Time to plan and act is now

Now that the sporting year is slowly coming to a close, we're in a sort of twilight zone where the last remnants of the club season are playing out on the provincial stage but we're all actively looking ahead to 2024 and what the next year might hold for club and county.

It is also one of the most dangerous times of the year if you're involved with a club because we're fast approaching AGM time, a time when you might find yourself landed with a job you never wanted and with the demands on our time seemingly growing ever more onerous in an age when technology was supposed to make life easier, finding time to commit to your sporting endeavours never seems more difficult.

Yet every year, it always amazes me that there are those who put their hands up, sometimes voluntarily, sometimes after a bit of cajoling and sometimes only in a desperate attempt to keep their club going, but the hand goes up all the same - it is an often thankless task, be it with a fundraising committee, a youth board or even one of the glamour jobs at the top table, but then I don't suppose anyone who goes into it does it for thanks and if they did, they'll certainly be waiting.

Club drama never fails to disappoint

THE LAST POINT

AGM time is a funny thing - my attention was caught by an item in the Aughawillan notes this week where they've appealed to their members for nominations for the Leitrim GAA County Board Convention in December. What struck me as funny is that this brief note has been the first and only mention of anyone seeking motions or nominations for the Convention and that got me wondering.

Many club executives do this sort of business behind closed doors, as it their right, or at a club meeting but when we look back over the past 12 months, I'm sure there were plenty of incidents, regulations and structures clubs would like to see changed but, and I know this is a generalisation that might be out of kilter with what clubs are doing behind the scenes, there doesn't seem to be any sort of great drive to change things.

Change for the sake of change is just as dangerous as doing nothing but maybe clubs are happy with the status quo, which is  hard to believe given the complaints routinely made to me during the past year, but if the trend of recent years continues, most of the motions at this year's Convention will come from the County committee and nominations for jobs with the Executive will be almost impossible to find.

That's a more immediate concern but if any club worth their salt is looking at the bigger picture, they've got to start planning not for 2024 but for ten years or 20 years down the line because this county, and many others along the western seaboard, are going to face some challenging times in terms of playing numbers and resources.

That might seem like a contradiction in terms when each and every county is seeing an increase in population but those extra numbers are increasingly concentrated in urban centres, or just around them, and many rural areas are struggling right now, let alone in ten or 20 years time when the impact of these demographic changes will be fully felt.

Even those clubs lucky enough to see their number rise face different but equally difficult challenges - booming numbers are great but fielding teams and finding facilities to cope with those numbers, especially around towns is becoming ever more difficult. It is long way from what any club in Leitrim might ever have to cater for but the Na Fianna club in Dublin, home to Eilish O'Dowd and the new Dublin Hurling champions, field over 200 teams per week - just where do they find the facilities?

That question will come to communities around Carrick, Annaduff, Dromod, Leitrim Village, Dromahair, Kinlough and Manorhamilton - where the great increase in Leitrim population over recent years has been most felt - but ask anyone around those communities and you'll find land suitable for sporting facilities is tough to find.

Their concerns are different from clubs who are struggling for numbers - fielding a team is their main worry and it is going to be tough, particularly if competition structures and numbers benefit our own stronger clubs with the numbers behind them.

That's why those pesky AGMs and Conventions are so important, a chance to  look to the future and set in motion some plans that will make a difference. 

Mohill finally end up on the right side of the fine line

THE LAST POINT

That might be developing a new clubhouse, astro turf pitch and dressing room complex as Drumkeerin did (congratulations by the way to all involved on a wonderful development that was officially opened last Saturday) or developing a new pitch and walking track as Gortletteragh did just the week before.

In fairness, Leitrim clubs have never been found wanting when it comes to developing facilities but maybe thoughts might turn to competitive structures at juvenile and adult level because they're just as important as bricks and mortar when it comes to sustaining the dreams of players that they can compete and compete well at their own level.

Regular readers of this column will know I'd like to see reform of the men's  club championship system in this county but here's the nub - I don't get a vote, clubs do and it's up to the club to drive and implement change. Unfortunately, if we look back over the past few years, we've not had much coming from the clubs, with the exception of Aughnasheelin's revamp of the Senior and Intermediate grades three years ago.

Strangely, for a body that is often the target of widespread criticism, most of the changes in the county have come at the behest of the County Board, such as the new juvenile structures and even the reduction from 12 teams to 10 in the Senior championship and maybe the Board will just have to bite the bullet and set up a special committee to come up with some suggestions.

I know that there have been strategic plans developed in recent years but they tend to be broad strokes rather than specific actions and maybe that's what we need right now - a committee that will look forward and come up with suggestions that will meet the unique challenges facing clubs in Leitrim in the coming years.

Years don't dull County Final day drama

We all have ideas of what we'd like to see - I'd like to see fewer teams at Senior & Intermediate level and the “A” championships confined to first teams but I'm also intrigued by the notion of intermediate & junior clubs combining to compete in the Senior championship. But that's me - what I'd like may not work but unless clubs, who have the final say in this, start to come up with ideas that will make a difference and actually speak out, we're doomed to repeat the same mistakes. 

AGMs and Conventions are scary places alright and you might get a job but if you want to make a real difference, often times they are the only places where change can happen - otherwise don't complain when the status quo remains. Here's to people putting their hands up this AGM season!