The setup of the competition needs to be changed fast before everyone loses interest. The setup of the competition guarantees that most of the top teams wont play each other and that you only get a handful of matches between top teams in a season. There is no other sport setup in that way and it is killing any chance of growth in the sport.

As for the provincial championships, there only was one meaningful provincial competition. The whole provincial setup is outdated and the sport is losing out.

tyroneed (Tyrone) - Posts: 753 - 03/08/2014 19:46:00    1630897

clondalkindub
County: Dublin
Posts: 5223

1630860
One thing I'll say is sometimes I watch modern football and ask myself what the hell has happened to our game, but don't worry joncarter the Dubs will save the championship like they always do.

What would you prefer the game to be like?

uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 03/08/2014 19:58:27    1630906

No huge upsets this year but all the top quality teams have made it through so should be good games from here on in. Thought the games this weekend were all enjoyable.

2004 was the worst year I can remember. Westmeath winning Leinster, Derry and Fermanagh making All Ireland semi finals, all pretty poor teams. Kerry hammering Mayo in the final without Seamus Moynihan or Dara O'Se.

Alvin (Donegal) - Posts: 218 - 03/08/2014 20:01:12    1630909

a few bullet points maybe

A- exciting forwards, whose skill and vision have the potential to light up a game are increasingly being swallowed up by mass defences

B- Gaa players are not as honest as they were. Time wasting, feigning injury, delaying tactics are stopping games from flowing. im not saying it never happened in the past, but weve reached crisis point here.

C- Increasing importance of finance means smaller teams are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with wealthier counties, and are beginning to lose heart

D- Ultra commitment required could be leading to disillusionment and frustration among players

E- replacing passion and heart with tactics and science has dampened the atmosphere at games. saying its a reults business is all well and good but when the fans no longer enjoy the game its red alert territory. (If you enjoy tactics so much I assume you all watch chess.)

joncarter (Galway) - Posts: 2692 - 03/08/2014 20:01:51    1630911

I agree tyroneed,but what do u propose?

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 03/08/2014 20:10:06    1630916

Gaelic football is very poor at the minute and the skill levels are as bad as I can remember. There is not enough direct football being played and the fact that a squad of very fast, very fit athletes and not very good footballers in Dublin are current Champions sadly tells you where the game is at.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9706 - 03/08/2014 20:11:00    1630919

2004 was a great year. Westmeath winning its first ever leinster. who can forget seismic Saturday? Derry making the semi was good too. poor final, granted, but as a whole it was good.
That Fermanagh/Armagh game in the quarters was the most exciting game of football I ever watched.

joncarter (Galway) - Posts: 2692 - 03/08/2014 20:12:17    1630920

yes a good bit of the issue is the top sides are not playing each other with any sort of regularity..too many 1 sided games...overall i think 3 out of the 4 matches have been pretty good with armagh meath and cork mayo excellent while monaghan kildare got exciting after a while

fabio8 (USA) - Posts: 2182 - 03/08/2014 20:13:08    1630922

03/08/2014 20:11:00
Ulsterman
County: Antrim
Posts: 6945

1630919
Gaelic football is very poor at the minute and the skill levels are as bad as I can remember. There is not enough direct football being played and the fact that a squad of very fast, very fit athletes and not very good footballers in Dublin are current Champions sadly tells you where the game is at.

And the award for most consistent poster goes to Ulsterman , not very intelligent but god predictable .

Damothedub (Dublin) - Posts: 5193 - 03/08/2014 20:18:05    1630929

Ulsterman
County: Antrim
Posts: 6945

1630919
Gaelic football is very poor at the minute and the skill levels are as bad as I can remember. There is not enough direct football being played and the fact that a squad of very fast, very fit athletes and not very good footballers in Dublin are current Champions sadly tells you where the game is at

Once again, there is no space on the pitch for skills to be expressed. there is no time on the ball, if you are static at all you will be surrounded and dispossessed. it was not like this back in the day because there were so many unfit teams out there, and even the good teams had a quota of relatively unfit players which freed up space on the pitch.

The only way around this is for a handicap system as you have in horse racing. the all ireland champions are made top weight!

Donegalman (None) - Posts: 3830 - 03/08/2014 20:28:37    1630937

Ulsterman
County: Antrim
Posts: 6946

1630919
Gaelic football is very poor at the minute and the skill levels are as bad as I can remember. There is not enough direct football being played and the fact that a squad of very fast, very fit athletes and not very good footballers in Dublin are current Champions sadly tells you where the game is at.

skill levels are as bad as you can remember.

Mother of god that is some load of bull.

Skill Levels are probably at an all time high, did you not see all the long range points that were kicked in todays match.

What is your issue with Dublin being fit.Would you prefer if we had teams of sumo wrestlers playing the game.

uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 03/08/2014 20:34:30    1630948

Direct football??? Wtf does that mean ulsterman. Will you ever stop making stuff up!!

Jackeen (Dublin) - Posts: 4097 - 03/08/2014 20:42:55    1630961

Agree totally tyroneed. League is much better competition. Teams competing at their level. Every team has a realistic goal , to avoid relegation, gain promotion or whatever. Leinster champ is a joke and people aren't going to games any more. Dublin will probably win the next ten in a row. Meath and kildare have 1 Leinster between them in last ten years and they the next best two. Gaa need to wake up and change, or reap a very bad harvest

Malonemagic (Laois) - Posts: 767 - 03/08/2014 20:45:59    1630965

a few bullet points maybe

A- exciting forwards, whose skill and vision have the potential to light up a game are increasingly being swallowed up by mass defences

B- Gaa players are not as honest as they were. Time wasting, feigning injury, delaying tactics are stopping games from flowing. im not saying it never happened in the past, but weve reached crisis point here.

C- Increasing importance of finance means smaller teams are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with wealthier counties, and are beginning to lose heart

D- Ultra commitment required could be leading to disillusionment and frustration among players

E- replacing passion and heart with tactics and science has dampened the atmosphere at games. saying its a reults business is all well and good but when the fans no longer enjoy the game its red alert territory. (If you enjoy tactics so much I assume you all watch chess.)

A - There are plenty of exciting forwards in the game at present and scoring averages are up a decent bit from last year and scoring in this years league was miles higher than 20 years ago.

B- Any time wasting from players is 100% the referees fault unless a player is close to death on the ground a game should not be stopped and refs should be booking players for time wasting.There isn't a huge amount of feigning injury in the game.

C- Thats an organisational issue for the GAA and has nothing to do with the game itself.

D - The players indirectly are the ones pushing for more commitment as most of the top teams desperately want to win.If players didn't desperately want to win less commitment would be required.

E - There is plenty of passion and heart in the game anyone who commits so much time to playing football must be fairly passionate about it.I'd rather watch a tactically aware team play a game than a supposedly passionate team play idiotic football.

uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 03/08/2014 20:45:59    1630966

Am sick to death of the whinging moaners criticising football. If you don't like what you see p**s off and watch something else.

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6031 - 03/08/2014 20:51:11    1630970

cuederocket
County: Dublin
Posts: 934

1630916
I agree tyroneed,but what do u propose?
----
Cuederocket, I'd propose that its time to revamp the championship.

Provincials as a stand alone competition. The ALL Ireland including Group/League stage with guaranteed number of matches against teams of similar standing.

That guarantees more top matches and something for every team to aim for.

tyroneed (Tyrone) - Posts: 753 - 03/08/2014 20:58:55    1630973

Yesterday's match and today's second game were enjoyable and exciting with plenty of good football. The worst championship I can remember was in 1981 (bloody hell - I must be older than I thought). There was no shortage of absolutely crap games all through the 80s despite what some people would have you believe about the good old days.

Gaillimh_Abu (Galway) - Posts: 996 - 03/08/2014 21:35:05    1630999

Ulsterman doesn't think Dublin have footballers.

I think we should really end the argument at that. The oracle has spoken.

hurlingdub (Dublin) - Posts: 6978 - 03/08/2014 21:36:44    1631002

The Monaghan Kildare match was the best of the year and strangely enough I think the conditions were a major contributory factor. A firm pitch like Croke Park coupled with a wet surface really sped up the game. Also, hand-pass possession football, which often drains a game of speed and excitement, was extremely difficult on Saturday. This led to a lot of turnovers and quick counterattacks which made the match very exiting. I remember a great match between Kerry and Galway in 2008 in similar torrential conditions in Croke Park. Maybe the GAA should water Croke Park before every match.

ballydalane (Kilkenny) - Posts: 1246 - 04/08/2014 08:51:48    1631024

People saying Cork vs Mayo was a great game? It pnly livened up in the last 15 minutes. There seemed to have been a surreal atmosphere..you could nearly hear a pin drop at times. When you can hear players/mgt shouting to each other on tv it tells you the fans at the game are finding it hard to get engaged.

A rule needs to be introduced that a team can withdraw no more than let's say 10 plagers into their half of the field (that allows one forward to be a third midfielder). A rule like that would get rid of the boring blanket defence and make the games more watchable.

PoolSturgeon (Galway) - Posts: 1905 - 04/08/2014 10:50:12    1631059