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Donegal GAA thread - 6 Like(s)

Replying To rorysboys:  "The only problem people have with me is I call a spade a spade. I have no time for bluffers or people who disrespect good people. I would never disrespect any player or manager, these people are putting time and energy into what they do .. I'm being slated for stating facts about where I think the Donegal seniors are at. It's my opinion if you don't agree that's your prerogative. I'll. be proven right but hopefully I'm wrong. But I doubt it"
On forums, like in life, anyone who who goes around saying they 'Call a spade a spade' or 'tells it like it is' is usually an ignoramus with no manners. Maybe you're different. I don't know.

himachechy (National) - 18/08/2022 14:47:07

GAA Should Campaign For A United Ireland. - 6 Like(s)

Replying To Uimhir.a.3.:  "The Troika who insisted we pay even the unsecured bondholders, who along with the EU Commisioner reneged on their promise on the banking debt & foisted the largest sovereign debt in Europe on the shoulders of ordinary Irish taxpayers. They ensured the European banks & Investment houses of which some of them had previous links with got their money, even unsecured debt. Interesting that some high profile members of the Troika have since said that they made major errors & that Irish taxpayers should never have had the level of punishment placed on them. Remember these people & our Govt thought it was ok to take funding away from disabled children at the time whilst our bankers, developers & Europen speculators escaped Scot free. Anyone who thinks we owe a debt of gratitude to the Troika is very naive."
Somebody mentioned 'green clad Farage' above, I think that is appropriate here! We've seen this rhetoric before in the UK. Blame the EU for everything and take no responsibility ourselves. It was our governments who let the banks run loose and and had terrible spending policies throughout the celtic tiger years. Reeling in the years was on the other night about 2001, and in that year the EU were being critical of our financial policies, saying they were wreckless, but Charlie McCreevy paid no attention and brought in the SSIA scheme instead!

himachechy (National) - 22/03/2019 15:36:40

Ridiculous Bias towards Ulster Shown by RTE - 5 Like(s)
Rather than saying why are RTE showing match X rather than match Y, we should be asking why we cannot see live coverage of all matches via a dedicated channel / red button option or some sort of streaming service. Then you could decide which match you want to watch. How in this day and age can a cracking game like Carlow v Longford be reduced to a 2 minute highlights reel for example. I'd love to watch that match some evening during the week / on demand. But I suppose your post is not really about RTE. its a dig at 'Ulster' football. We have 3 on-sided matches so far, that's the luck of the draw, but I'd expect all the rest to be very competitive affairs. I'm sure that still wouldn't please you though.

himachechy (National) - 01/06/2017 10:30:10

NFL Division 2 - 4 Like(s)

Replying To The_Fridge:  "To be fair I noticed that and it made me throw up. It's a race to be the nicest supporter in the world. Pass the bucket."
There'd be no fear of Tyrone winning that race anyway :-) Tyrone look to be really coming into form, McShane at FF and the longer ball is working well. Very worrying. Job done for Donegal, it been a good league getting lads games and a few of them have really stepped up in recent games after looking nervous in earlier games. Overall we were pretty lucky to get promoted but we'll take that after being unlucky to be relegated last year. Should be a good open game on Saturday. Would have to fancy Meath, I think they will be more interested in getting the silverware.

himachechy (National) - 25/03/2019 10:31:21

The GAA And "Northern Ireland" - 3 Like(s)

Replying To tireoghainabu:  "Don't think Michael Collins took part in wide scale slaughter of men women and children. Most of the atrocities committed by Cromwell was after the Irish forces were defeated. If that makes him a hero to the English that says a lot. Even Germany forbids any reference to Adolf Hitler, another mass murdeter."
English people are told he is a 'hero' in school because of the narrative of cromwell as a Parlementarian and the english civil war. Vast majority of people have no idea he was a tyrant in Ireland. In fairness he was also pretty much a tyrant to the people of our England/ Scotland / Wales too. Cromwell managed to put the landed gentry in charge instead of the king, so the landed gentry put up a statue of him. Most English people had flip all to do with it. History is written by the victors. Cromwell won, Hitler lost. That's why Hitler doesn't get a statue.

himachechy (National) - 03/06/2021 17:24:49

GAA Should Campaign For A United Ireland. - 3 Like(s)

Replying To Gleebo:  "The foundation of the GAA "had nothing to do with British rule"? I humbly disagree, sir. Re-reading Archbishop Croke's letter to Cusack it's hard to support this conclusion. To Mr Michael Cusack, Honorary Secretary of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The Palace, Thurles, 18 December 1884. My dear Sir-I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your communication inviting me to become a patron of the 'Gaelic Athletic Association', of which you are, it appears, the honourable secretary, I accede to your request with the utmost pleasure. One of the most painful, let me assure you, and, at the same time, one of the most frequently recurring reflections that, as an Irishman, I am compelled to make in connection with the present aspect of things in this country, is derived from the ugly and irritating fact that we are daily importing from England not only her manufactured goods, which we cannot help doing, since she has practically strangled our own manufacturing appliances, but, together with her fashions, her accent, her vicious literature, her music, her dances, and her manifold mannerisms, her games also and her pastimes, to the utter discredit of our own grand national sports, and to the sore humiliation, as I believe, of every genuine son and daughter of the old land. Ball-playing, hurling, football kicking, according to Irish rules, 'casting', leaping in various ways, wrestling, handy-grips, top-pegging, leap-frog, rounders, tip-in-the-hat, and all such favourite exercises and amusements amongst men and boys, may now be said to be not only dead and buried, but in several localities to be entirely forgotten and unknown. And what have we got in their stead? We have got such foreign and fantastic field sports as lawn-tennis, polo, croquet, cricket, and the like-very excellent, I believe, and health-giving exercises in their way, still not racy of the soil, but rather alien, on the contrary, to it, as are, indeed, for the most part the men and women who first imported and still continue to patronise them. And, unfortunately, it is not our national sports alone that are held in dishonour, and dying out, but even our most suggestive national celebrations are being gradually effaced and extinguished, one after another, as well. Who hears now of snap-apple night, or bonfire night? They are all things of the past, too vulgar to be spoken of, except in ridicule, by the degenerate dandies of the day. No doubt, there is something rather pleasing to the eye in the 'get up' of a modern young man who, arrayed in light attire, with parti-coloured cap on and racket in hand, is making his way, with or without a companion, to the tennis ground. But, for my part, I should vastly prefer to behold, or think of, the youthful athletes whom I used to see in my early days at fair and pattern, bereft of shoes and coat, and thus prepared to play at hand-ball, to fly over any number of horses, to throw the 'sledge' or 'winding-stone', and to test each other's mettle and activity by the trying ordeal of 'three leaps', or a 'hop, step, and a jump'. Indeed, if we continue travelling for the next score of years in the same direction that we have been going in for some time past, contemning the sports that were practised by our forefathers, effacing our national features as though we were ashamed of them, and putting on, with England's stuffs and broadcloths, her habits and such other effeminate follies as she may recommend, we had better at once, and publicly, adjure our nationality, clap hands for joy at sight of the Union Jack, and place 'England's bloody red' exultingly above 'the green'. Deprecating, as I do, any such dire and disgraceful consummation, and seeing in your society of athletes something altogether opposed to it, I shall be happy to do all that I can, and authorise you now formally to place my name on the roll of your patrons. In conclusion, I earnestly hope that our national journals will not disdain, in future, to give suitable notices of those Irish sports and pastimes which your society means to patronise and promote, and that the masters and pupils of our Irish colleges will not henceforth exclude from their athletic programmes such manly exercises as I have just referred to and commemorated.-I remain, my dear sir, your very faithful servant, T. W. Croke, Archbishop of Cashel."
So we should all dance to the tune of some bishop from 135 years ago and implement his vision for the association without deviation? I look forward to the Hogan stand threads on "leaping in various ways, wrestling, handy-grips, top-pegging, leap-frog, rounders, tip-in-the-hat, and all such favourite exercises and amusements amongst men and boys". I assume that means we need to protest at girls and women playing Gaelic sports too. We live in changed times, the GAA is a broad church, it needs to stay out of politics. Taking political stances will only cause division within the membership (as can be seen in this thread)

himachechy (National) - 27/03/2019 15:30:41

New Donegal Manager - 3 Like(s)

Replying To Lockjaw:  "If watching Tyrone reach an AI final is not enough of a cause to get behind I don't know what is. Are we that fair behind them? I would suggest not. But we need to toughen up and get our defence in order first and foremost. Surely to God we'll see a somewhat more normal GAA calendar in 2022, plenty of games in McKenna Cup and league to settle on a system."
I agree with this. Seeing how this season has panned out must surely let the players and managers know how close we are. We lost Tyrone on a day when everything went wrong. We need to work on defense (individuals and systems), but I'd rather have that problem than lack of talent or scorers. Hard to be overly enthusiastic about Bonner being re-appointed, but overall I think he probably deserves another crack at it. The last 2 years have been all over the place with Covid, he deserves a run at a 'normal' season. When we lose it isn't all the managers fault. There are plenty of the players who have gone missing in big games.

himachechy (Donegal) - 31/08/2021 15:53:25

Poor state of football in rural Ireland - 3 Like(s)
Saying that players from now wouldn't make a team from years before is also pointless. Counties in general will come in cycles, some more regular than others (Dubs /Kerry). Teams are always getting better or getting worse, but everyone puts our their team on a given day and does their best. That why we play Comparing decades like for like is pointless. Ten years is a long time in football, different styles, some counties up, some down, pros and cons to every decade. We all have our personal favourites. 10's good = 4 or 5 teams really playing at the top level and competing with each other, 10's bad = some very defensive football 00's good = Kerry and Tyrone taking the game to a new level, 00's bad = everyone else miles behind Kerry & Tyrone in the second half of the decade 90's good = new teams breaking through & still open football, 90's bad = Hard to think if anything bad about the 90's!

himachechy (National) - 23/03/2017 10:46:07

You Couldn't Pay Me To Go And Watch A Game Of Football - 3 Like(s)
Being critical of Football in Ireland is similar to Brexit mania in the UK/England. A load of hot air being spouted by a few people with an agenda and a platform. Eventually people buy into the narrative and use selective thinking to validate their new beliefs (Dublin Donegal game discussed above is good example, people focusing on the last 10 minutes.. Its all based on some nostalgic notion of how great things were in the past, even though the evidence clearly shows that not to be the case. Similar to brexit, its all fun and games until things go to far and for me these rule changes are too far. We risk killing the golden goose. Yes there are bad games these days, but there have always been bad games. Yes teams are fitter, stronger and more tactically aware, but we can't turn the clock back and make ourselves 'unknow' things. It would be like Homer asking for the crayon to be put back up his nose. The last 10 years have been a steep learning curve for everyone. New methods, new tactics etc. and mistakes have been made, but I really think we are coming out the other side of that now. Scoring stats are way up, and it is clear that if you want to be successful, yes you need to be defensively organized, but you also need to have an attacking threat, that is clear now (maybe it wasn't to everyone a few years ago). Australian rules had the same thing 15 years ago, they called it the 'flood' defence instead of the 'blanket', they came out safely on the other side without overhauling the sport... teams realized in the end defence will only get them so far. Everyone who loves football should stand up for it and speak proudly of the many great games we see. Crowds are still strong despite dodgy structures / cost / single team domination. Just look at what the crowds will be last week of Jan when the league starts. People are mad for football... and to hell with the naysayers. Happy Christmas to all! Roll on the league

himachechy (National) - 21/12/2018 11:55:34

Donegal GAA thread - 3 Like(s)

Replying To JoeSoap:  "If Bonner stays I'd really like to see a serious shake-up of the backroom team. Whatever about continuity things have gotten very stale and I think some of these players have been hearing the same voices for too long."
If Bonner stays its hard to see the logic in massive change of backroom team / players when he has only one year left on his term. I agree things are very stale and need to be shaken up. No harm to Declan and his team, but I think it has run its course. People talking about the low support numbers. I was at the Kildare game in Ballybofey in the league this year and I think it must have been the lowest crowd I ever saw at a home game. We had very small crowds at Cavan and Derry matches also. People have been voting with their feet all year and its hard to blame them for not spending their time and money on watching a team playing terrible football and a team playing with zero confidence or joy

himachechy (National) - 14/06/2022 17:20:39

Sympathy for the Devil - 3 Like(s)

Replying To Fionn:  "An honest unbiased post at last. Fair play. Imo a 1 month ban for an incident like Connolly's is sufficient increased for 2nd offences - 3 months is madness. Much more serious things occur with less of a sanction. Main point is consistency though - if this is the road the gaa want to go down and with Philly's suspension for verbal abuse, then do it for every player and every team. GAA picking and choosing certain incidents and not others is why a player like Commerford is considering his future unfortunately."
I agree that consistency is a problem and people are bringing up various incidents in the past that went unpunished, but for me interfering with officials is a line in the sand. GAA should use this as a starting point to come down heavy and enforce the rules. Refs at all levels should be encouraged to act on incidents like these within matches and include them in their reports. Verbal abuse, physical intimidation and physical abuse from players/manager / backroom teams etc against refs is not acceptable. Generally in the GAA at all levels the ref is generally respected, we need that to continue, but each year we see more and more shouting in refs faces and bumping into them etc. Maybe it comes from the premiership, I don't know. Premiership seem to think it adds to the theatre so do nothing about it. I laugh every year when they announce a new 'respect' initiative. Anyway, Connolly should have more sense. Great player (nearly as good as Murphy)

himachechy (National) - 09/06/2017 11:46:17

Why are pundits taking it easy on Kerry? - 3 Like(s)

Replying To salvador:  "The Kerry player slipped and accidentally brought down the Dublin player. Unfortunate but not cynical."
I'm astounded by that response! It was clearly deliberate and as soon as he got up he was on to the ref about moving back the free. He knew well he wanted to drag him down just out of range. The first point of this thread... RTE have lost the plot... their coverage is a joke. The format is from the 1980's and gives little insight into what actually goes on in a game. between moaning about championship formats and styles of football there is not time to talk about the actual game.. or even show highlights. Discussions on competition structures / football styles / retired players are all valid discussion points, but not every single week and not shoehorned into a one hour program which needs to cover 4 games. What they did to Sean Cavanagh was a disgrace, but I wouldn't be calling for them to do it again to any player. These things happen in games, move on.

himachechy (National) - 10/04/2017 10:29:04

Hoganstand To Go Into Meltdown! - 3 Like(s)
This thread has it all..... Anti Tyrone bias, Palestinian flags, the demon drink, 1913 lock out, Anglo Irish aristocracy, wrap the green flag round me, false user accounts, grammar correction. Just another Hogan stand day. The crying in a Palestinian flag comment was a cracker it must be said

himachechy (National) - 17/09/2019 15:00:02

The Best Ulster side of the last 30 years? - 3 Like(s)
Gary... see below. Slow day in work. results from 87 to 16 championships as per Wickepedia. 240 games with results and 34 draws. Thing that stands out for me is Down's poor returns overall. So much for Kerry of the North... Won lost drawn Total Win % Titles in period Donegal 43 25 7 75 57% 5 Tyrone 42 21 12 75 56% 9 Armagh 36 23 12 71 51% 7 Derry 33 27 6 66 50% 3 Monaghan 24 27 6 57 42% 3 Down 25 28 8 61 41% 2 Cavan 17 29 9 55 31% 1 Fermanagh 15 30 5 50 30% 0 Antrim 5 30 3 38 13% 0

himachechy (National) - 26/07/2016 11:58:04

Why are pundits taking it easy on Kerry? - 3 Like(s)

Replying To philip3:  "I thought Brolly was overly harsh on Galway and their performance. Give a team a break and give credit when its due. We are always putting down the GAA and the main people are lads who make money out of it. Delighted with Galway's performance."
Brolly, O'Rourke & RTE in general are harsh on everything apart from their beloved Dublin v Kerry matches. Constant bad news stories and running down the games / administrators / player / managers... the works. Small bit of positivity wouldn't go amiss. In fairness, it isn't just RTE, newspaper coverage also largely focused on negatives. People will say that newspapers have to fill pages with this stuff because they don't have access to players and managers anymore for content, and I can see how that would be a point, but RTE can hardly claim that what they have 4 games to focus on. GAA needs to get its act together on managing media and ensuring better coverage of its games. I for one think Sky coverage is a breath of fresh air and given the choice I watch sky coverage over RTE. They focus on the game, give a balanced review and actually analyse the game. Fair play to all teams involved over the weekend, they are all good news stories as they are all getting promoted. For years people having been calling Galway foolish for persisting with the 'traditional' style, and results have been going against them. I thought they attacked with serious pace yesterday... I was impressed with them

himachechy (National) - 10/04/2017 11:15:48

Can the GAA survive the Rugby onslaught - 3 Like(s)

Replying To cavanman47:  "Are posters on a GAA forum seriously questioning why reactions to the GAA being sponsored by alcoholic drink companies received more criticism than when rugby do the same?

Ever stop to think that it might have something to do with the fact that the GAA prides itself on promoing an anti-alcohol policy while the IRFU/IRB dont?

Think of your local club - they mist likely have a 'local' where events are held (and indeed p***-ups after games), many even have a bar in their clubhouse and their jerseys sponsored by Paddy's bar. I'm not for a second saying there's anything wrong with that, but the GAA does need to drop the pretense if its to avoid being questioned about where it gets its sponsorship."
Dead right, drop the pretence. Funding clubs is a full time job, this double standard is just an impediment to raising much needed funds that could be used in so many positive ways - facilities, coaching, player care, running more teams - that would all do more to keep lads and lassies engaged with sport and focused on their health. A good knock on from that would be a more balanced view on consumption of the (demon) drink. This pretence, along with 'drink bans' for teams just shows up an infantile approach to the entire subject. Maybe Rugby bosses just take the view that their players and supporters are adults and can make their own decisions without rugby playing the nanny.

himachechy (National) - 24/11/2016 10:24:44

GAA Should Campaign For A United Ireland. - 2 Like(s)

Replying To OLLIE:  "Of course the GAA should campaign for a united Ireland. It was founded in the first place to promote Gaelic games and everything Irish. It's our culture and this includes Gaelic football, hurling, camogie and handball. It also promotes the Irish language, Irish music and Irish dancing."
I think the first sentence of this post is contradicted by the remainder of the post. Promoting Language, Dancing, football and hurling... whats that got to do with uniting North and South? GAA has been doing those things for the last 135 odd years under various political constructs.

himachechy (National) - 07/03/2019 16:32:39

Financial Doping in the GAA - 2 Like(s)

Replying To jimbodub:  "It's not deflection It's using an example to bring perspective into this argument 40 odd million of GAA and tax payer money is going on a stadium that will be lucky to be full 2 times a year for GAA purposes, that very few around the country will gain any sort of benefit from That above figure dwarfs the 12-13 years of games development that was sought for and secured by the DCB for games development Imagine what €40 million could do around the country for struggling CB's It's not deflection, it's the truth and perhaps there's a few that need to get a slight reality check But no.. we'll have another grand vanity project sitting around empty to go with the rest of them! And some call this "progressive" and then bemoan actual investment into GAA people?!? "what's the point" is right on the fecking money Cork GAA nearly spent just as much as Dublin in 2015 on their Inter County teams winning swett FA in the process and are being handed €40 Million on a grand vanity project, good knows where the other €30 Million is coming from, but it's certainly not being spent on games development. Priceless stuff"
I think we need to stop mixing up discussion on development funding with capital funding for infrastructure projects. There is a clear plan by GAA to have top class facilities in Belfast / Dublin /Cork and move away from more rural venues (Clones / Thurles). You can argue with the plan, but overall I can see their logic in having top class stadiums around the country. If the new stadiums are used properly commercially and by fixture makers neither needs to become a white elephant (move more games out of Croker etc.) You never know... maybe someday Dublin will get to play away from home in these venues more regularly They are getting the Belfast stadium for free thanks to her majesty (I'm sure planning will be sorted eventually) and there is a lot of Govt funding for Cork too. They would be foolish to turn down that cash.

himachechy (National) - 13/10/2016 12:24:24

Drinking ban culture in GAA - 2 Like(s)
Rugby has been mentioned 5 or 6 times on this thread, but still no sign of Ormondthebanner. That must be a record. Hope he's alright.

himachechy (National) - 26/10/2016 17:06:41

GAA Should Campaign For A United Ireland. - 2 Like(s)

Replying To Uimhir.a.3.:  "Nonsense to say that most young people see themselves as European. In nearly every European country, national identity is greater than European identity. One of the main reasons the European model is under threat is because a few want to remove national identity & have autocratic control over national parliaments. Irelands own Peter Sutherland was one of the chief architects in drafting change to remove national identity in Europe, lots of stuff online on what they want to achieve. If we don't have national identity we have nothing, we might as well all be robots. I am Irish, I don't identify as being European. We will soon see how much Europe & Claude Juncker cherish us, when they will sacrifice us & do a deal with Britain, that will see Irish farming destroyed overnight & the Irish economy plunged back into recession. Lots of people with short memories on how Europe & Juncker threw us under the bus despite all the promises on banking debt. Europe are great at talking about ethnic minorities but they don't want people having or standing for national identity, forked tongue merchants."
"If we don't have national identity we have nothing, we might as well all be robots." - I can't understand that sentiment at all. What about our families, friends, jobs....county...anything that gives personal fulfillment. The 20th century is littered with the dead of Nationalistic crusades. Lets hope this century doesn't go the same way. I hope your brexit analysis doesn't come true. I think we will be useful to EU for a long time yet, even in a post brexit world.

himachechy (National) - 14/03/2019 13:51:33