What underage soccer coach told GAA players in Carlow is not acceptable

Ireland is too small a place for this carry on.

Life is way too short for nonsense like this.

Any coach who tells you that there's not a rivalry between GAA and soccer is lying. Even the best of them who bite their lips and make allowances for players to do both, they're all still hoping to get the best of those players and the most of them in the end. Of course they are.

It can be frustrating when a player isn't available to train because of commitments to the other sport and it's worse when they miss games for the same reason. Throw on top of that the risk of injury, fatigue, disillusionment and one coach trying to make a power play too soon and you have this very clear line between GAA and soccer with the kid at the centre of it all usually forgotten.

You see, the sad thing is that all this is often not even about the player - when they're of a certain standard, then yes, the short-term gain of having them all to yourself is something some coaches are sad enough to chase after.

But, sometimes, it's just an 'us against them mentality' - and it's both ways. It's about presenting your cause as more important than the other. It's about belittling the rivals (who you probably share a community with) and having a strong front so, in future, your sport will win out in battles like these.

The problem with too many underage coaches is that they're not thinking about the long run. Immediate success ignores what's best for the future and, unfortunately, ignores what's best for the children.

So, in Carlow, you have kids like you do all over Ireland doing the same thing. They're mad into sport, they're talented enough to be really good at both and they're taking inspiration from idols in football, in hurling and even across the water in the Premier League. As far as they're concerned, they're just enjoying their lives trying to emulate their role models and so they love playing all these different sports, going from training session to session. They're the ones who have to perform the balancing act and, if they're happy to do that, brilliant.

It has gone way too far nowhttps://t.co/yXJzwdSjOs — GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) May 31, 2017

Except, in this story, it's the adults who can't see a way to do it.

It's the adults who can't help with the balancing of different sports even though they don't have to bear any of that weight apart from allowing their players to live their own lives outside of their training pitch.

At 14 years of age though, apparently it's time to choose and it's time to say enough is enough.

One soccer coach in Carlow and Kilkenny told the players that they can no longer partake in the GAA if they want to play on the soccer team anymore.

Carlow GAA published a text message from a parent who had said that one of the development soccer teams in the area issued four GAA players with an ultimatum, that they'd have to stop playing GAA to stay on the soccer team.

It is said to be in the interest of player welfare because the kids are asked to do so much with the soccer team but trying to get children to specialise in one sport for the rest of their lives at 14 is, frankly, unhelpful.

One of the soccer coaches explained the thinking.

We make no apologies for highlighting this issue for all our

U.14, 15, & 16 Colts going forward.

We never normally engage these issues on social media but there are always tipping points.

Lest there be any confusion of the message, please see attached from @cwkkfc Manager: pic.twitter.com/3S1JsrJq1D — Carlow GAA (@Carlow_GAA) March 1, 2018

But these ages are just too young to have people make these choices - and fixtures makers should think about that too.

When they're older and hitting 18 and thinking of what college to go to and whether they want to chase minor titles or senior cups or underage international caps, they can decide for their bloody selves if they have to specialise and if what they're doing is too much.

But this way, making them choose at under-15 level, seems to be just one coach exercising authority when it isn't needed. And, this way, when kids are cutting in half their activity for the week, leaving friends and leaving a club for the pursuit of bettering an under-15 team, nobody wins.

A better coach would have the child at the centre of their thinking and realise that they should be able to play multiple sports. And any parent told that their kid has to choose at that age shouldn't allow it either.