The old chestnut of inter-county transfers has risen its ugly head again as Louth side Newtown Blues are objecting to county player Jamie Carr moving to Dublin club St Sylvester’s.
Newtown are claiming that the player still lives at home and that under the residency rule they are within their rights to hold on to his registration.
Technically the Blues may be right but I think they are wasting their time.
This sort of thing happens all over the country.
In my home area of north Belfast it is almost traditional to lose good players to top senior sides in the west of the city, which are in the running for trophies in the county.
Yes it is frustrating, true the small local club has usually invested years of effort in to moulding and coaching the player only to lose them as soon as they show some talent in a county minor or Under 21 side and no it isn’t fair.
However, I am also of the opinion that the player should have some choice about where they want to play and it’s unfair to try to hold their registration against their will on the basis of an accident of birth.
My own experience is that if someone doesn’t want to play for you then they won’t or they won’t train or play wholeheartedly so would you want them on your team with that attitude?
My friend Ronan over at realgaa recently pointed out that there may come a time when players can use European legislation something on the lines of a Bosman to go wherever they want in the event of the game becoming professional.
There may be nothing to stop a player doing that now and I feel why waste any more time and effort if someone doesn’t want to play for your club.
I have also seen a lot of players who left for other clubs and found that their hearts weren’t in it before returning to play out long careers at home.
Let them go, what do you reckon?
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2 comments:
Hi Sean,
I agree that while it's disappointing, that they have to be let go. The same happens thing happens in Meath from time to time.
My home club Skryne didn't make themselves too popular with neighbouring junior club Curraha when John McDermott transferred, just after breaking into the Meath team. There were some people from the Meath team encouraging the move, as they felt John would benefit from playing senior football. Whether John would have become the player he did had he not played with Skryne is debatable. Nearly ten years later when another Curraha player, Ian McManus, broke into the Meath team a similar transfer was mooted. This time, however, the pitch forks came out and it never happened. Ian played with the Meath seniors for a season or two before ending up on the Meath junior team for a number of years. Disappointingly he never fulfilled the early potential he showed.
There's no easy answer.Ultimately, as you say, it should be the player himself who decides.
All the best,
Ronan
Ronan,
Think you are right about players reaching their full potential. In Antrim good players are often overlooked simply because they are playing for an intermediate or junior side and there's no doubt that the training and the coaching at the top level improves a young player's game, sometimes it is just the extra experience that can bring a lad on.
I'm just wondering is there a fear around that some of the Dublin clubs are picking up players not simply on the level of football they're at but other incentives. Not saying that's the case in Louth at the minute is there any hint of this in the ether?
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