Former Wexford hurler Sean Flood was the most recent guest on the Wexford Hurling Podcast…
The podcast, hosted by Ben Bernie and Garry Doran, had 1996 All-Ireland winner Sean Flood on their podcast recently.
They discussed an array of topics including diet, his career on the hurling pitch, and how things have changed within the GAA scene.
One area he discussed was the use of under 18s at adult level:
“Nearly anyone on a minor team was hurling adult with their club. During my time, if you weren’t hurling adult, you weren’t hurling on the county minor team. Now, for reasons far beyond me, you can’t hurl adult until you’re over 18. I just can’t understand it; it doesn’t make sense to me at all.”
“I just think that the experience that 16-18 year-olds get by being in training with their adult teams and being thrown on in the odd practice match – you know, you have to be exceptionally good at that age to make your adult team. And they were probably playing in an essential role underage, but at adult, they would probably be thrown in corner-forward and minded. They’ll get great experience – but now they’re not getting it until they’re nearly 20. It’s pushing them back a bit – and I kind of fear a bit for the club scene. I think the club scene is getting left behind a little bit,” Sean Flood said.
“You have the county teams, the colleges, and then the club. I think in the future it’s not going to be a healthy thing, It’s very difficult for smaller clubs in my mind.”
The full podcast can be listened to at the following link.
Jason Redmond
From Gorey, Jason is the owner of Wexford Weekly. He is also a post-primary English and History teacher.