looking like it'll be closer the end of May before its over

Abbey have 3 games fixed the weekend - has there been white smoke between them and the league?

[Round Tower]

Whats the story with this last 4 games of the league having to be played at the same time? is it a rule or a rule of thumb? Shountrade seem to have 3 games in hand on most in Div 1 who only have 3 left to play

With the weather being favorable enough over the winter is the season dragging on a bit? Looking like it'll be closer the end of May before its over

Abbey have 3 games fixed the weekend - has there been white smoke between them and the league?

It wont be a problen next season with summer socer coming, normel seaon start hafter Paddy's day and run till Oct.

[Langerdan007]

It wont be a problen next season with summer socer coming, normel seaon start hafter Paddy's day and run till Oct.

That a done deal Round Tower? What way does it work - is there no soccer from end of this season to March 2020????

[sportsfanatic]

Glin proposed that the last 4 games were to be played together about 2/3 seasons but before this season it was proposed that only the final two games be played together and it was passed. You can see on website that the last 2 games for every team is posted up on it.

Yeah abbey have three games fixed and I heard rumors that it was sorted by a Desmond league committee member having to be present at all Abbey Youth games but let’s see will the games actually be played as they were fixed 2 weeks ago also but were cancelled the Friday night.

[sportsfanatic]

That a done deal Round Tower? What way does it work - is there no soccer from end of this season to March 2020????

It won’t come in next season, 2021 is more likely to be the season where it comes in. There will be a mini season in 2020 Aug - Nov before it where League cups and Desmond cups will be played only!

The FAI have recently done workshops around the country explaining the benefits of summer soccer for junior. They did this before they told us it was coming in for the underage too so I expect we will get official communication over the next 12 months about juniors too and you will have to have your league in by 2021. This is their plan but you don’t never know what will happen.

[Cruyff]

It won’t come in next season, 2021 is more likely to be the season where it comes in. There will be a mini season in 2020 Aug - Nov before it where League cups and Desmond cups will be played only!

The FAI have recently done workshops around the country explaining the benefits of summer soccer for junior. They did this before they told us it was coming in for the underage too so I expect we will get official communication over the next 12 months about juniors too and you will have to have your league in by 2021. This is their plan but you don’t never know what will happen.

While all that is true regarding underage, I would be confident that calendar football won't come in to effect for Junior.

The reason being is that there are currently a lot of rural clubs struggling with calendar football already. There's no way those clubs are going to vote for the same situation with their junior teams now that they've seen it with their schoolboy's.

The FAI cannot shoehorn this upon clubs and leagues, ultimately it will come down to a democratic vote league by league.

If enough clubs and leagues kick up enough of a stink then the FAI will back down.

They would have had to back down with the underage too if it came to it but the schoolboy leagues went along with it.

The fear factor of doing what you're told by headquarters is gone now...

I'm not against the idea personally, but I know enough clubs who are so my opinion makes no odds because the majority will vote against it.

[Round Tower]

That a done deal Round Tower? What way does it work - is there no soccer from end of this season to March 2020????

It depends on the different leagues, that is how smmer soccer is done here in mayo since 95 or 96, but since the rest of Connacht plays winters occer we finsihed our domestic soccer in Sept., we had FAI JC in Nov, a Connacht Cup game Dec. We played Connacht sheild in an., Marcch and we are still playing last season as we are in the 018/019 Connacht sheild final on the 19th of May

[Abbeyman]

Clare league have told the FAI that they aren’t changing and FAI have to live with it or else just have 8 or 9 clubs in clare . This was all the brainchild of a bloke from the Netherlands who's since no longer in FAI .
Might work in Netherlands where there ain’t many other sports to play . Some here are pushing it hard hoping they shut down their local GAA club but old traditions did hard in many parish’s in rural Ireland including west limerick . The soccer hurling football ( 3 sport )player at underage is already a common site in local doctors with injuries .

[Shearer]

Clare league have told the FAI that they aren’t changing and FAI have to live with it or else just have 8 or 9 clubs in clare . This was all the brainchild of a bloke from the Netherlands who's since no longer in FAI .
Might work in Netherlands where there ain’t many other sports to play . Some here are pushing it hard hoping they shut down their local GAA club but old traditions did hard in many parish’s in rural Ireland including west limerick . The soccer hurling football ( 3 sport )player at underage is already a common site in local doctors with injuries .
I don't recall Ruud Dokter leaving at all. The man knows what he's on about anyway.

[CraftyToePoke]

This was all the brainchild of a bloke from the Netherlands who's since no longer in FAI

I didn't hear of him leaving.

And I notice underage talent development being on a real high through the age groups under his direction and during his time in the role. Plenty sports in Holland too, and facilities in many of them to be admired, soccer is the number one there though, yes.

[Round Tower]

Clare league have told the FAI that they aren’t changing and FAI have to live with it or else just have 8 or 9 clubs in clare . This was all the brainchild of a bloke from the Netherlands who's since no longer in FAI .
Might work in Netherlands where there ain’t many other sports to play . Some here are pushing it hard hoping they shut down their local GAA club but old traditions did hard in many parish’s in rural Ireland including west limerick . The soccer hurling football ( 3 sport )player at underage is already a common site in local doctors with injuries .

The same waas saaid in Mayo back when it was ffirsst mooted in the 90's, we might have lost 4 or 5 clubs over the years over summer soccer but we still 33 teams playinf at junior level over 4 divisions.
Our own club have a panel of 24 players at junior level, only 1 of which would be involved at JL with the GAA, ok we would have lost 3 or 4 players to the GAA when it cam to deciding soccer or ffootball, in some cases not the players choice but the parents.
Of the panel of 24 we have at the moment all but 2 of the players have came through our youths, at underage most young boys and girls play both GF and soccer, even a number of years ago we were in a divisional cup final aand as part of the final the 2 clubs "soccer begiging schools" was invited, at the time the Mayo senior football manager Pat olmes was there as one of the parentss.

[Shearer]

All of Tomorrow's games are off due to a weather warning

[sportsfanatic]

Won’t be long now until Abbey games are called off this weekend again.......

Season will be played well into June! Getting serious now. The rumors are the ref reports had two players attacked him but abbey only gave the name of one and that’s where the issue is. Abbey aren’t giving a second name and refs won’t back down until the match card is taken serious? The only thing I worry is that with the obvious commotion that happened after the game could the ref be mistaken and abbey can’t just give up some teenagers name that did nothing? Not saying the ref is wrong just can’t understand why abbey wouldn’t give a second name unless there might not be one?

It’s an impossible situation for league? They don’t have names or jerseys numbers to ban from report obviously or they would have just done it already. FAI involved Since two weeks ago and still no progress.

Looks like we’ll have summer soccer this season - earlier than I predicted :)

[southern kid]

yes sportsfanatic,I heard same story and I doubt Abbey or any club would not give a lad(thug)up if they had one to get back playing.v tough on there junior teams... according to one of there committee members they have done all they can unfortunately, unless like u say they just give them a players name,which would not be fair on any lad. A lot of lads have hols booked mid June and July so their back for gaa so a lot of clubs turning on referees now to get sorted. if fai involved and can't sort it , UEFA next..

[twotouch]

Don’t think any clubs are turning on the referees that’s a ridiculous statement altogether. Abbey from what I have heard have not played ball from day 1 and the refs are correct to stand their ground. It’s amazing it’s got no media coverage either. Why would a ref want to go back for 50 quid with the chance of it happening again in the back of their mind. Desmond league need to put in sanctions and back their refs and quickly

[Griffo]

I agree, the league need to sort this ASAP. I heard a few clubs are in the process of writing to the league to enquire about action taken, if any. To be fair the whole league is being held up and suffering over an incident that has nothing to do with them. It appears clubs will be turning on the league rather than the refs and rightly so!

[Shearer]

Between the backlog of fixtures to be played, the Abbeyfeale situation and the unprecedented level of walkovers, it hasn't been a glorious year.
Hopefully this situation can be sorted sooner rather than later because everyone is being effected.

Kildimo played their 15th league game on April 7 and are out of both the League Cup and Desmond Cup. Meanwhile two clubs sit on 14 games played, two on 13, three on 12, one club on 11 and one club has only played 10 games!!! That's a hell of a lot of catching up!

[sportsfanatic]

Between the backlog of fixtures to be played, the Abbeyfeale situation and the unprecedented level of walkovers, it hasn't been a glorious year.
Hopefully this situation can be sorted sooner rather than later because everyone is being effected.

Kildimo played their 15th league game on April 7 and are out of both the League Cup and Desmond Cup. Meanwhile two clubs sit on 14 games played, two on 13, three on 12, one club on 11 and one club has only played 10 games!!! That's a hell of a lot of catching up!

Glin are on the team on 10 and in both cups!! They at least have 10 games left!!

[Red_Devil]

If they can’t get the exact names they should just take a wider punishment on the club. Expulsion from the competition or a hefty points deduction should be applied. That’s the only way to deter this type of thing.

[last man back]

Abbeyfeale games off tomorrow

[southern kid]

if Abbey game is off , does that mean semifinals will not go ahead following wk or will it be ncw v glin??

[Griffo]

Heard there is a DL meeting tomorrow night to finalise this issue finally. Hope they can think of the other clubs involved here and try restore their season.

[westernflow]

What a joke. Do people think that the bulk of the other clubs would get away with this? Kildimo docked points for a lesser incident and Abbeyfeale holding up the premier division, youths and multiple opponents. Farce .

[Cruyff]

What a joke. Do people think that the bulk of the other clubs would get away with this? Kildimo docked points for a lesser incident and Abbeyfeale holding up the premier division, youths and multiple opponents. Farce .

That's a great point westernflow, I've been waiting for someone to say it.

You often see the same when one of the big clubs are struggling in the premier they miraculously get a couple of free Sundays together to get their house in order.
I've seen it 2 or 3 times in recent years when a big club is down at the bottom they'll get a helping hand.

This is clearly something that the league have to take a hold of, they just have to make a decision or else they're setting a precedent.

This long, drawn out episode cannot be allowed to happen again, incidents will happen in all sport but the people running the game have to act as swiftly and fairly as they can to respect the integrity of the competition and of everyone involved.

A fair compromise might be a second referee acting as a "4th official" at the next 3 games or something as a probationary thing. Because this 2 linesman for the rest of the season craic will bankrupt Abbeyfeale in all fairness.

Short of that, it'll be points deductions and walkovers, but that's the nuclear option that nobody wants.

If I was Abbeyfeale, I'd pull out my Youths and B team, not saying they will but if the league can't sort this out swiftly or can't compromise, they might have to, it's just easier than having this hanging over them.

We need Abbeyfeale A in particular back in action for the good of the league as soon as possible, I feel sorry for them because this has nothing to do with them

[Langerdan007]

Topical with the recent discussion - underage revolt against summer soccer

https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/fai-player-development-plan-in-tatters-as-schoolboy-leagues-call-time-on-summer-football-38060158.html

[Abbeyman]

Interesting article . If the Dublin leagues can’t make it work why are the Desmond league going to be different .
Perhaps in mayo where there appears to be only 2 sports ie Soccer and Gaelic you have a chance but Cork , Galway , Dublin where you have 3 if not 4 codes been played at a high level you really are splitting the player pool very thinly sometimes getting the best athletes in a parish but more often losing them altogether . Of the top ten sportsmen in your parish how many will play soccer first ??

[Round Tower]

Topical with the recent discussion - underage revolt against summer soccer

https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/fai-player-development-plan-in-tatters-as-schoolboy-leagues-call-time-on-summer-football-38060158.html

Yes it would seem that all soccer being played during the summer dead, but i would tell any league's who aare in favour of SS

[Shearer]

Interesting article . If the Dublin leagues can’t make it work why are the Desmond league going to be different .
Perhaps in mayo where there appears to be only 2 sports ie Soccer and Gaelic you have a chance but Cork , Galway , Dublin where you have 3 if not 4 codes been played at a high level you really are splitting the player pool very thinly sometimes getting the best athletes in a parish but more often losing them altogether . Of the top ten sportsmen in your parish how many will play soccer first ??
You really don't like the idea of summer football it appears.
I'd rather have a small pool of football first people than a squad that will leave you for dead at the throw-in of a sliothar.
Football in Ireland needs to stop running from the gah.

[Treaty Gooner]

Bang on Shearer.

[sportsfanatic]

you really don't like the idea of summer football it appears.
I'd rather have a small pool of football first people than a squad that will leave you for dead at the throw-in of a sliothar.
Football in ireland needs to stop running from the gah.

exactly!!

[Round Tower]

You really don't like the idea of summer football it appears.
I'd rather have a small pool of football first people than a squad that will leave you for dead at the throw-in of a sliothar.
Football in Ireland needs to stop running from the gah.

We heard the same arguments here in Mayo when i think waass the first league to start playing SS, it was the best thing that we did but u also have to have the right at the top of the league management, that insists that every club has

proper pitch
dressing rooms for the 2 teams and referees
a fence for a perimeter around the 4 sides

Remember going to matches, the pitch was a farmers field that the club would get the use of, normally in ne corner a saamall fella would not be seen taking a corner. U togged in and out in the car.
One of the downsides would be back in the winter socer days u would go back to their pub after the match and u would get sanswiches afterards, now some of it would go to the ddrink driving these days, but these days no one goes back,

[Cruyff]

League looking for clubs to bail them out it looks like, general meeting called for next Wednesday in the Rathkeale House to "work out the Abbeyfeale / referees situation"
Assumably they got nowhere at their own committee meeting

[Gazza29]

League looking for clubs to bail them out it looks like,

That’s the most ridiculous statement I have ever seen. You would swear that the league is responsible for this. You might enlighten us as to what exactly they could and should have done

[Cruyff]

That’s the most ridiculous statement I have ever seen. You would swear that the league is responsible for this. You might enlighten us as to what exactly they could and should have done

Just make a decision, one way or the other.
Anything to get the league going ahead again.
It wouldn't surprise me if they throw it open to the floor for suggestions...