The County Board have announced this evening that next month’s planned trip to New York for the FBD final won’t go ahead. The County Board’s statement confirming this decision and the reasons for it is here.
Our run to this year’s All-Ireland final has obviously put the county under some pressure to complete the club championships in time to allow the winners to take part in their respective provincial campaigns. Because of this, as well as the unavailability of a number of other players due to personal commitments, it’s understandable that we’ve found ourselves in the situation where we simply can’t field enough of the county panel to enable the trip to New York to take place the weekend after next.
This means that our 2012 inter-county season will not end, as it was planned to do, early next month 3,000 miles away in New York. Instead, it’s already over as it ended when the final whistle was blown in the All-Ireland final last Sunday. And let’s face it – a packed Croke Park on All-Ireland final day was, in any event, a more appropriate moment for the curtain to fall on Mayo’s season this year.
The money that was going into that trip can now go towards Horan and his management team for next year?
The players deserved the break after a hard year. Would another week’s postponement have done any damage. Do we care enough about our players?
Will Mayo get a holiday from Croke Park after Christmas. The winners always do.
It might be an appropriate time and place to bring down the curtain, but a sad one none the less… That said life goes on – Ryder Cup, Hurling Final replay, conclusion of Co Championship, Rugby and Premiership football, and of course turkey and hamper competitions in the golf club. Where would we be without sport !!!!
From the sounds of it, PJ, it appeared to be a trip that very few wanted to do at this point in time. Ten of the current panel were unable to go due to personal reasons and a few more were ineligible as they’d played for third level colleges in the FBD so before even considering the impact on the club championships, half the panel couldn’t travel. As far as I know, there will be a holiday organised for the players early in the New Year.
Very interesting that ten of the panel couldn’t go for personal reasons. Does this mean we wouldn’t have traveled regardless of the Final outcome? A convenient excuse perhaps? Let the conspiracy theories begin. 🙂
Since when do personal reasons stop one from playing with a team.? sounds fishy to me!. What about the team that was preparing to play against them in New York City??
And all the effort that they have put in also, to prepare for the game.. Same old story New York Shafted again !!!
🙂
Never thought for a second that they would travel after loosing the final . Buttom line is a lot of work needs to be put in if we are committed to bringing Sam back to Mayo . Let them go on holidays when that is done . You might say its a long way off but its not and what with the Doengal boys still partying we might get a little head start on them . Holidays and being the guys doesn’t win All Ireland’s !!!!!
its 100% the right thing to do since the final was not won!! Fly 3000 miles to play a challenge against one of the weakest sides in gaa county football would have been a monumental waste of money and time. In my opinion its better to get the training and backroom team sorted out and let the trawling for one or two new faces begin.
If Mayo mean to win SAM MAGUIRE they better get serious straight away, not after christmas.I know the collective training is banned but they need to be doing weights and strenghtening stuff from now.
not surprised the game was called off as I am sure the players would rather go on a proper holiday in Jan,rather than waisting their time to come over to NY to play a meaningless challenge game which they would win by 30 points and not to mention the cost of the trip.
Tony Greene, are you by any chance also known as Reilly?
Bad move.Alot of Mayo people on the east coast were looking foward to watching them play.
They pay alot of money to go see the games as well as travelling quite a bit to venues that televise said games.Not to mention thousands of dollars they spend to fly home to attend games.One fundraiser in NYC would cover the whole trip.There are Mayo people in New York with very deep pockets that make the likes of the Mayo club in Dublin look like paupers.Yes the players deserve a rest.So why dont they send out 20 guys who are on the periphery and give them a chance and who knows you might find 2 or 3 that deserve a chance in next years league.I think it sends a bad message to exiles but then again we have had an out of touch county board for the last 20 yrs so its not surprising.These trips,whether at club or county level ,are always great bonding exercises.I dont think we should be turning down any oppurtunity to bring in new blood.
Brighton I agree with ya. Surely the flights had been booked as well at this stage? Co Board have hoovered up money at home and abroad last few weeks but have lost any good will going their way with the way tickets were sorted and now this
What sanctions will the Connacht Council impose on the Mayo County Board for not fullfilling the fixture? Was Galway thrown out of it previously? Would they be fined?
I tend to agree with Brighton811. I think instead of cancelling the trip, they could have postponed the trip for a few weeks and brought whoever wanted to go at that stage, including as many periphery players as need be. Cancelling it altogether only puts Mayo in a bad light, pissing off people in New York as well as the Connacht Council. No one expected Mayo to go out straight away after the disappointment that was last Sunday, but a few weeks postponement would have enabled more players to go. They could have thought it through more.
I don’t know for sure, but why does it seem the county board makes these decisions at the last minute? Did they ever consider planning????
The county board should have had a decision criteria/matrix weeks ago, and communicated the scenarios publicly. Therefore, win or lose, ppl both sides of the Atlantic would know where they stood. The only real decision, post All Irealnd final, would have been, what players can travel and who can’t. I dare say, there would have been plenty of players on the broader panel who would have jumped at a chance to go, and rightly so.
This just seems like another short sighted blunder by our county board. One of many, the ticket fiasco is another….outnumbered 2:1 in Croke Park on AIF day… Who’s really naive?
The decision not to go to New York is a bad one.
1. Tickets booked – group booking?
2. Players not consulted?
3 Was the manager consulted?
4. Will the cash strapped County Board have to have for the deposits?
5. Will the Connaught Council impose a sanction?
6. Will May be allowed to play in the competition again?
Mayo are the first team to pull out of the final of the F.B.D. The Connaught Council wanted the game to take place and to say that the C. Council were forcing Mayo to play the Co. Championships the issue must be incorrect. The panel was big enough to get 18 to go. Another week would not have mattered. Our players deserved the break. To say that the game could be played in January when the Croke Park Holiday takes place can’t be correct. Will there be a foot of snow in New York.
We can say that New York had been in serious training for this game and now they find that the game does not take place.
It is a serious insult to F.B.D. The decision was another poor one.
On reflection, it may have been a better idea to go and play the game. Perhaps horan and co decided a month ago that unless they won Sam they were not going? But new York folk are fairly annoyed not to get to see such a good team in the flesh.
The main section of the Western People give a break down of the ticket distribution in Donegal. Mayo county board were unable to offer same to the paper but pledged to reveal all to next county board meeting.
Some of the quotes attributed to county board sources are hilarious. The one that caught my eye was the one that said mayo supporters didn’t try hard enough to find tickets, that Donegal by virtue of their earlier semi final win were ahead of us in the distribution but if we were to make next years final…ALL would flow smoothly! This from a county who makes a final roughly every 4/5 years against a county last in a final in 1992.
Anyway I copied and pasted a precis from a poster on another site and they express themselves better than I could. See below…its actually true
“THIS IS NOT A JOKE EVEN THOUGH IT MIGHT SOUND LIKE ONE:
Western People contacted Mayo County Board to check ticket allocations as they got reports by alot of people about us being outnumbered by over 2:1.
They could not give breakdown of ticket distribtution.
Mayo County Board did give the following explanations though.
1. Green and Yellow stand out more than green and red.
2. Maybe alot of the Green and yellow were Meath supporters not Donegal.
3. And my personal favourite – Some of the Donegal flags were bigger than the Mayo Flags.”
There was was a “doo” in the Welcome Inn before the final. €200 to get a meal and a ticket. No officials to greet you. Started 75 minutes late. Meal good. Co. Chairman spoke to tell all that it cost €10,000 per week to train the team. Well known M.C. Liam Horan spoke for five minutes . Then game over “go home we have tour money you got your ticket you should be satisfied.” Talk about hit and run ( grab all and run) It did not resemble a wake but it was similar to being outside an operating theatre waiting to see how a serious operation went. No organisation, no thought put into it.
It did not surprise me to see that we were not going to New York. I pity the people in New York, the Mayo exiles especially who anticipated the visit. Mayo were there in the past and the Co. Board were not out of pocket as i know . The cancelling of the visit will have many reprecussions I expect. I pity the players. The guy in John Cuffe’s “post” above shows Mayo up in a bad light ?????
Tony Greenes reply to “It’s a trap says”
when you put your name down, I will answer your Question!