Well lads this page is gone very quiet. With the turn of the year what are your thoughts on predictions to win leagues. Anyone catching the eye or is it all inevitable
Sad to see another couple of clubs have folded. I believe Hibs and Dunbar are gone. Coachford looking outstanding, leaps above the rest. Good contest between greenwood and corkbeg for prem A. Few teams in with a shout division 1, you’d have to fancy Kilumney in division 2.
Hibs gone? Not a chance surely. And kilumney for div 2 sure are Richmond not 8 from 8. Glenthorn could catch Coachford yet.
Really would be surprised with Hibs being gone, strong team in Division 1?
Kilumney 7 from 8 so not much in it. I think kilumney one of the best teams in the AUL still. Fancy them to win div 2 in the end. Nobody catching Coachford, far too strong. One of the best junior teams in Munster the way they are playing. It true about the teams folding, don’t know what’s going on in the AUL. I know other county teams just about hanging in there .
I suppose one of the biggest problem the AUL faces is that the majority have little or no underage structures to bring players through each year.
This affects the county teams more as there has traditionally been less loyalty amongst city clubs and players move around more and clubs always have a chance of picking up a few new faces each year but ultimately this is doesnt strengthen the league as a whole but does strengthen the individual club but also weakens another at the same time.
Is there maybe 12 clubs with an underage set up ?
and some with only 1 underage team.
There is a huge amount of work involved in sustaining an underage set up and the majority or the clubs left in the AUL aren’t in a position to do this work.
The vast majority of the underage set ups are from county teams and the trend is once they get their houses in order they head MSL.
If this continues the AUL will continue to lose clubs and lose divisions and will be in a real battle with the business league for clubs.
The Chairman said on the Echo that AUL have huge plans to make it one of the strongest junior leagues in the country again, I can't possibly envisage how this would be possible.
They have to do something but what I will say about all the hype with the business league is yes it's getting bigger and more popular but the standard hasn't improved. Good young footballers are a dime a dozen at the moment compared to 15 20 years ago and this has a major impact on the Aul. When young hungry players come through the ranks now of msl teams they keep them in the fold whereas two decades ago they had a huge pot of players to pick from and could afford to let some go. These players from 2 decades ago that came to the aul are finishing up with clubs and there is nothing coming up behind them. I haven't seen Coachford yet but I am looking forward to watching them play. I must get a look at kilumney now too they snuck under my radar.
Participation is a lot different than it used to be alrite. And the bigs clubs in Cork having a junior team in the AUL really helped the standards. Clubs could look forward to games in Wilton, Douglas Hall, Corinthians, Mayfield, etc. It was a real good learning experience as well for young lads.
Nowadays you see Junior teams in big clubs and they are all quite young. Football doesn't have the same priority in lads lives which is understandable and also disappointing as I'm sure many would love to be playing.
A big squad is key these days as there's so many weekends away, shift work, birthdays celebrated and football can go to the side. If anything, the older experienced team in the Premier such as Grattan, Glenthorn, Coachford, etc benefit from lads till enjoying football well into their 30s and carrying on. Young lads these days look down on AUL if their club doesn't have an AUL team like they used.
I'd love a representative team to return but the Oscar Traynor competition is done. An MFA competition would be good. I think that would be good for the league. I think the league should approach all MSL teams about putting in an AUL side again, mite get a few in that way. Although most will be happy with what they have. Maybe a sneaky approach of some Business League teams too.
Aul need to try get the senior teams to enter 2nd junior teams back in the AUL. Look at Carrigaline have 4 teams in junior MSL. I see Pearse juniors have folded in the MSL also. Taking b teams from AUL And putting them into Msl is not doing much for MSL standards. AUL should look at the rule we’re if a team folds b team has to replace it might hang onto a few b teams then!
That’s a very interesting point about the whole players that have come from MSL clubs Underage teams in the last 20 years and stayed and become back bones of AUL clubs.
So you think that the jump is no longer happening?
Which is interesting because looking at it from the outside it would appear even allowing for the MSL underage clubs keeping their top players there should be a sizeable amount of players finishing up their underage football and then being available to play adult soccer.
If there isn’t players becoming available then there must be a huge drop off levels which is disappointing.
But for the guys that keep it up all of them won’t make it with their MSL or AUL club which they played underage soccer is this where the AUL clubs In the city with out underage teams are getting their younger players from?
On the business league they do put a lot of effort into social media to help the whole thing along and the AUL could learn a few things from them.
But they do go over the top at the time and it’s a bit ridiculous and self indulgent at times.
A middle ground for the AUL would be fantastic but once again an awful lot of time must go into running the accounts so fair play to the business league administration for putting the time in.
As for getting teams in form the business league bar getting one of the top teams ( which I can’t see why they would leave their own league) I don’t think it would do whole lot for raising the standards in the league.
I could be open to correcting but no team with maybe the exception of the UCC team own their grounds and obviously they don’t have an under age teams as they are representing a business
so does this mean more of the same clubs that will
just come and go at the drop of hat there must be rules and regulations to stop this happening or incentives to stay
It would swell numbers which i suppose can’t be a bad thing
Referee situation needs to get sorted too, teams not having game every weekend is killing the interest of players too!
at this stage we would even take back all the bad refs
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