Under 16s

Limerick FC need to pull out of schoolboy football. The Limerick schoolboy league needs to take a serious look at the movement of players between schoolboy clubs. The best players moving to one or two clubs only weakens the clubs they have moved from. Schoolboy players and managers/coaches are disillusioned and are giving up football. Schoolboy football can learn from the GAA attitude towards player transfers where players rarely transfer. I'm a Limerick FC supporter and also involved with a Schoolboy club.

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Originally Posted by Gerrard1

Limerick FC need to pull out of schoolboy football. The Limerick schoolboy league needs to take a serious look at the movement of players between schoolboy clubs. The best players moving to one or two clubs only weakens the clubs they have moved from. Schoolboy players and managers/coaches are disillusioned and are giving up football. Schoolboy football can learn from the GAA attitude towards player transfers where players rarely transfer. I'm a Limerick FC supporter and also involved with a Schoolboy club.

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It would be crazy for Limerick to pull out of schoolboy. For years people have complained Limerick don't bring through their own players and now they are doing it or aiming to do it over time, people are complaining. The club needs to be self sustaining with its own youth structure or it will be forever doomed.

To cut off its future supply of players would basically mean no future for Limerick FC and be complete madness.

I agree about being stricter with the movement of schoolboys though and that should be throughout the country. I have thought for years (long before Limerick FC had schoolboys) that rules should be in place to stop the tapping up of schoolboys.

As I have mentioned, this is not some new phenomenom of clubs taking schoolboys from each other and a lot of the top schoolboy teams take players from all over Limerick city and county. Up in Dublin it is rife (hence the new rules up there) and even the Dubs come down to Limerick and take lads up there. I know quiet a few lads that signed for Dublin clubs at schoolboy level while still living in Limerick and had to travel up and down as 13 and 14 year olds.

Its big business for a lot of the Dublin clubs to come down for the Kennedy cup and tap up the best schoolboys around the country in the hope of moving them on to the UK and get a pay day out of it.

At the end of the day though it is up to the parents who they want their kids to play for at the very youngest ages and after that its up to the kids. No one forces anyone to sign anywhere they don't want to.

If I had a kid with potential to progress up to u

If I had a kid with potential to progress to u19s and beyond shows his ambition and signs for Limerick FI, then is told told by his coach not to try his hardest because the opposition were getting hammered I'd be p#ssed off! You can't expect some of the best players not to try what good is that to any young player?

The plan was for Limerick to introduce schoolboy teams and gradually develop their structure from u8s up. This would have prevented and poaching accusations. Why did they decide to bowl in with u16s, entice many top players with promises of LOI u17 football and **** everybody off? Sorry, the league might be a bunch of old farts but sticking two fingers to them and everyone else in the league won't win them any friends.

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Originally Posted by Treaty Gooner

The plan was for Limerick to introduce schoolboy teams and gradually develop their structure from u8s up. This would have prevented and poaching accusations. Why did they decide to bowl in with u16s, entice many top players with promises of LOI u17 football and **** everybody off? Sorry, the league might be a bunch of old farts but sticking two fingers to them and everyone else in the league won't win them any friends.

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Why shouldnt they have an under 16s? Valid reasons please not "They tokl players from other clubs" or " Its annoyed people" that is complete bull.

About the scoreline if it was 13 or 14 year olds id say something but at 16 you are near enough to being of age to be part of senior teams that if you are not good enough then thats your problem. There are 16 and 17 year olds in the Limerick senior set up at the minute do you think St.Pats or Sligo would go easy on them same with Junior teams you think if Pike had 16 or 17 year olds in the team that the likes of Carew or Boro would take it easy on em? Not a chance.

Its not nice to see but the only people to blame are the ones that put a team in with such weaker teams in no way can Limerick FC coaches or players be blamed for going out and playing the game to the best of their ability imo.

I'm afraid it's not bull, it's a plan they reneged on and it (poaching) is the biggest issue in schoolboy football. Develop your own players - which Limerick are doing, their original u8s from a few years back must be u11 or u12 now - and there's no issue. Poaching happens everywhere but that ruling has to come from the SFAI.

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Originally Posted by Treaty Gooner

I'm afraid it's not bull, it's a plan they reneged on and it (poaching) is the biggest issue in schoolboy football. Develop your own players - which Limerick are doing, their original u8s from a few years back must be u11 or u12 now - and there's no issue. Poaching happens everywhere but that ruling has to come from the SFAI.

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When the season is over then no player is attached to any club so how is asking a player that is not attached to any club "poaching" or "tapping up" its not its asking a player that was with a club the previous season if he would like to join a new club the next season. There is no-one being forced there is no-one being offered money its people being asked would you like to join Limerick and then its up to them would they rather stay where they were or would they like to sign for Limerick and its their right to choose. The attitude here seems to be that they have to stay where they were just cos that is where they were that is ridiculous. Players leave clubs and players join clubs thats football.

Should players be stuck with clubs and teams they are too good for just because they played for them before?

Saying they should not have brought in a 16s team is ridiculous too they need it for people to progress to 19s if they didnt have it then they would still be taking 16 and 17 year olds to go into the 19s team and people would be whinging about that.

Like i have said before it should be the aim of all the best players in Limerick to play with the senior team of Limerick with the aim to progress to LOI or even a better level then LOI if anyone had any reasons why that should not be the case id love to know what it is.

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Originally Posted by Jofspring

At the end of the day though it is up to the parents who they want their kids to play for at the very youngest ages and after that its up to the kids. No one forces anyone to sign anywhere they don't want to.

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Parents are a big part of the problem. Some become football experts overnight even though they know nothing about the game and have never played. Many parents demand to know why their kid isn't starting every game and worst still why their kid is being played in a position the kid doesn't like. Parents 15 and 20 years ago never questioned club coaches and they gave their kids a clip around the ear if the kids questioned a coach in any way. Like i said the schoolboy league need to bring in strong rules which limit the movement of players from one club to another. Then we will see more competitive leagues and we might even see those players/coaches/volunteers that have packed it in coming back to the game.

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Originally Posted by bluewhitearmy

When the season is over then no player is attached to any club so how is asking a player that is not attached to any club "poaching" or "tapping up" its not its asking a player that was with a club the previous season if he would like to join a new club the next season. There is no-one being forced there is no-one being offered money its people being asked would you like to join Limerick and then its up to them would they rather stay where they were or would they like to sign for Limerick and its their right to choose. The attitude here seems to be that they have to stay where they were just cos that is where they were that is ridiculous. Players leave clubs and players join clubs thats football.

Should players be stuck with clubs and teams they are too good for just because they played for them before?

Saying they should not have brought in a 16s team is ridiculous too they need it for people to progress to 19s if they didnt have it then they would still be taking 16 and 17 year olds to go into the 19s team and people would be whinging about that.

Like i have said before it should be the aim of all the best players in Limerick to play with the senior team of Limerick with the aim to progress to LOI or even a better level then LOI if anyone had any reasons why that should not be the case id love to know what it is.

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A club Approaching players in off season to sign is against the rules of the Desmond schoolboy lge,its called poaching,promising them the chance of playing u17 lge of Ireland is wrong,they should be left with there respective teams and be called in if they are good enough at u17 as they are finished with schoolboy soccer then,a lot of the clubs run busses from the Desmond lge into senior matches and travel in themselves and are valuable supporters,its all about bums on seats and if Limerick keep their policy of poaching maybe the two fingers will be thrown back at them!

Its my understanding that from talking to people Invoved with Limerick that They dont Ask any players to sign , Just have summer camps and the Kids will follow other Kids , I watched That Under 16 team against Star Rovers and whilst well Better than star , Dont think that many are good enough to play at loi under 17 or 19 level , Do agree that Kids should stay with There clubs until they go to the next level ie airtricity U 17 / u 19 , any player worth his salt will want to go there , Problem is when and if an U 17 loi starts (is it definately happening) that players would have to sign at 14 15 and 16 years of age if they are good enough , I think that there will be huge problems then

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Originally Posted by dutchie

A club Approaching players in off season to sign is against the rules of the Desmond schoolboy lge,its called poaching,promising them the chance of playing u17 lge of Ireland is wrong,they should be left with there respective teams and be called in if they are good enough at u17 as they are finished with schoolboy soccer then,a lot of the clubs run busses from the Desmond lge into senior matches and travel in themselves and are valuable supporters,its all about bums on seats and if Limerick keep their policy of poaching maybe the two fingers will be thrown back at them!

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Why should they be left at their respective teams? moving clubs is part of football if a player wants to leave and join a different club should he be forced to stay? Thats hardly fair on someone is it?

If coaches are getting that upset about players leaving they have no business being involved in football anyway as its part of football they should know that from the start.

The point of taking them at 16 is so they will be ready for 17s other then just throwing them together then.

There is not one single schoolboy club in the entire country that has never taken a player from another club id imagine.

So far you have repeated that players should be left at the club they are at without once giving a reason why.

Do you know where the players come from BWA? 90% of the u19s are from the Emerging Talent, they haven't been developed by LFC but that's ok, they're ambitous enough to play at a high level. The LFC coaches and Emerging Talent coaches are the same people. The problem with the 16s and later the 17s is that they won't be, they'll just be LDSL or LDMC teams, the LOI u17 players will come from the Emerging Talent again. These current 16s aren't Emerging Talent players, they have being poached, spoofed that they'll play LOI and won't be developed by the novice coaches Limerick have in there. Dutchie makes a good point, for a club with poor performances and dwindling attendances they're doing themselves no favours.

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Originally Posted by bluewhitearmy

If coaches are getting that upset about players leaving they have no business being involved in football anyway as its part of football they should know that from the start.

So far you have repeated that players should be left at the club they are at without once giving a reason why.

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How would Limerick FC feel if other League of Ireland Clubs came in and poached the best of the Limerick FC players ? think noses would be out of joint then...
Also, for the 3rd time the reason why players should be left with their clubs is because schoolboy teams will pull out of the league if the best players are transferring to play with just one or two clubs...this will reduce the number of teams in the leagues and it could also reduce the number of leagues. You'd never know we might end up with a League something like : Limerick FC A v Limerick FC B v Limerick FC C.
We can call it poaching/summer camps/word of mouth/friends telling friends etc - it doesn't really matter, the facts are that the lure of Limerick FC is too much for schoolboys to resist. Limerick FC need to go back to being what it was in the good old days, just a League of Ireland Club representing the people of Limerick and surrounding areas. Limerick FC should not be competing against Limerick schoolboy clubs. Terrible stuff.

I think they should absolutely have schoolboy teams but with the club's chequered history with the city surely they recognise they need to be much more careful than the other clubs when it comes to these matters. Nobody wants to see LFC do badly but whoever is making the decisions to poach players, go to the papers with these stories etc needs to consider the long term effect it can have on the club.

Players Move clubs all the time lads and in Big numbers , Last year Regional Utd Under 16 team got to a national cup final with the majority being from the County , Pike are winnining Practically every league from u11 to U14 beacause they have got players from Other clubs , Coonagh got a whole new team a couple of years ago at u 13 , a lot of these players have gone to summerville since , Players Move all the time from club to club for various reason , ambition parents friends etc , I do agree though that kids should not be given false hope by and i hope that Limerick fc are Not dangling that LOI carrot to young players , I imagine that Young people from all over the mid west will want to sign with Limerick FC because they are the senior club and playing in a good stadium and are dreaming of maybe one day playing there , My gut feeling though is that the majority of these kids are being encouraged to go Into limerick by there parents ,

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Originally Posted by Gerrard1

How would Limerick FC feel if other League of Ireland Clubs came in and poached the best of the Limerick FC players ? think noses would be out of joint then...
Also, for the 3rd time the reason why players should be left with their clubs is because schoolboy teams will pull out of the league if the best players are transferring to play with just one or two clubs...this will reduce the number of teams in the leagues and it could also reduce the number of leagues. You'd never know we might end up with a League something like : Limerick FC A v Limerick FC B v Limerick FC C.
We can call it poaching/summer camps/word of mouth/friends telling friends etc - it doesn't really matter, the facts are that the lure of Limerick FC is too much for schoolboys to resist. Limerick FC need to go back to being what it was in the good old days, just a League of Ireland Club representing the people of Limerick and surrounding areas. Limerick FC should not be competing against Limerick schoolboy clubs. Terrible stuff.

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This right here is why there is no point in even talking to you about the situation anymore you haven't a clue.

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Originally Posted by bluewhitearmy

This right here is why there is no point in even talking to you about the situation anymore you haven't a clue.

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It was a sweeping statement alright but this sham of 'producing our own players for the 17s and 19s' is ridiculous. They'll come from the Emerging Talent and nowhere else.