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'The People's Game' - 8 Like(s)
Replying To Soma: "I see the latest video advertising Ireland and encouraging people to visit and invest in the island has 5 sporting images - 1 from rowing, 1 from horse-racing and 3 from rugby. Official Ireland is clearly of the view that rugby is the sport of the people. Considering many of the markets being targeted would have no knowledge of rugby, and in a 3 horse race on where to host a rugby world cup the rugby nations of the world voted Ireland 3rd, it seems peculiar to use so many rugby images compared to other sports. 1 of the images was from 10 years ago or more as well so it's not a case that they just picked what is current. Maybe everyone posting on here is out of touch with the new Ireland?" That is chronic. Surely you'd be selling what's unique and different to anyone coming to Ireland. That number of rugby images is ludicrous and shows the bias of those commissioning the video.
CeachtPeile (National) - 19/03/2018 14:11:51
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Should The Leagues Be Re-Tiered? - 7 Like(s)
Replying To Loughduff Lad: "Scares sure, but nothing major. You're still up there, as the top teams will continue to be. You're just happy with your closed shop as it suits those there" Since the leagues were restructured in 2008, the highest division achieved (including 2023) for each county is:
Division 1 for 17 counties (Armagh, Cavan, Cork, Derry, Donegal, Down, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Laois, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Roscommon, Tyrone, Westmeath)
Division 2 for 10 counties (Antrim, Clare, Fermanagh, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Offaly, Sligo, Tipperary, Wexford)
Division 3 for 4 counties (Carlow, Leitrim, Waterford, Wicklow)
Division 4 for 2 counties (Kilkenny [until 2012], London)
With 53% of the counties currently competing having played in the top division and 84% in the top two divisions, that's a very fluid league system and certainly doesn't look like a closed shop.
CeachtPeile (National) - 11/04/2022 10:32:14
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Dynamic Football Championship - 7 Like(s)
There's a lot of talk about the need for a multi-tier All Ireland football championship with the perception often being given that the championship is a boring, repetitive, predictable competition that only gives opportunity for the few. It is interesting to consider the following facts, which show that over time it's considerably less predictable and more dynamic than you'd think and, whilst not everyone can aspire to reach the highest levels, it does give opportunities for the many and hope to most teams of some degree of achievement.
* Since the qualifiers were introduced in 2001 there have been seven different winners, three other teams who've got to a final, five who've got to a semi-final and eight who've got to a quarter-final - so that's 23 in total who've made it at least to a quarter-final, which is a very high proportion for any competition. Of the remaining nine (excluding New York and Kilkenny and including London) six have got to the last-12 and the remaining three have got to the last-16 (Carlow being the last one this year). So every team has got at least as far as qualifier round 3 - granted some teams get lucky with the draw and start at round 2 but it's still a sign of opportunity and a potential sense of achievement for most.
* Since 2001 (when for the first time it was possible to reach the semi-finals without having won a province) there has been at least one semi-finalist each year who was not there the previous year. In fact, on average, there were two such teams each year.
* Since 1991 the only teams to retain the title were Kerry in 2007 and Dublin in 2016. Historically, the longest sequence of successive title wins has been Kerry (twice) with four-in-a-row (1978-81, 1929-32) and Wexford (1914-18). Three-in-a-row has only been achieved on six occasions Dublin (x3) 1921-23, 1906-08 and 1897-99, Kerry (x2) 1984-86 and 1939-41 as well as Galway 1964-66.
* Every year since 1989 has seen at least one of the All Ireland finalists being a team that wasn't there the previous year. In fact the only years since 1920 where the two finalists were the same as the previous year were 1988 (Cork and Meath), 1985 (Kerry and Dublin), 1982 (Offaly and Kerry), 1979 (Kerry and Dublin), 1976 (Kerry and Dublin), 1965 (Galway and Kerry), 1941 (Kerry and Galway), 1927 (Kildare and Kerry) and 1924 (Kerry and Dublin). Granted the three-year rotation of the provinces that meet up in the semi-finals meant that for a long period it wouldn't have been possible to have the same teams meet three years in a row in the final but the small number of repeat pairings over the years shows a healthy variation and a dynamic competition.
* Quite surprisingly, considering the cycles of domination by particular teams in each province, the last year in which all four provincial winners were the same as the previous year was 1942 (when Cavan, Dublin, Kerry and Galway won their respective provinces for at least the second year running). The only other years when that has happened since 1920 were 1937, 1934, 1930 and 1924.
* Similarly there has not been a single year where all eight provincial finalists were the same as the previous year. In fact there has been an average of four provincial finalists changing in every year since 1920.
CeachtPeile (National) - 17/07/2017 19:49:54
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GAATV - 4 Like(s)
Replying To ForeverBlue2: "Only a fool pays for something that you don't need to pay for… no other word to describe them..!" OK so if that is taken to its logical conclusion then walking out of a shop with something you didn't pay for is just being clever, not theft. That's clearly nonsense. Watching pirated games is no different, as well as possibly funding criminals via a dodgy box, you're taking for free what others are paying for and thinking that's smart.
CeachtPeile (National) - 30/06/2025 16:28:20
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All Ireland Football Championship 2025 - 4 Like(s)
Replying To ForeverBlue2: "How could it be picked when it hadn't even started lol.. Galway/Dublin was a good exciting match but it was nowhere near the perceived sell out.. My comments on the structure of the Championship are 100% correct as I usually am or otherwise explain why the powers that be are dispensing with them from next season… Now try and work that out good lad.." But, based on a single game, you still blamed the structure whereas, as I said, it would have been exactly the same regardless of the structure. That same match could well happen next year under another new structure with exactly the same outcome and lack of atmosphere.
They're in my view prematurely dispensing with the current structure, which came about from the widespread demand from all stakeholders for teams to have more championship matches. More matches inevitably means less jeopardy per match. The only structure that gives maximum jeopardy is a straight knock-out and that has been widely deprecated. In case anyone had forgotten, 2020 and 2021 showed just how bad it is.
The structure being changed so quickly was based on a kneejerk reaction to all the whinging that went on about it, particularly in the media. The whinging was in reality based more on the poor quality of a number of the matches and a lack of competitiveness, something that would have happened in any structure. All the complaining about Derry losing three matches was a bit rich considering a team in Leinster hurling can win the All Ireland having lost four matches (three in the case of Munster) and there's no talk of changing that structure.
Ironically, there's a strong chance the structure will bring great excitement this year as the quality of the games has improved and there are more teams that are truly competitive (Cavan now being a prime example).
CeachtPeile (National) - 19/05/2025 14:54:03
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Londonderry - will they ever learn? - 3 Like(s)
The ignorance, shown in many of the comments here, of the problems faced by Northern nationalists and Gaels in trying to achieve parity of esteem is breathtaking.
You have a situation, where on a supposedly neutral broadcaster that knows the sensitivities and political connotations of the use of certain language, a presenter gets a written script and deviates from it to use a term that is clearly provocative.
Remember Jerome Quinn, the BBC GAA sports presenter who was sacked because he had supposedly "compromised his impartiality" by criticising the BBC online for being biased (all subsequent evidence indicates that he was dead right). It's very hard to believe that this presenter wasn't equally compromising her impartiality and, as such, should be appropriately reprimanded.
CeachtPeile (National) - 30/01/2018 22:52:28
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GAATV - 3 Like(s)
Replying To ForeverBlue2: "Good enough for them if they are loosing money… they should not have games behind a pay wall to begin with….!" So you're ok with illegal and unethical behaviour breaching copyright and broadcasting law. As well as depriving the GAA of revenue and thus clubs of funding.
CeachtPeile (National) - 22/06/2025 13:25:31
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Sunday Game - 3 Like(s)
Replying To ForeverBlue2: "Probably afraid it would totally show up the current dire state of county football….!!!" Or maybe it would be the exact opposite and it would show up the rose-tinted glasses brigade as having a very distorted vision of the supposed glorious past.
CeachtPeile (National) - 27/07/2024 21:59:38
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Attendances 2024 - 3 Like(s)
Replying To ForeverBlue2: "A rubbish system that the GAA will dispense with as they can see clearly the supporters are not interested… Teams qualifying after not winning any of their 4 previous championship games is nothing short of farcical…" This obsession with the so called purity of the knock-out system is crazy and totally out of the line with other team sports throughout the world. It is remarkable that the GAA survived so long using such a limited system for its main competition. And the forced return of that system during Covid showed its limitations.
The only sport I can think of that uses pure knock-out for its most prestigious competition is Shinty's Camanachd Cup (typical attendance at the final is around 3,000). It also though has a full league running in parallel.
Teams can in theory win the Champions League in soccer having lost four group matches and three of the legs in the knock-out part. Would any team doing that be thought of as less of a Champion?
In theory a team can win the Cavan senior championship not having won any of their four matches in the Swiss Model league phase - in fact, in an extreme case they could lose all four. Would they be a lesser Champion if they can turn around and beat three higher seeds to win the championship.
If Derry or any another team can recover, having lost a provincial match and lost two group matches, and then beat four top teams to win the All Ireland, well done to them. That's a tougher path than many previous winners (e.g. Kerry 1997) under the knock-out system had to navigate.
CeachtPeile (National) - 11/06/2024 12:55:10
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All Ireland Football Championship 2025 - 3 Like(s)
Replying To ForeverBlue2: "Donegal game and Galway game should be on Sunday as it leaves a 7 day turnaround for everyone from last weekend…. Is not rocket science.. The GAA must be the stupidest sporting organisation anywhere in the world… they really know how to rub people up the wrong way… Their greed for money outweighs any sort of thought or care for the players… The great orator Jarlath will find it hard to explain away this one…." It must be wonderful to have such clarity for dealing with complex problems. Perhaps you should join a fixture making committee where your simplistic skills would no doubt be appreciated. I quote from the Irish Times which elucidates the conflicting constraints involved. Fixture making tends to look a more straightforward when you are not the one balancing those constraints.
"The CCCC were left in a quandary with trying to square the circle in terms of the four fixtures because it was always going to prove difficult to facilitate requests from all eight counties.
The core problem centred on the likelihood of both Dublin v Tyrone and Armagh v Kerry attracting massive numbers of spectators. With those matches possibly pushing towards selling out even if they were standalone fixtures, the demand to attend that pairing on the same bill would have left thousands of fans without tickets.
Fixture makers did still consider the possibility of scheduling that double-header but after examining the expected attendance figures they determined those games should be on different days."
CeachtPeile (National) - 24/06/2025 14:49:36
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GAATV - 3 Like(s)
Replying To ForeverBlue2: "That's because they don't have very many… Everyone nowadays has a Firestick so no need to subscribe to the Grab All….." So you seem to think you're smarter than the people who are funding the very games that are being pirated. Without the 'fools' (a term you're very fond of using about anyone who doesn't agree with you) i.e. those in this case who pay legitimately for the games, there wouldn't be a product for the freeloaders to pirate in the first place.
CeachtPeile (National) - 29/06/2025 12:05:46
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Can Gaelic Football (Handball?) Be Saved? - 3 Like(s)
Replying To Aibrean: "NO, Is the answer. It is still 'handball'.
While the new rules have generally been a success, one critical area where they have failed is in decreasing the number of handpasses. The ratio of handpasses to kicks is as bad as ever.
Paul Early said in 2024 that the new rules will have failed if the ratio does not drop; well, presumably Paul considers the new rules a failure.
It's surprising that this 'failure' has not been highlighted anywhere - as far as I can see. Neither have the FRC members been asked about it - as far as I can see." What is the problem with handpassing? It adds a whole extra skill level to the game. GAA+ have about 7 minutes of the 1961 Down v Offaly final in their archive. There wasn't a single handpass (granted It's a small sample but chances are that was typical enough). But it was atrocious and chaotic, full of errors.
CeachtPeile (National) - 08/04/2025 20:18:35
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Brolly on the cultural hijacking - 2 Like(s)
Replying To royaldunne: "So let me get this right, you are happy that you can watch rte gaa sport for free (those of us in 26 actually have to pay for rte tv license) but annoyed that rte block you from seeing soccer as you don't pay for it.
I have no problem if the tv license in north goes directly to rte but it goes to BBC. Stop wanting everything for nothing. And don't give me any gfa nonsense, I very much doubt that who shows games will bring down the agreement. Also here's a thought lobby your local mla and demand (if they ever get their finger out and actually do what they paid for and represent those who foolishly elected them ) that they get bbcni to bid in next round. Or actually go to games instead of watching them on tv paid for by us in the south." What a pathetic partitionist attitude - the Royal is all too appropriate in your username. After what the south did to northern nationalists by abandoning them to unionist domination, the very least that could be done is to ensure that fellow Irish citizens have full access to Irish media without any infantile quibbles about payment.
Then again when you think of the disgraceful Section 31 censorship mentality that permeated RTÉ for so long (and there are still elements of it there - do step forward, Tommie Gorman) they weren't missing much in the North in terms of balanced coverage.
CeachtPeile (National) - 14/01/2018 18:13:56
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Attendances 2024 - 2 Like(s)
Replying To ForeverBlue2: "You must have nothing to do only bring up old attendance figures… shows how ignorant you are .. those figures have nothing to do with the modern game.. Everyone knows… players , managers , the GAA President and most supporters ( except the odd deluded clown like yourself ) that the football championship is in a terrible state… a couple of reasonably attended close matches at the end of the championship is only papering over the glaring cracks in the system…. Football has become unwatchable and even Jarlath Burns admits this so it is worrying that a dunce like you can't admit the same…. Maybe a trip to the doctor would be of some help to you…. That's free advice for you good lad." I am afraid it is you that is deluded. Same old whinging and negativity in every post. Bringing up old attendance figures is perfectly valid, particularly when you hark back to some mythical golden era that never existed.
Cavan won 17 out of 19 Ulster Championships between 1931 and 1949. If there had been social media then, the equivalent of you in the other counties would have had a field day and would have dragged everyone down - I can hear it, championship in a terrible state, unwatchable, totally one-sided games, poor attendances. Luckily there were sufficient people there of vision and drive that brought the other counties forward and created today's competitive championship.
CeachtPeile (National) - 16/07/2024 13:44:01
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GAATV - 2 Like(s)
Replying To ponger: "Not true as your assuming all those people would either subscribe to the match or go to it. Guaranteed that would be a very very low percentage.
They should have left it with TV3 who the GAA owe a debt too over the last few years. If anything they should have expanded TV3 coverage. They have done more for club football than people realise. But no, GAA got greedy4" Expanded TV3 coverage? GAA owing a debt to them? TV3 helping club football? Pray tell us some details on all that.
The GAA actually approached TV3, now Virgin Media (aka ITV Éire), as early as 2021 about bidding for the rights. They had multiple meetings, calls, and emails-but Virgin chose not to bid. They only wanted ready-made, fully produced packages, which didn't fit what the GAA was offering. The idea that the GAA could have given the rights to Virgin ignores the fact that Virgin didn't want them under those terms.
CeachtPeile (National) - 24/06/2025 15:15:59
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Some Updates On The Football Review - 2 Like(s)
Replying To ForeverBlue2: "Gaelic football is now really the exact same as soccer only you can use your hands… over and back passing around the arc with nobody marking anyone for 2/3rds of the pitch… nobody really engages until you get to a certain area of the pitch… just like soccer… continuously hand passing over and back and when a team is in front coming into the last 10 minutes it gets gradually worse.. The only real difference is you get some sort of score for kicking the ball over the bar…." Ah now, another totally over the top piece of hyperbole. Yes, the game has changed - like every sport does - but constantly painting it in such negative terms just sounds like tired nostalgia masquerading as analysis. You really do specialise in exaggerated negativity.
CeachtPeile (National) - 25/06/2025 17:04:11
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Some Updates On The Football Review - 2 Like(s)
Replying To legendzxix: "Some were concerned that a game could be over after the concession of two goals. If Dublin score two goals against a Division 4 team, 8 points down after about 10 minutes, game over already.
If the arc is successful for long range scores and goals need to be encouraged, it might just be a change to 4 points will be agreed further down the line." That argument about the increased scoring difference makes no sense.
Dublin in that instance would be ahead by six with the current system so if the other team is incapable of scoring goals then they need six points to equalise.
Dublin would be ahead by eight and the other team could equalise in the new system with between as few as four scores and a maximum of eight scores by scoring long- and short-points.
The reality is that in either case (or under any scoring system) the game is probably already over due to the disparity between the teams. That is an entirely different problem and no scoring system should be designed based on the gaps between teams due to imbalanced competition structures.
The decision to remove the 4-point goals is bizarre and will inevitably lead to the removal of the 2-point score when the disincentive to score goals becomes evident. Possibly, the 2-point score may not now even make it past congress.
CeachtPeile (National) - 30/10/2024 11:49:20
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What Is The Best Of Jim Gavins Ideas - 2 Like(s)
Replying To bdbuddah: "I don't necessarily disagree with you but if we allow 2 point long range points we need the 4 point goal.
Goal should be worth at least twice as much as any other score." Agree. Utterly bizarre decision to remove the 4-point goal. It is reported they they were initially contemplating a 5-point goal, which actually would have made more sense, so it's even more bizarre to leave it at 3 when two outfield, much easier scores (long-points) can exceed its value.
CeachtPeile (National) - 30/10/2024 11:56:53
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All Ireland Football Championship 2025 - 2 Like(s)
Replying To legendzxix: "Clare have lost 3 games and should be out. 3 out of 4 getting out of the groups is ridiculous despite Cavan and Derry/Galway making their groups more exciting.
Last year Roscommon on 3 losses played off against Cavan on 3 losses to get out of the group. Both in 2024 should have been put out of their misery after Round 2." Both the provincial championships and the league feed into the All Ireland series so why are the losses in the provincial championship counted but not those in the league. Based on that count, Kerry also have three losses.
And why are two losses in the group such a barrier anyway. Even if two teams of the four were progressing, a team could still lose twice in the group and progress if one team got 6 points and the others all got 2. In fact, a team could top the group with no wins at all if every game was a draw.
What does it matter how many wins or losses there are? The aim of any competition with groups is to come ahead of enough opponents to qualify. PSG won soccer's Champions League having lost 3 times and having come 15th in the table. And not an eyelid was batted.
CeachtPeile (National) - 04/06/2025 17:39:23
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Should The Leagues Be Re-Tiered? - 2 Like(s)
Replying To Loughduff Lad: "You see you say this, but where have the vast majority agreed with it? I have just given an example of a scenario that would be fair and equitable. It is based on the latest league, and allows teams the opportunity to move up and down, qualify for Championship, and pit themselves against teams of their own level, and either a level just above or below. Which would help bring teams on. Those example divisions are very fair. I think we all know the reasons you don't want it. As the closed shop at the top suits the few teams. Why would turkeys vote for Christmas? But for the good of the game, something like this needs to happen. Otherwise we go to a 2 tier Championship, and then gap yawns even wider year on year. But the top teams will be ok, right?" I completely disagree with this. The league, as currently structured, is excellent. Every Div. 1 to 3 team is potentially in jeopardy (as shown by Dublin this year, Cavan and Tipp last year and lots of previous examples) and most teams have a reasonable chance of progression.
12 teams change division as opposed to 8 in the 2 x 16 divide so the current 4 x 8 structure is much more fluid and exciting. Teams in positions 7-10, 15-18 and 23-26 change position as opposed to positions 13-20 in the 2 x 16 structure. That structure would mean it would end up like the current Div. 1 hurling league where a significant number of teams would not be in any real danger (probably the top 8 to 10) and the bottom 6 to 8 teams in Div. 2 would have no reasonable chance of getting promoted. So there would be a large number of essentially meaningless (for one team at least) games towards the end of the league and limited interest.
CeachtPeile (National) - 06/04/2022 12:10:53
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