Under 16s

[NeverFeltBetter]

Started in the LSDL First Division, have won first two games 21-0 and 8-0 according to the LSDL website.

Limerick had this statement up a short time ago, regards their (failed) attempts to be placed in the top tier: http://www.limerickfc.ie/limerick-fc-statement

It's an interesting question I suppose, as to whether the vast disparity in quality outweighs the traditional need to climb the ladder like everyone else, but its disappointing to see what will be, in effect, a largely wasted year for some of the clubs younger members.

[Jofspring]

Limerick should be Treated the same way as any other team/club be more in line if they stop going around tapping up players from all age groups.

The same way Pike and a few more junior clubs have been doing for years.

Limerick weren't looking for preferential treatment. Clubs are always asked at underage what division they would like to be in at different age groups based on what quality they have in the squad. Limerick said they had a strong squad so felt they should be in the premier under 16 league. The LDSL felt differently and despite limerick saying they were very strong still put them in the first division.

It has nothing to do with limerick wanting an entitlement over any other club. It comes down to the LDSL putting limerick in a division which is causing results like 21-0 and 8-0 (which was blown up with 20mins to go). It's of no benefit to anyone in the first division.

[redron]

Limerick should be Treated the same way as any other team/club be more in line if they stop going around tapping up players from all age groups.

Eh?
Is this where all the PS4 pre-orders have gone?

[redron]

Limerick should be Treated the same way as any other team/club...

Maybe things have changed in the meantime, but when Limerick entered an Under 12 team in 2011-12, they presumed they would be put in the bottom division (they had a "weak" squad, with many players having never played football outside of school (i.e. not in a proper club structure) and they were a new club in that age group), but they were placed in the top division.

After suffering a number of heavy defeats and giving a couple of walk-overs (iirc, I don't think they even scored a single goal), the team was withdrawn from the league.
A good few of the players didn't find other clubs .

[Jofspring]

I think you may find a big difference in tapping up junior players and tapping up schoolboys.

Not really. They are plenty of bigger clubs in this city that have tapped up schoolboys from other clubs. Happens all over the country and the world really.

[Sea Bird]

hypocrisy of the highest order pike have done more tapping in schoolboy football in the past 3 years than river dance

[jaorta]

It is an absolute disgrace what is happening with this group of fourteen year olds.To meter out a 21-0 beating
to other kids is a very poor reflection on Limerick fc and on this teams management.the second match (8-0)
would have finished double this if it was played to the death.as a limerick fc supporter i think something needs to be
done immediately to restore our good?? relationship with the junior clubs.There is an awful amount of bad feeling being
generated and a lot of soccer people have made it known that they will never go to see limerick again.is pat o sullivan
aware of the situation??I know we wanted to be in the top tier but maybe we have poached too many players
a lot of whom have come from the desmond league which has had a very adverse effect on their home teams and god only
knows how poor the desmonds will be when it comes to inter-league tournaments.We are burning our bridges all over
the place and i feel we need to sort this out ourselves before any more damage is done.Anyone with a semblance
of football knowledge would have known that we didnt need to plunder so much to win either division.

[Jofspring]

I don't see what more they can do than releasing the statement. All clubs try get the best players in not just Limerick FC. The draw of progressing to the under 19's and further within the club is obviously enticing players in.

In saying that I think a rule needs to be brought in similar to the one trying to be enforced in Dublin where teams can't pull players from a certain distance away from their clubs base at certain age levels. We all know there has been a few clubs for years pulling players from all around Limerick when they hit under 17 and minor level.

I was involved with a club only a few years ago that had an under 14's player being tapped up by another local club.

Im involved with Coonagh now and a lot of lads that play with us played with Coonagh up to about 15 or 16 and then got asked to come up to other clubs to try win things and now a few years down the line have returned.

Its the nature of football sadly.

If you look at some of limericks successful under 17 and minor teams over the last 10 years or so a lot of the teams are made up of players that all came from other clubs from all around Limerick city and county and not necessarily up through that clubs youth system.

It seems at the moment there is another big fish in the pond at the moment and its knocking a few noses out of joint.

[Sea Bird]

beating another bunch of kids 21-0 to prove a point is not the answer to any problem.. is pat o sullivan aware of that?? the manager of that team should hang his head in shame absolute disgrace... go organise a game against st Kevin's boys or one of the top clubs and see how they get on??

[NeverFeltBetter]

What do you want the manager to do? Tell them to play without a goalie or something? They wanted to be in the top tier but were refused. If the other teams can't cope, it's not Limerick's problem.

[jaorta]

What do you want the manager to do? Tell them to play without a goalie or something? They wanted to be in the top tier but were refused. If the other teams can't cope, it's not Limerick's problem.

Im more concerned about the damage our actions are doing to this age group and its league.If you think we would get any sort of competition from the top division you are deluding yourself and the clubs statement comes across to me as being a bit arrogant.We would be winning these games 10-0 as well,dont be kidding yourself.Just because pike rovers have done this in the past doesnt make it right.word has it that one of the head men in the desmond league is scouting fourteen year olds for us!!!

[Sea Bird]

What do you want the manager to do? Tell them to play without a goalie or something? They wanted to be in the top tier but were refused. If the other teams can't cope, it's not Limerick's problem.

it's kids your talking about so it's right the senior club in the city the club that are trying to encourage people to come and watch them at senior level go out and destroy a bunch of kids by 20 goals and maybe turn these kids off ever playing football again it ain't the rest of the teams fault in that division that limerick are in it.. 8,9,10 is enough put yourself in the shoes of the kids and parents at the receiving end of that walloping and the clubs..it's an absolute disgrace in my eyes and will win the club no friends in the long run..

[Jofspring]

I'd love to know what happened on the day. Firstly the ref should never have let the game go beyond 10-0. Secondly the opposition teams manager should have called for it to be blown up early and thirdly the limerick manager should have asked for it to be blown up early.

Until we know the facts on what happened on the day I'll reserve judgement.

I know of managers in the past that wouldn't let a game be blown up even when it was their team being hammered. I know of a ref before that wouldn't blow a game early either and I have also heard of managers that were over the team giving the stuffing that refused to allow the game being blown up.

[kingpin4]

it's kids your talking about so it's right the senior club in the city the club that are trying to encourage people to come and watch them at senior level go out and destroy a bunch of kids by 20 goals and maybe turn these kids off ever playing football again it ain't the rest of the teams fault in that division that limerick are in it.. 8,9,10 is enough put yourself in the shoes of the kids and parents at the receiving end of that walloping and the clubs..it's an absolute disgrace in my eyes and will win the club no friends in the long run..

I'm with Sea Bird on this. The relationship with the LDSL is already poor enough, so going thrashing teams 21 nil isn't doing anyone any favours.
The statement wasn't really necessary either, it did smack a SMALL bit of arrogance (even though it wasn't intended)

Imagine being one of those 16 year olds going in to school on a Monday morning and having to face that. You'll just end up crippling other teams in the division. I wouldn't be long taking my son out of a situation where he loses a game 21 0, serves no benefit to anyone. And of course it will have an effect on the attendances at Senior games.

[dutchie]

I was at the recent Limerick v LOngford u19s match and was talking to a coach who told me about the 21-0 score line,he said they were going to show up the ldmc,also a coach from the losing team told limericks manager that he hopes his players would never be embarrassed like his team were on the field.
I think it's a ploy of the underage management to tap up players from the Desmond leg,LImerick Desmond have made huge strides in the last 10 years and are very competitive,Limerick I feel think they will get less slack if they tap up the country boys instead of the city boys.
It seems LImerick tap up the players and then hold a camp where these players come in free of charge and sign for Limerick.Limerick fc spins the story that the players came to the camp of their own will and signed up themselves.
Of last years Kenneddy cup team from the Desmond's there are 8 players from it on this years Limerick 15 s team,one coming all the way from Broadford.
If these players are being tapped up by a Desmond lge official as stated above then that person should be named and questioned about it.

[Lim till i die]

If you think we would get any sort of competition from the top division you are deluding yourself and the clubs statement comes across to me as being a bit arrogant.We would be winning these games 10-0 as well,dont be kidding yourself.

The team thats there now at U-16 wouldnt win the U-16 Premier.

Similarly the U-15 team wouldnt be favourites for their league.

[bluewhitearmy]

Lads ye are talking absolute crap. Why in the name of god would Limerick not ask the better players to sign for them? Every schoolboy club has taken players from other clubs i wouldnt be surprised if some of the players Limerick have taken were already taken from another club to the one we took em from.

As for the scoreline, what are Limerick coaches supposed to do tell their players not to try as hard? What a great message that would be for young players to go out and not give their best.

Limerick are the top team in the City and County and it should be the aim of the senior club of Limerick to have the best players in Limerick it should also be the aim of the best players in Limerick to come and play for Limerick. Some of the posts on this just show how ridiculous the thought process of people involved in Junior and Schoolboy soccer are imo. "Tapping up" players ffs they dont have contracts they are not being paid they are being asked to sign and its then up to them if they would like to or not. If Limerick didnt have the best players at underage level then they wouldnt be progressing to under 19s and the hopefully the senior team then you would have people on here whinging that Limerick are not producing their own u19s or senior players or that Limerick have no players from Limerick coming through.

[redron]

As I understand it, the situation is like this:

* This is a new team for Limerick FC; the LDSL told the club there would be no barrier to entering the team, and to go out and assemble a squad

* On assessing the squad assembled, the coach indicated to the committee the strength of the squad and asked them to seek entry to the appropriate division

* LDSL considered all evidence and placed the team in the second tier


All coaches at all clubs try to assemble the strongest squad possible to work with.
Have there been any cases of actual inducement? Surely most players will base their decision on which club to play for on some combination of club loyalty, ambition and social interactions (i.e. if they have friends on the team).

Now, I can see the predicament that the LDSL found themselves in: which team from the top tier would they relegate to the second tier in order to fit Limerick FC in? Which club, inevitably with a more longstanding affiliation to the league, would they offend? I reckon they genuinely underestimated the gulf in ability between the Limerick FC squad and the rest of the division -- perhaps even expecting Limerick to win every match, but not in the manner which has unfolded.
Now, I don't know if there has been a change in the rules in the meantime, but I'm sure the club is slightly baffled by the difference in how this team has been assessed by the LDSL and how the Under 12 team was assessed for the 2011-12 season (see my previous post).

Of course, the question of how this team might continue on next season is a complicated one, as Limerick FC is not currently affiliated to the LDMC (they run the Under 17 league, don't they?).

[Sea Bird]

Lads ye are talking absolute crap. Why in the name of god would Limerick not ask the better players to sign for them? Every schoolboy club has taken players from other clubs i wouldnt be surprised if some of the players Limerick have taken were already taken from another club to the one we took em from.

As for the scoreline, what are Limerick coaches supposed to do tell their players not to try as hard? What a great message that would be for young players to go out and not give their best.

Limerick are the top team in the City and County and it should be the aim of the senior club of Limerick to have the best players in Limerick it should also be the aim of the best players in Limerick to come and play for Limerick. Some of the posts on this just show how ridiculous the thought process of people involved in Junior and Schoolboy soccer are imo. "Tapping up" players ffs they dont have contracts they are not being paid they are being asked to sign and its then up to them if they would like to or not. If Limerick didnt have the best players at underage level then they wouldnt be progressing to under 19s and the hopefully the senior team then you would have people on here whinging that Limerick are not producing their own u19s or senior players or that Limerick have no players from Limerick coming through.

have no problem with anything you are saying except a coach letting his team win by that margin it's about humility and teaching the kids to show a bit of respect not go score again after 8r9 keep possession move the ball it was obvious to the kids at half time that it is a mismatch and what would they gain from doing that?? answer absolutely nothing..it's kids you are talking about at the end if the day not adults.. Limerick F.C. are a business and they need the public to keep them going I was one of many people disgusted when I heard the scoreline.. it was 100% wrong in my opinion...

[Jofspring]

The final scoreline was definitely wrong and should not have been allowed. I don't think the ref should have given either club a choice. Either blow it up or at the very least blow everything possible offside to keep it someway respectable.