[quote] 2. The comment: "there seems to be very little rules" just goes to show that even people who have no idea about the game can clearly see that the standard of ref in the GAA is dreadful and that the GAA seem to just 'make stuff up' as they go along!


couldn't be more correct. The few people I've introduced to the game have questioned me on just that, one going as far as asking me how common fixed matches are after watching B. Kelly ref after seeing a different ref in the first game I showed them.

My personal opinion: besides needing two refs on the field!!! is that the ref's are the only thing about the sport that is not anywhere near professional quality. Pay or not the players are professional quality athletes but the same can't be said about the complete inconsistency of the reffing.

Still, love it and think it's not an issue that is that hard to fix. Two refs would go a LONG way to fixing most issues.

Just a Yank, what I know:) Take care all,
Slan

Gowran_Yank (Kilkenny) - Posts: 96 - 19/11/2014 13:37:22    1673356

Liamwalkinstown
County: Dublin
Posts: 5939

1673094 i have been to yankee stadium, to see yankees tampa bay

and it was TEDIOUS ! [/I]

ha!

how long did that game go on for? I got stuck in a savage traffic jam in Arlington Texas years ago. We were on our way to watch Texas Rangers v someone else in baseball. Missed the first three innings but got the last 6 (still had about four hours of it)

1673094 i have been to yankee stadium, to see yankees tampa bay

and it was TEDIOUS ! [/I]

LOL Glutton for punishment are ye.
Not a fan of my country's pro sports because, well, money! How can you stay a fan when your favorite player on your favorite team is on that same teams arch rival. Like a young(pre-2010) Tipp hurler saying F-it, I want a Celtic Cross, and finding his way over to KK hoping for a better chance. May happen here and there but it's the norm here. I can't be a fan under those circumstances and who would want to be.
Anyway, you made me laugh with that one. I take international visitors to games but I'd never take them to NYC! Boston by train or in Chicago by train and you get to see the stadiums which are great and unique places and worth seeing if there's any interest but driving through NYC after a game would likely take all enjoyment our of the day.

Oh well, I guess there's always golf and cricket we can be thankful that we've nothing to do with. Leave that for the rich boys.

One last Yank point of view. The ability to follow young players from that first 10" hurl in the crib, to a bunch of 6 year-olds running around the pitch, to seeing a young lad work hard and progress. Seeing all those All-Ireland winners playing(ok, listening on the radio from here in New England) in Sundays Clara v Ballyhale match, is not something our spoiled wannabe gansta 'athletes' would ever do.
Guess I'm saying all this because it's easy to get caught up in rule changes('Nash rule' etc), inconsistent refereeing, overreaction to a very tame criticism of a terrible ref by B. Cody. I mean, this was the ref that M. Duignan said, "...that's just a man who doesn't understand hurling, to be honest" LIVE during a KK v Dublin match. I don't have a problem with the comment at all but I do find it curious that in comparison, BC's tame and harmless comment caused a stir. What I'm getting at is that there's been too much negativity at the same time that the skill level in hurling is just unreal and I hope you all realize how lucky you are to have such an amazing sport(and Football), amazing sportsmanship, and the family and culture etc that encompass everything that Gaelic Sports are. As a Murican, shots of several generations in the stands at Croke or any pitch, in any county, always reminds me of how special and how important Gaelic games are.

Gowran_Yank (Kilkenny) - Posts: 96 - 19/11/2014 18:52:27    1673452

Liamwalkinstown

Posts: 5940

1672426 why are we Irish so obsessed with what everyone else thinks of us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
its not just GAA, its everything! As a nation we crave praise from others!

its cringe!


Because we are proud of our national games because they are "awesome" and our young men play for nothing but the love of the game.
Think about it, what's there to cringe about. Don't be so paranoid and feel ashamed to be proud!! Irish-syndrome I think they call it!! Everybody loves positive feedback.

Nick (Wexford) - Posts: 1100 - 20/11/2014 08:41:12    1673532

[quote] Because we are proud of our national games because they are "awesome" and our young men play for nothing but the love of the game.

as you should be. And what is wrong with a country with a very very unique history crammed into a little island which with all the county differences provides enough enterainment for a yank who's spent enough time to know a bit more than leprachans and 'corned beef and cabbage'(what all of amerika thinks ye all eat yet I've never had it while there). Hurling defines, but moreso the comment above about being proud of "your young men(and woman, I love Camogie for different reasons but no less a game when played right) & Hurling and play it FOR THE RIGHT REASONS! If that's not something to be proud of, I'm not sure what is. Like I mentioned before, seeing 3 and even 4 generations at a match and Grandma going wild at the latest goal. It IS UNIQUELY IRISH! Be proud. But in the end, if some brits or yanks laugh or have negative comments, F-em, you know what you got and the positive effect it can have, especially on poor rural communities with more people on the dole than working and the only shops left open are bookies. Be proud of what you deserve to be well proud of. Now if you want to be ashamed that the GAA even spoke to SKY... SKY! OK, don't be proud of that one but sharing your sports with the world and then wondering what they think is a good thing, IMO. You could always create a life long player and fan and coach of an unruly group of ten to twelve year olds who would be getting in trouble if they hadn't been so curious as to what the heck I was doing out on a public pitch and little by little have finally began to get my states first club up and running. That is a direct result of the pride in your sports and an eagerness to share it with a foreigner.

Gowran_Yank (Kilkenny) - Posts: 96 - 20/11/2014 11:11:20    1673585

2 questions
yank, your not really american are you!! Too many give away signs there. I aint buying what your selling Chad!! :)
Also....your the first man in the history of this website I have seen that has been able to post in a different font and size to the rest of us.....and your only here a wet week....apparently....
Now, how is that!!!

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8166 - 20/11/2014 19:21:21    1673820

A star is born...

bob_dolphin (Limerick) - Posts: 694 - 21/11/2014 13:24:56    1673954

different font size is easy

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 21/11/2014 14:28:25    1673975

bennybunny
County: Cork
Posts: 2588

1673975
different font size is easy

Obviously not Benny!!!! :) :)

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8166 - 21/11/2014 15:19:28    1674000

The biggest American audience for hurling occurred in the 1970s. Before ESPN there was a hugely popular sports show entitled ABC "Wide World of Sports." They broadcast clips from hurling matches going back to the early 1970s and showed one of the AI SHC Finals. I think it may have been 1978 between Cork and Kilkenny. Americans who have not followed a second of hurling since, still remember that Final. When I talk to friends and coworkers about hurling they recall that match and really enjoyed it even 30+ years later.

mikeyjoe (USA) - Posts: 415 - 21/11/2014 15:33:43    1674004

Give up this cringeworthy obsession of foreigners reactions to our games!....who cares!!!

Some of us who don't live in Walkinstown or even Dublin care, some of us live within foreigners, God forbid they enjoyed the games we are trying to promote.

Perhaps if you Dublin boys showed the game to young lads from Tallagh you might get the same reaction.

zinny (Wexford) - Posts: 1805 - 21/11/2014 16:59:31    1674017