05 Jun 2026 17:23:23
Brilliant start for Scotland, two early goals in what could be a goal difference shoot out against Belgium.
05 Jun 2026 18:12:58
Hope you aren't watching it on Alba, as the picture seems to be cutting in and out. All 69000 Gaelic speakers must be watching all at same time. ?
05 Jun 2026 18:28:40
Hahaha, I sure was, Angus.
Weir masterclass to make it 4.
Another couple will do me nicely.
05 Jun 2026 18:50:19
6 now, but Cuthbert looks like her knee has gone in that tackle. Hopefully not ACL, but it looks bad from what was a nothing tackle as well. Result great, but tinged if she is out for a while.
05 Jun 2026 19:46:51
Yeah, absolutely gutted for her.
05 Jun 2026 20:12:04
Was watching my brother on Alba for the playoffs and Craigan was still more annoying than the Gaelic speaking commentator. ?
05 Jun 2026 20:16:07
Belgium 2-0 at HT. If Luxembourg can keep it down to 3 or 4, that's a great position to be in. 6-0 tonight was a massive result.
05 Jun 2026 21:36:35
No such luck, Cooper. 4 goals ahead going into the last game is massive though.
06 Jun 2026 00:43:09
My 11 yr old daughter plays EHL, and you seem to be great for into in to the women's game. Trouble is, she plays in mixed ages due to lack of participation in the local area, and really wants to stick with the local team.
I feel this hampers her development. She plays in midfield and performs brilliantly playing against girls at similar ages. Struggles with the physicality when playing older girls.
Just ranting, I suppose, but if she was a boy, there would be much more scope to play against specific age groups.
On a plus note, I'm delighted girls football is developing so well. I have been very impressed by the standards at times and the coaching. Would just be more beneficial for her to be playing U12s instead of U14s, I suppose.
06 Jun 2026 08:16:50
R1M2, It's a common issue in both boys and girls - a lot of clubs are struggling with numbers and a lot of people are having to travel more and more to keep their kids involved.
I could rant about the issue with age banding all day long - it's such a deterrent for technically gifted player.
06 Jun 2026 09:47:50
EHL, I think I understand where you are coming from, but do players not develop more physically if they play in the age band above them, or at least need to use their technique to bring parity?
I am thinking about Rice, where it has been said that he is physically behind, so how does that happen if we 'force' kids to play in higher age groups?
I am not disagreeing with you for one minute here, just don't really understand.
06 Jun 2026 11:33:22
My brother coached Bailey for years, raved about the boy / young man, needs to play and needed to play last year or two, no good to him or the club wasting away, very poorly handled with the club in my opinion.
06 Jun 2026 13:02:13
Angus, that depends entirely on whether they are at a biological stage where physical development is actually possible.
The clearest example of this, following our discussion earlier this week, is a player like Pedri. He possesses immense natural talent, which he was able to master because bio-banding allowed him to compete against players of a similar physical stature.
Under a strict chronological age system, his natural ability might have been completely overwhelmed by physically superior peers, potentially stunting his footballing growth.
Conversely, players who enjoy an early physical advantage often become over-reliant on their strength or speed.
Because they can dominate on athleticism alone, they fail to develop the essential technical attributes required to survive once the physical playing field levels out at the U21 to U23 levels.
In terms of Rice, his development temporarily stalled because he was technically gifted enough to coast through games, meaning he desperately needed to be stretched at the U21 and U23 levels to build his physical capacity.
Jumping straight from U19 football to the first team proved to be too massive a physical leap. This sudden intensity deficit is precisely why he suffered repetitive injuries and managed so few first-team minutes.